J-Dilla, also known as Jay Dee, is widely regarded in the hip-hop community to be one of the most innovative producers ever to grace the turntables. Known as a “producer’s producer,” Dilla’s work was so highly esteemed that many of the biggest and most important names in hip-hop (like Common, Talib Kweli, ?uestlove, Erykah Badu, A Tribe Called Quest and Madlib) looked to him not only for inspiration, but for actual production work on what ended up being some of their most accomplished albums to date.
J-Dilla was also one of the first to release entire albums of sample-heavy, instrumental work, which incidentally is how he ended up collaborating with another master of the genre: Madlib. Madlib had been extremely impressed with Dilla’s innovative style and couldn’t help himself but to play with some beats for inspiration. The compliment didn’t escape Dilla and this initial meeting led to the creation of the now somewhat legendary JayLib.
Part of what makes their album, Champion Sound (2003), so distinctive stems from the way it was recorded. The duo met only once during the making, and the rest of the album was recorded by sending beats and vocals back and fourth. The collaboration ended with half of the album consisting of Dilla beats with Madlib’s vocals and the other half Madlib beats with Dilla’s vocals. I hesitate to call the final vibe earthy but for lack of a better word, it does feel somewhat organic in that there is nothing forced about the way these two artists blend their individual styles.
Dilla was a pioneer in blending hip-hop with a kind of neo-soul music that brought to life both genres and infused the result with a little bit of jazz, funk and a personal touch that can only be described as heart.
Ah the internet, it empowers so many to do so much. Internet adventurer Matt McInerney, currently well known for his participation in the ZombieAttack Twitter story project & new website Gleamd, and musical compatriot, Casey Gibson, have taken to the tubes and produced a musical project they call Something Explosive.
Here’s a brief overview of their take on internet music, as taken from their Virb page:
We believe that our fans should be able to do whatever they choose with our music. If you’d like to use it in podcasts, videos, or mashups, feel free. We’d also love to see it shared whether it be through p2p networks or just passing a burnt cd to a friend. We’re happy to give away our songs for free. We’ll leave their worth up to you. If you’d like to pass us a little money, we’d greatly appreciate, but no pressure. If you want to download our entire album, you can download it as a torrent http://www.mininova.org/tor/754709 Or you could just download the zip file http://www.divshare.com/download/971824-23f
Matt was kind enough to answer a few questions for me via an email interview here a little while back. It helps highlight some of the band’s ideas on this whole “internet” thing, DRM, and gives newbies to computer music production a few tantalizing ideas on what is required to jam out and publish to the web. Read the rest of this entry »
Editor’s Post Script: I was quite drunk when I first posted this, with no preamble or followup comment. Suffice it to say I had been cruising around YouTube while saucing it up, and decided this great live performance by Ween (way back in the day) was highly deserving of a nod from the RKNet hive mind. That said, please enjoy the video, as it’s a great performance by the duo.
The more I hear from this group the more impressed I am. I cannot even remember the last time music gave me chills like what I got from listening to this live performance.
Some kids play in the sandbox. We play in the.... litterbox??? The RKNet staff is pleased that you decided to stop by. Currently this is a multi-author project, with a rotating cast of totally kooky characters. Contact giania [at symbol] gmail [dot] com if you'd like to play here too.
