'This book is a must for everyone interested in illuminating the idea of unexplainable genius' - QUESTLOVEEqual parts biography, musicology, and cultural history, Dilla Time chronicles the life and legacy of J Dilla, a musical genius who transformed the sound of popular music for the twenty-first century. He wasn't known to mainstream audiences, and when he died at age thirty-two, he had never had a pop hit. Yet since his death, J Dilla has become a demigod, revered as one of the most important musical figures of the past hundred years.

At the core of this adulation is innovation: as the producer behind some of the most influential rap and R&B acts of his day, Dilla created a new kind of musical time-feel, an accomplishment on a par with the revolutions wrought by Louis Armstrong and James Brown. Dilla and his drum machine reinvented the way musicians play. In Dilla Time, Dan Charnas chronicles the life of James DeWitt Yancey, from his gifted Detroit childhood to his rise as a sought-after hip-hop producer to the rare blood disease that caused his premature death.

He follows the people who kept Dilla and his ideas alive. And he rewinds the histories of American rhythms: from the birth of Motown soul to funk, techno, and disco. Here, music is a story of what happens when human and machine times are synthesized into something new.

This is the story of a complicated man and his machines; his family, friends, partners, and celebrity collaborators; and his undeniable legacy. Based on nearly two hundred original interviews, and filled with graphics that teach us to feel and "see" the rhythm of Dilla's beats, Dilla Time is a book as defining and unique as J Dilla's music itself. Financial Times Music Book of the Year 2022

Taken from Dilla's 2001 BBE debut solo album "Welcome 2 Detroit", "Big Booty Express" gets the remix treatment from German duo Âme and Parisian Pépé Bradock.

Contributing two mixes to the EP, Parisian producer Pépé Bradock AKA Julien Auger needs little introduction to house music fans but hip-hop heads need not doubt his musical credentials. A natural guitarist and turntablist, he's provided solos, riffage, scratches, juggles and chops to numerous rappers and bands before turning his hand to the discipline of house music. Two remixes done in his inimitable style grace the twelve. Slightly skewhiff but deliciously musical, there's no-one quite does it like Pépé!

Also providing a remix of "Big Booty Express" is the German production duo of Frank Wiedemann and Kristian Beyer who work together under the name of Âme. After first meeting in Kristian's record shop in their home town of Karlsruhe and bonding over a shared love of Chicago house and Detroit techno the pair started working together and producing records for Sonar Kollektiv in 2003. Perfectly demonstrating their harmonic discord and big room sound, their remix here is a masterclass of wobbly, peaktime tech-house.

STAFF COMMENTS

Matt says: House remixes of hip-hop legend J Dilla are bound to be divisive. But I'm surprised how well Ame and Bradock have rose to the occasion here - delivering high quality electronic dancefloor hedonism.

TRACK LISTING

1. B.B.E. - Big Booty Express (Âme Remix)
2. B.B.E. - Big Booty Express (Moulin Rouge Remix By Pépé Bradock)
3. B.B.E. - Big Booty Express (Memorex Interlude By Pépé Bradock)
4. B.B.E. - Big Booty Express

BBE Music announces a special 20th Anniversary edition of one of the most important records in the label’s history: J Dilla’s Welcome 2 Detroit, presented in a deluxe 7” vinyl box set boasting instrumentals, two brand new interpretations by Azymuth and Muro, a stash of previously unreleased alternative mixes and studio outtakes pressed over 12 discs, plus a book revealing the album’s hidden story, told by those who were there. First issued by BBE Music on Monday 26th of February 2001, Welcome 2 Detroit was James Dewitt Yancey aka Jay Dee’s first solo outing and the debut appearance of his new ‘J Dilla’ moniker (bestowed on him by none other than Busta Rhymes). The album also inaugurated the producer-led Beat Generation album series, which would later spawn classic LPs by DJ Jazzy Jeff, Pete Rock, DJ Spinna, Marley Marl and even will.i.am, all of whom had been inspired to reach for new creative heights by hearing Dilla’s magnum opus. Choosing to showcase his own voice and the voices of local rap-heroes from across the city instead of big stars, Welcome 2 Detroit marked a coming of age for the then 27 year-old producer, who fully embraced the creative-freedom offered by BBE for his first solo project. As Dilla tells it: “Peter (Adarkwah, founder of BBE) let me do whatever I wanted to do. So, I wanted to put people on there who are gonna spit y’know, lyrically and represent Detroit. Because I wouldn’t have been able to pull this album off if it came out under a major. Cos they’re not gonna let you just do a song or you can’t just do an instrumental. You gotta have this feature and you’re Jay Dee, why ain’t you got Erykah Badu? Why ain’t you got so and so on your album? I’d have had to go through all of that, instead of just putting out…y’know, Beej on this joint!” The album would prove to be the perfect distillation of Dilla’s Detroit. From Kraftwerk-inspired Tech Noir that would make Metroplex proud, through subtle echoes from Africa, live jazz-funk and bossa-nova grooves, to tough Midwest boom-bap, this record somehow showed reverence to the city’s past without ever leaving its present. Grimy street flows that somehow swayed like James Brown. Unquantized marvels, so free and alive in their bounce, that they could seduce the hardest of hard-rocks into the sweetest screwface! Diverse, multifaceted, super collaborative and yet somehow singular, Welcome 2 Detroit was the shy and humble James Yancey revealing his true self in the only way he knew how: through his music. “The numerous guest appearances from some of the city’s best MCs at the time — Beej, Big Tone, Elzhi, Frank N Dank, Phat Kat — added to the album’s immersive experience, offering listeners a taste of Detroit in a way that only Jay Dee could do." – Okayplayer To mark the 20th Anniversary of this momentous record, BBE Music is issuing a specially remastered edition of Welcome 2 Detroit, featuring a stunning new remix of ‘Think Twice’ by Japanese DJ/producer Muro and a stellar cover version of ‘Rico Suave Bossa Nova’ by legendary Brazilian jazz-funk juggernauts Azymuth, plus a stash of newly discovered alternate versions and work-in-progress recordings from the album sessions, lovingly reproduced from priceless cassette tapes recorded by J Dilla himself. An accompanying book by British writer and filmmaker John Vanderpuije offers an oral history of the album’s making, as told by Amp Fiddler, Ma Dukes and all of the album’s key musical contributors. The deluxe 7” vinyl box set and digital album will be released on February 5th 2021 during the annual #DillaMonth celebration, as close to the great man’s birthday as possible and will be available to pre-order from the BBE website and Bandcamp from November 3rd 2020. “I’m real happy that Welcome 2 Detroit was done by BBE. Because I don’t think another label would have helped him embrace his full creativity and given him the control to make it a piece of who he was! Because of BBE he was able to pour more of himself into it, into every bit of music on this album. His spirit lives in Welcome 2 Detroit. It’s him! Alive and thriving in every song!” – Ma Dukes

TRACK LISTING

Disc: 1
1. Y’all Ain’t Ready (Instrumental)
2. Y’all Ain’t Ready
3. Think Twice (faded)
4. Think Twice (Instrumental - Faded

Disc: 2
1. The Clapper Feat. Blu
2. The Clapper (Instrumental)
3. Shake It Down (Instrumental)
4. Shake It Down

Disc: 3
1. Come Get It (Instrumental - Edit)
2. Come Get It Feat. Elzhi (edit)

Disc: 4
1. Pause Feat Frank 'n' Dank
2. Pause (Instrumental)
3. B.B.E. - Big Booty Express (Instrumental)
4. B.B.E. - Big Booty Express

Disc: 5
1. Beej-N-Dem Pt.2 (Instrumental)
2. Beej-N-Dem Pt.2 Feat. Beej

Disc: 6
1. Brazilian Groove EWF (Instrumental)
2. Brazilian Groove
3. It’s Like That (Edit) Feat. Hodge Podge, Lacks
4. It's Like That (Instrumental)

Disc: 7
1. Give It Up (Instrumental)
2. Give It Up

Disc: 8
1. Rico Suave Bossa Nova
2. Azymuth – Rico Suave Bossa Nova (Vinyl Edit)

Disc: 9
1. Feat. Phat Kat (Instrumental)
2. Feat. Phat Kat

Disc: 10
1. African Rhythms (Instrumental)
2. African Rhythms
3. One (Instrumental)
4. One

Disc: 11
1. It’s Like That (Alternate Version)
2. African Rhythms (No Drums)
3. Brazilian Groove EWF (No Drums, No Vocal)
4. Beej-N-Dem (og) Feat. Beej
5. Give It Up (Acapella)

Disc: 12
1. Think Twice (DJ Muro's KG Mix)
2. Think Twice (DJ Muro's KG Mix Instrumental)

THIS IS A RECORD STORE DAY 2018 EXCLUSIVE, LIMITED TO ONE PER PERSON.

The producer’s own mixes – recently rediscovered - of his seminal EP, expanded with bonus tracks into a 2LP set, with extensive liner notes and unpublished photos. When Ruff Draft saw its initial release in 2003, J Dilla possessed production skills on par with anyone in hip-hop – technically and creatively. “At the top of his game,” says longtime friend and collaborator, Karriem Riggins. After years of building while modestly deferring to others of both greater and lesser notoriety, Dilla finally completed the first solo endeavor on his own label, entirely on his own terms. The significance of such an autonomous success often gets overlooked, and partly accounts for why Ruff Draft is one of the lesser-referenced entries in Dilla’s oeuvre. “It’s a mysterious little project,” says his mother, Maureen Yancey. “But out of his entire career, that was the happiest time.” Prior to recording the EP, Dilla found himself at a crossroads. Estranged from his label, MCA, and separated from the mother of his youngest daughter, frustration abounded both personally and professionally. Dilla spent parts of 2002 and 2003 working on an album for MCA that featured his rapping over contributions from other producers with whom he had connected and whose music he respected. At the time, he was known primarily for his beats, yet reviled for his MCing by most anyone not from his hometown of Detroit. The project was to be an intentional freak of the industry. The project would go on to spur his collaborative album with Madlib, Jaylib, and would first showcase the template that he would take to his greatest heights with 2006’s Donuts. The Stones Throw reissue of Ruff Draft from 2008 featured remixes of the songs from the album, done without Dilla’s involvement. This version of the album takes Dilla’s recently discovered mixes of the album and restores his vision for the project. “Straight from the mothafuckin’ cassette,” as he phrased the sound he was going for on the EP’s intro. It is buttressed by unreleased tracks and is presented in two versions: LP one is the EP as it was originally released; LP 2 is the alternate version that Dilla had for the project. Author Ronnie Reese expands upon his original liner notes to further tell Dilla’s story, in a booklet complete with never before published photographs from the Ruff Draft photo session. 

TRACK LISTING

1. Intro 2. Let's Take It Back 3. Reckless Driving 4. Nothing Like This 5. The $ 6. Interlude 7. Make'em NV 8. Interlude 9. Crushin' 10. Shouts 11. Intro (Alt.) 12. Wild 13. Take Notice (Feat. Guilty Simpson) 14. Shouts (Alt.)

Released on the Mass Appeal label comes the long lost vocal album, 'The Diary' which J Dilla completed for MCA in early 2000s featuring previously unreleased material by the legendary producer. The tracks come straight from multi-track masters found on 2-inch tape shortly after Dilla’s passing in 2006. Many were mixed by Dilla himself. Those that weren't have been mixed by engineer Dave Cooley, who worked extensively with Dilla during his years in Los Angeles. Using Dilla’s original demo mixes as his guide, Cooley attempted to finalize Dilla’s vision for these tracks, while keeping all of the elements that Dilla had in place in his original demos present. 'The Diary' is an album of vocal performances recorded between in the early 2000s over production by the likes of Madlib, Pete Rock, Nottz, House Shoes, Karriem Riggins and others. 

TRACK LISTING

1. The Introduction
2. The Anthem (feat. Frank N Dank)
3. Fight Club (feat. Nottz & Boogie)
4. The Shining Pt. 1 (Diamonds) [feat. Kenny Wray]
5. The Shining Pt. 2 (Ice)
6. Trucks
7. Gangsta Boogie (feat. Snoop Dogg & Kokane)
8. Drive Me Wild
9. Give Them What They Want
10. The Creep (The O)
11. The Ex (feat. Bilal)
12. So Far
13. Fuck The Police
14. The Diary

Not a conventional album by any means, Dilla's "Donuts" is a collection of numerous short productions that he kept to himself rather than use on his work with Madlib, Q-Tip, Common and Slum Village. Like a private DJ mixtape, they clock in on average at around nintey seconds, yet this is not merely a beats compilation, but mini sample-manipulations glommed from other funk, soul, disco, rap and rock sources. With awfully coincidental timing, Dilla passed away the week that the album was released, having been suffering from an incurable blood disorder. A fitting epitaph to a unique talent.