Music

Happy Birthday Dilla!

I've always loved and respected how hip-hop producers, the men and women behind the beats that make us all get down and boogie, are able to take a very small piece of a very obscure recording and turn it into something that means something else all together...so in order to pay tribute to my man Jay Dee a.k.a. J Dilla, who if it were not for his untimely death in 2006 would have turned 37 on Monday, I'd like to share the source of one of his most recognizable productions.

Pharcyde's "Runnin'" was a pretty big song in mid 90's, but I doubt any readers know where the underlying sample (a short guitar phrase) comes from. Well, here it is, Stan Getz and Luis Bonfa's "Saudade Vem Correndo" complete with a hilarious Youtube slideshow of fancy architecture and marine creatures. The part of the track sampled happens at around the two minute mark. I LOVE how this is just such a minor moment in the song, just a taseful restatement of a simple Brazilian melody that gains a whole new meaning when placed on top of a banger of a drum track. So pour one out for my man Jay while you get a free lesson in the art of sampling, an art that truly deserves respect as an art of pure creation and ingenuity, from Jay himself. Oh, and the verses on that track aren't so bad either.

Saudade Vem Correndo

Runnin'

This is also a pretty good spread of some of Dilla's other work...if you're into hip-hop though, I would run out and get Slum Village's "Fantastic Vol. 2" (classic Dilla) and Jaylib's "Champion Sound" (some of the rawest ish Jay ever put out).

Urban Daily's Top Dilla Beats:

http://theurbandaily.com/music/the-urban-daily-staff/top-10-j-dilla-beats/