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The Latest Breaking News from J Dilla

“Every producer bows down to Dilla, whether they like it or not”: How J Dilla and his MPC changed beatmaking forever

20 years on from his untimely passing, we decode the genius of the revered producer that redefined rhythm as we know it

MusicRadar

“It’s the heart of my studio”: The story of the Akai MPC, from the MPC60 to the MPC Live III

Few pieces of production gear are as influential as Akai’s MPC series. We trace the MPC's journey through its phoenix-like birth from the ashes of the LinnDrum 9000 to the latest apex-hitting incarnation

MusicRadar

“I have a cassette of the session, just a rough mix of us playing, and it’s fabulous!” Vernon Reid on D’Angelo’s everlasting impact on popular music, their session together – and the deep roots of the late neo-soul trailblazer's sound

Reid says his mind was blown by D’Angelo’s virtuoso command of rhythm and just how far he could stay behind the beat, and recalls the bluesy track they made together for a Queen Latifah movie

MusicRadar

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“In the hands of lesser musicians, this would simply sound sloppy. In D'Angelo's hands, it’s perfectly imperfect – the precise right amount of wrong”: A music professor breaks down the genius of D'Angelo

"He only recorded three albums and a handful of guest vocals, but those recordings possess extraordinary musical depth"

MusicRadar

D’Angelo’s career-spanning playlist: Hits and hidden gems

D’Angelo has blurred the lines between sacred and sensual, defining modern R&B with his unique voice and musicianship

The Independent UK

Hyper-prolific rapper Boldy James: ‘I never settled for the cards life dealt me. I’ve always been the dealer’

He’s already put out seven albums this year alone – a work ethic inherited, he says, from selling drugs in Detroit. But will we ever hear his tracks with the late great J Dilla?

The Guardian - UK

“Midnight, I got the call: come down to the studio. Finally, he’s ready. We’re talking. And then…”: British neo-soul pioneer Omar recalls the unusual reason why his first attempt to record with Stevie Wonder came to nothing

“So that was the end of that session,” he remembers

MusicRadar

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‘I’m closer to the end than the beginning’: British soul legend Omar on EastEnders, Stevie Wonder and his industry battles

He’s worked with the cream of US neo-soul and is seen as a national treasure by his peers – so why is Omar underrated? From hits to label struggles, he revisits the highs and lows

The Guardian - UK

"Ableton is great for making tracks, Pro Tools is great for mixing. For me, Logic is great when you do both": Emma-Jean Thackray on the making of new album Weirdo

Born out of grief, Thackray’s new album Weirdo is her most heartfelt concept yet. Here, she delves into the record’s creation and how the process of putting it together helped her reclaim her sense of self

MusicRadar

The 15 greatest posthumous albums, ranked

From sprawling hip-hop opuses to haunting rock’n’roll swansongs, a handful of posthumous albums stand out among hundreds of duds. As the final record from alt-pop pioneer Sophie is released, Roisin O’Connor, Annabel Nugent and Louis Chilton pick their favourites

The Independent UK

One to watch: Aziya

Blondie meets J Dilla in the music of this idiosyncratic Londoner who made her name covering the likes of Grimes and PJ Harvey

The Guardian - UK

"The result is a track that perfectly encapsulates the 'anything goes' atmosphere of the early '90s, and makes a great Christmas record for the discerning raver": The top 10 most unlikely sample sources

Aled Jones meets rave and Macaulay Culkin goes jungle

MusicRadar

"He transformed a piece of samba-flecked elevator music into one of the hardest hip-hop tracks of all time": 10 genius moments in hip-hop sampling history, featuring J Dilla, DJ Premier and more

We spin the record back on ten hip-hop tracks that show samplists at the peak of their powers

MusicRadar

Song Athletics drops Sloppy Drums sample pack inspired by J Dilla and Madlib: "Beautifully captured and behind (and before) the beat in all the right ways"

The next sample pack from ex-Spitfire CEO Will Evans' new company is made up of loose and limber drum patterns fit for use in hip-hop and neo-soul

MusicRadar

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MusicRadar

Carl Craig: "People said techno was always supposed to be about the 808, the 909 and the 303. When I use a live drummer, they say it’s not techno because there’s no 808"

Second generation techno pioneer Carl Craig on the genre’s cultural visibility and how he’s keeping the flame alive

MusicRadar

“He was one of the great ones”: Artists pay tribute to Amp Fiddler, the influential Detroit musician who has died, aged 65

Fiddler is credited with introducing J Dilla to the MPC and played with George Clinton, Maxwell and Prince

The Guardian - UK

Amp Fiddler, funk musician with all-star collaborations, dies aged 65

Joseph Fiddler performed and recorded with Prince, Seal and Maxwell, and mentored hip-hop producer J Dilla

MusicRadar

Ash Walker: "Some people say they never put reverb on bass, but they obviously didn’t listen to a lot of dub records"

Joining the dots between King Tubby, Steve Reich and J Dilla, Ash Walker adopted an ‘anti-engineering’ approach to his latest album, Astronaut

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MusicRadar

Dr. Sample becomes Mr. Sample as Blezz Beats recreates the 'holy grail of lo-fi beatmaking' in a sampler plugin

The Mr. Sample plugin is loosely inspired by the beloved Boss SP-303, a sampler used by artists like Four Tet, Madlib and J Dilla

Tribune News Service

Review: 'The Legacy of J Dilla' touches on producer's life, career

As a primer on the life and career of James "J Dilla" Yancey, "The New York Times Presents: The Legacy of J Dilla" is a sufficient introduction to the world of the innovative Detroit hip-hop producer, who died in 2006 at age 32. The documentary premieres at 10 p.m. ET…

MusicRadar

Previously unheard J Dilla material released as remixable stems on Kano's STEM Player

The never-before-heard tracks will be accompanied by an exclusive documentary focused on Dilla's legacy

Tribune News Service

Commentary: Was the White Stripes’ Meg White a great, or awful, drummer? Online controversy begs question: What year is this?

What decade is this?

The Guardian - UK

‘You don’t have to be Bono or Bruce’: the business behind the current glut of music books

In 2022, you can’t budge for new music memoirs and scene histories. But who’s reading them, where’s the quality control – and the diversity?

Tribune News Service

J Dilla documentary in works from Oscar-winning 'Summer of Soul' team

DETROIT — The Oscar-winning team behind the hit documentary "Summer of Soul" has turned its eyes to a new documentary subject ripe for the telling: the life and musical legacy of late Detroit hip-hop producer J Dilla.

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