I can say firstly that this book was highly motivating, to read something that analyses an artist and their work to such a high standard. As well as the historical and contextual ideas of their final work called Donuts, something they created whilst terminally ill. Something the writer called late style, based on other philosophers’ works who also discuss this as something that occurs such as Beethoven. When artists become aware that the end is near, what work will they make? Here are some quotes I found really interesting.
“Dillas’s tracks were done in a pro studio and Dilla himself was a scientist of sonics, whereas Madlib was a self proclaimed “caveman and a beast” who didn’t care for separating his tracks in the recording process”
The relationship between Madlib and Dilla is heavily mentioned in this book, and I thought this comparison really interested me as I love both of their work, on one side Madlib was a self-proclaimed caveman, treating his work roughly and not thinking about engineering. On the other side, Dilla was a scientist, making sure all his recordings were captured properly. This is interesting as it makes me consider how those ways of working are just processes that enable an artist to operate.
I like to think that Donuts was Dilla’s quirky, totally creative record specifically for stones throw which expanded upon the blueprint of madlib’s beat konducta Vol 1 EP
Again this album was heavily important, a real standout in Dilla’s discography. Something I consider to be a masterpiece and a huge influence for this portfolio piece of work, it’s interesting to see that he left major labels and enjoyed the process of working with the independent label Stones Throw.
His use of technology is only to accentuate the emotions of the music, not overpower them.
This description of his sampling and composition process spoke hugely to me. He does not overpower them, he’s using technology and sampling as a way to accentuate the emotions of what he’s already hearing.
He knew the records that went into constructing Donuts inside and out. If it’s accepted that Dilla made his final work a record about death, the question becomes, why did he make this record about death?
Consider that if someone knows everything about these records, inside and out. Are they trying to convey something through their music?
While music typically precedes vocals in hip hop song craft, T3 and Baatin had an ear for flowing in and out of the grooves of Dilla’s accents and melodies in a way that wasn’t typically seen from MCs
Something that also captured my thoughts was the idea of riding the beat. Most rappers want to stand out and take the beat and instead in this context slum village rode around the beat, letting the composition really stand out.
The entirety of recorded sound became the producers toolbox, and they attacked and pillaged their record collections,The entirety of recorded sound became the producers toolbox, and they attacked and pillaged their record collections,
Record collections and sampling became something of a toolbox, no longer were drum machines or a lack of musical knowledge a threat to anyone, especially for hip hop producers.
Ethnomusicologist Joseph G. Schloss took pains to outline them in his 2004 book making beats: the art of sample based hip hop. Based on numerous interviews with producers and DJs, Schloss breaks the rules down to sux commandments: No biting, no sampling from anything other than vinyl, no sampling hip-hop records, no sampling from records one respects, no sampling from reissues or compilation albums, and no sampling multiple instruments from the same record.
There are a few rules that appear within this book around sampling, to dictate that not everyone goes as far as Dilla. In this case, things such as sampling hip-hop records and biting styles or sampling multiple sounds from one record were seen as negative, further on after this, it speaks that Dilla broke the rules of all of this, the exception was that he did it well enough that no one hated him.
Much of the music people are interested in sampling is never released digitally’ it only exists on vinyl copies that have since gone out of print.
Something the book argues about when sampling digitally is, that most of the stuff people want to sample is not available online. I agree but also consider the dual approach of both online and vinyl. Combining both Is the best.
In an era of digital, this rule might seem archaic and unreasonable, but its origins are twofold. For one, digging for records is considered by most producers a rite of passage, how up and comers develop their musical knowledge base,
Something I will try myself is digging for records and attempting to gain my own knowledge, I have spent a lot of time digging before and I do also see this as a right of passage. I’m going to Brighton this weekend and will attempt to crate dig for some records.
As with most guidelines, taking multiple sounds off of the same record is considered lazy, and limiting: What new elements is the producer adding if he or she takes components that were already designed to fit together?
Something that is also key when sampling, is being lazy about what you are doing? Some of the smoothest and simplest beats or instrumentals actually had a lot of micro-chopping and other elements to combine together for such a smooth listening experience.
Critics W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley posit in their essay “The intentional Fallacy”: “The poem is not the critics own and not the author’s (it is detached from the author at birth and goes about the world beyond his power to intend about it or control it). The poem belongs to the public.”
Something again about claiming the ideas of your work, once you release something to the public, that is it. It is not yours to consider or control what people think about it. People will interpret their own ideas from your work.
It’s isolating, being a genius. To devote that much energy to your craft, to obsess over it, to commit to the Gladwellian 10,00 hours and master it in the way that Dilla had means there are large parts of yourself that other people, even your close friends, are never going to understand, part of you will always remain unknown.
Something I’ve always felt frustrated about is my lack of dedication at times, but it is isolating. Being a genius takes hours and hours of dedication all for the love or the dream. You can sometimes lose the sense of what you are trying to achieve, is the dedication worth it? Success and grind culture really what we are attempting to do?
But what does one “see” as the source of the sounds on Donuts? They flicker across the mind as a collage of images, colors, and mood. It’s hip-hop as musique conrète.
Hip-hop musqiue concréte is something I agree with completely when describing this album. I shall take this all on board.
I want to attempt some Dilla-type beats and workflows shown in this book.
