Dollars to Donuts: The 40 Best J Dilla Songs of All Time, Ranked

KingsOfKings

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It’s worth stating up top that J Dilla himself would’ve likely had little use for this exercise. In Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm, Dan Charnas’s excellent new book on the producer and rapper born James Dewitt Yancey, collaborators repeatedly tell stories about how quickly Dilla worked, crafting masterpieces in minutes before moving on to the next beat. And when his sound became one of the dominant strains of hip-hop and R&B, he quickly reinvented himself, finding ways to stay a step ahead of his contemporaries. On the surface, it seems paradoxical: An artist whose sound was built upon pieces of the past had little time for looking backward. But for Dilla, the past was just a means to imagine the future. Diving deep into his history—let alone ranking it—likely wouldn’t have sufficed for him.


But the past is all we’re left with. Dilla’s death in February 2006 of complications from lupus and a rare blood disease known as thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura kicked off hip-hop’s attempts to grapple with his legacy, which has only grown in stature over the past 16 years. Charnas’s book is the latest—and likely best—work in that regard. But there’s still a lot of music to sort through: the early work with the Pharcyde and A Tribe Called Quest, a genre-shifting album with Slum Village, remixes for pop stars and electronic music producers, beat tapes that exist today only in YouTube and Zippyshare links. This list is an attempt to wrap our arms around the wide breadth of music Dilla created in his 32 years.


40. “Whip You With a Strap,” Ghostface Killah
39. “You Can’t Hold the Torch,” Busta Rhymes featuring Q-Tip and Chauncey Black
38. “History,” Mos Def featuring Talib Kweli
37. “House of Flying Daggers,” Raekwon Featuring Inspectah Deck, Method Man, and Ghostface Killah
36. “Love,” J Dilla Pharoahe Monch
35. “As Serious As Your Life (Remix),” Four Tet featuring Guilty Simpson

34. “Won’t Do,” J Dilla
33. “Heroin Joint,” J Dilla
32. “E=mc2,” J Dilla featuring Common

31. “Without You (Remix),” Lucy Pearl
30. “Can’t Stop This,” the Roots/“Time: Donut of the Heart,” J Dilla
29. “Gobstopper,” J Dilla
28. “Kamaal,” J Dilla
27. “The Light,” Common
26. “The Rhyme (Slum Village Remix),” Keith Murray
25. “The Red,” Jaylib
24. “Dooinit,” Common
23. “Love (A Thing of the Past),” Frank-n-Dank
22. “Love Is…,” Common
21. “Reminisce,” Bilal featuring Mos Def and Common
20. “Sleeping Like a Dog,” J Dilla

Final 20 @ link (gotten shorten it due to the 500 internal Error I get on here)

Dollars to Donuts: The 40 Best J Dilla Songs of All Time, Ranked






































 

Tommy Gibbs

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I just got my dilla book in the mail today. I'll start reading it tonight
 
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