Hip Hop Craftsmanship: An Analysis of Sampling Technique in J Dilla’s Workinonit.
By Aram Joseph Bajakian December 1, 2014
“Hip hop does not simply draw inspiration from a range of samples, but it layers these fragments into an artistic object. If sampling is the first level of hip hop aesthetics, how the pieces or elements fit together constitute the second level. Hip hop emphasizes and calls attention to its layered nature. The aesthetic code of hip hop does not seek to render invisible the layers of samples, sounds, references, images, and metaphors. Rather, it aims to create a collage in which the sampled texts augment and deepen the song/book/art's meaning to those who can decode the layers of meaning.” -Richard Schur, Hip Hop Aesthetics and Contemporary African American Literature Prologue Before beginning the analysis, I will briefly discuss my own background with hip hop music in order to give the reader a sense of where I am coming from. I admit to not having a comprehensive understanding of hip hop history and music. However, as a musician and lover of all styles of music, it’s been clear to me that my lack of knowledge about the genre is a detriment to my own depth and sophistication as an artist. I acknowledge that hip hop is the most influential music of my generation, inspiring hundreds of millions of people around the globe. My own explanation for my previous lack of interest is that I’ve primarily viewed hip hop and rap as lyrical arts, and for as long as I have enjoyed music, I’ve focused mostly on the textual parts of songs. Even as a child, when I studied Led Zeppelin, I was always more interested in the guitar solos and extended instrumental passages than the words. This continued throughout my life, into my studies of jazz and non-Western music. While I’ve always loved rhythm and even spent a semester abroad in Ghana studying Ewe and Akan drumming, I was unable to make the leap into passionately exploring hip hop beats. There were two experiences that changed this perception and led me to want to reexamine my understanding of the genre. One was a review and analysis of Kanye West’s album Yeezus by Lou Reed in the summer of 2013 (Reed 2013). I had been fortunate enough to work with Lou for two years as his guitar player and I knew that his analysis of music was exceedingly thorough
!
2!
and thought provoking - his review of Yeezus proved to be no less profound. Yeezus is an album that I might have initially brushed off, due to what I viewed as the exceedingly brash nature of the public profile of its creator, Kanye West. However, after reading Lou’s review of the album I decided to spend some time really listening to it. If Lou had this much respect for it, I thought, I should also know it. I discovered over the course of a month of repeatedly listening, that the album taken as a whole is an immensely powerful and moving work. I admit that I still couldn’t relate to much of the lyrical content, but despite this, I found it both beautiful and jolting. During this same time, I was also on tour with the jazz singer Diana Krall. Diana’s drummer, Karriem Riggins, is a well known artist both in the jazz world, having performed with the great bassist Ray Brown, Diana and others, as well as in the hip hop world, having produced works by Common, Erykah Badu, The Roots and Madlib. Karriem would often play music on our tour bus after each night’s performance and his catalogue was vast, encompassing all genres and styles. We would listen to music for hours on end, often until 3 or 4 in the morning. At various points during the tours I spent with him, he would play music by J Dilla, and these tracks would always stick out to me as having a special quality, even though I was unfamiliar with the genre of hip hop as a whole. I learned that Karriem and Dilla were close friends and as I listened more and more I became blown away by the depth and intricacies of what I heard, as well as the sheer prolific nature of his output. Each piece had both a distinctive quality, and for lack of a better word, a personality that showed through and moved beyond the genre. The more I thought about it, the more it became clear to me that I was listening to a Mozart of this time. While he used records, samples
!
3!
and a mixing board as his tools instead of orchestras, pens and paper, his music is no less profound, beautiful, moving and complex. John Zorn once said to me that whenever he thinks about creating a new piece of music, he asks himself, “Is this something the world really needs?” I mulled over this statement quite a bit as I thought about what to submit as a writing sample for the composition programs I was applying to. I asked myself, “Does the world really need another analysis of Bach or Mozart? What is something new that I can contribute?” I did some research and found that while there are certainly writings on the social and historical influence of hip hop on music, as well as the lyrical content, there is little in depth analysis of the actual music. How do producers make their beats, and how do they chose to arrange their samples? This sentiment along with my own interest in delving deeper into hip hop inspired me to analyze a piece by J Dilla. How did he actually create the music that I was listening to? What if I were to analyze a piece of his with the same amount of detail and respect that I would use if I analyzed a sonata by Beethoven, an improvisation by Thelonious Monk, or a guitar solo by Jimi Hendrix? As I delved deeper and deeper into my analysis, I became even more impressed by his work. Just like a masterpiece by Bach or Mozart, there is nothing in it that is unnecessary or unplanned. Background The musical legacy of James Yancey, more commonly known as J Dilla, continues to be felt around the world eight years after his untimely death from lupus at the age of thirty two. During his lifetime Dilla produced dozens of albums and individual tracks for many successful and influential hip hop artists. In addition, he produced his own albums as well as hundreds of compositions that are still unreleased. His influence
!
4!
has been felt by literally tens of millions of people around the globe, the tools he used to create his compositions are held by the Smithsonian, and yet there are no academic studies analyzing his music. This paper will serve as a beginning, and will seek to examine how Dilla approached production and composition through an analysis of the track “Workinonit” from his 2006 release, Donuts. Donuts was created while Dilla was on his deathbed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles and was released just three days before he passed away. The album was created using a stack of records and a laptop, and is named after a food he loved but was told by doctors he could no longer eat. What is most striking about the album is the sense that it never resolves. Here was a man who deeply touched everyone who met him and was composing his last work and in this final act, Dilla chose to constantly keep the listener on his/her toes. This paper will explore some of the ways in which he does this, both at the macro level and the micro level and will also suggest some possible ideas for further study. Analysis “Workinonit” is the first track on Dilla’s 2006 album, Donuts. The track contains samples from at least seven other recordings, some of which are well known and some of which are more obscure. One of the ways in which hip hop beats are made is by sampling parts of tracks by other artists and then reworking and altering those samples into new compositions, a technique which is called “chopping.” Similarly, “looping” involves taking longer segments and repeating them with “little or no alteration” (Schloss 2004, 106). Part of the aesthetic in hip hop production involves the art of “crate digging” searching for obscure records with which to make new and novel beats (79-100). It is not uncommon for a hip hop producer to have thousands of records, and Dilla had a massive
!
5!
collection. Gary Koral, the owner of the Detroit record store Melodies and Memories which Dilla used to frequent states that: “He would come in almost everyday for years…and he would stack up records everyday. Not only would he spend money…he’s going to drop three to five hundred dollars…but I remember one day he was on the rock side of the store…and I go over there and I say ‘Jay, what the hell are you doing on this side of the store?’…and he starts laughing and he says ‘Man I’ve been through all that RnB and Jazz. I’ve got every album you guys got’” (FuzeTV). Karriem Riggins spoke to me once about the art of crate digging, and said he learned a lot when a record he had dismissed ended up in Dilla’s stack at the cash register. A week later, Dilla had made an amazing beat with it. In order to fully understand and appreciate what is going on in “Workinonit” the listener should also familiarize themselves with the seven tracks that Dilla samples in his piece, listed in Table 1, and culled from the website whosampled.com, an excellent collaborative resource in which people find out what albums are sampled in individual hip hop tracks. What’s interesting about “Workinonit” is that Dilla uses some relatively obscure samples along with some well known ones, like the vocal track from the Beastie Boys highly successful 1986 album, Licensed to Ill. Likewise, “Pee-Wee’s Dance,” which also appears, has been sampled in dozens of other hip hop tracks. However, keeping with the creative aesthetic in hip hop that involves the search for obscure records, the bulk of the material for “Workinonit” comes from a track by the 1970s British band 10CC ironically entitled “The Worst Band In the World.” According to whosampled.com, this track has only been sampled by J Dilla. “The Worst Band In The World,” is a tongue in cheek piece in which the protagonist takes the perspective of a famous band, and then takes the perspective of a record spinning on a turntable. It’s clear from the lyrics why Dilla enjoyed this track, given his love of records. He reworks many
!
6!
of the samples taken from the song to create an entirely new composition and in Dilla’s new piece the reconstituted beat seems to remain steady throughout the track, even though it is assembled from disparate moments in the 10CC song. The Roots’ drummer Questlove discusses this phenomenon by describing how Dilla was able to find the perfect samples for his MPC3000 sampler so that when he played them, “He made it sound like it was an actual loop” (Questlove, 2014). Importing the track into Logic and applying the metronome reveals that the tempo hovers around 185 BPM, at time fluctuating faster or slower. This is perhaps due to minute tempo fluctuations on the 10CC track. I chose to use measures as the medium for delineating time in the piece (as opposed to minutes and seconds) because: 1.) I found that many of the parts of the piece fall into clearly defined and delineated measures, and 2.) because it is more intuitively accessible for musicians and standard practice for analysis. It is easier for readers to comprehend a span of eight bars than say, 9:02 seconds. If one places an audio file of “Workinonit” in Logic or another DAW and sets the tempo to 185 beats per minute, and changes the tempo at the times listed in Table 9, they will find that the track length is exactly 137 measures. For ease of the analysis, the Dilla track is a binary form roughly divided into nine separate sections: {the Introduction, Exposition A, Exposition B, Development A, Exposition A’}:{Introduction to the CODA, CODA Part A, CODA Part B, and CODA Part C}. We will analyze each section below. Introduction (Table 1) The introduction for “Workinonit” consists of seven bars; Dilla uses odd measured phrases quite frequently. Classical violin virtuoso Miguel Atwood-Ferguson
!
7!
says, "Dilla loves five-bar loops. He loves sevens and elevens as well, but within the phrases of five, he will have different parts of the beat looped in threes, fives and sevens a lot as well” (Fitzpatrick, 2011). The primary sample for the Introduction is taken from the first eight seconds of the 10CC song. This sample contains a tape speed up effect, which is most likely the recorded sound of an analog tape machine turning on, a common technique in rock music production at that time. Behind this “ramp up” on the 10CC track is a relatively simple steady drum beat. Dilla’s reworking of these 7 seconds is ingenious. First, he transposes the whole track up a half step, which also increases the tempo. Second, he repeats the ramp up three times, so it sounds like a car revving up and down shifting. However, behind all this the beat remains steady: Dilla picked the perfect start and end points of each sample so that the beat would remain constant. In some ways, the beat that Dilla created sounds even more traditional and straightforward than the 10CC beat. In his reworking the snare drum plays hits on a steady 2 and 4, while in the original version the drums play a more syncopated rhythm. Dilla ends the Introduction in measure 7 by using a sample from 00:19 – 00:21 in the 10CC track. The drums in this sample play a syncopated rhythm, with the snare hitting on the “and” of beats 1 and 2. Dilla takes the second of these “ands” and places it right after the downbeat of the snare drums 4th beat hit of the “ramp up” sample, creating an eighth note hit leading into bar 8 of the piece. This serves to let the listener know that the seven bar introduction is over and also leads the listener into the next section of the piece. The echo of the guitar part helps add to this change. While the first seven bars occur primarily in the center of the stereo spectrum, the guitars and their echoes at bar 8 are panned hard left and right, creating a true stereo image.
!
8!
There are two other samples used in the introduction of the piece. The first is from the Mantronix track, “King of the Beats.” At the beginning of this track, there is a sirenlike sound that Dilla uses throughout the entirety of Donuts, one of the main elements that provides a sense of cohesion to the whole album. It is the very first sound that we hear on “Workinonit” and the fact that Dilla used it in this way is telling: it immediately grabs the listener’s attention. The other sample that is used in the introduction and throughout the song is from the Beastie Boys track “The New Style,” from their 1986 release Licensed to Ill. Dilla works with this sample throughout the track, manipulating the pitch, cutting up the sample, and adding echo and other effects. While this paper’s purpose is to analyze the piece as a whole an entire study could be made just from examining how Dilla manipulates this one Beastie Boys sample. Exposition A (Table 2) Bars 8-25 serve as the exposition of the piece: there are several elements that Dilla introduces in this section which are developed further later on in the track. At bar 15, we hear a single distorted guitar power chord (the root and fifth) that is taken from 00:23 of the 10CC track. In the original recording there are four different power chords but Dilla only uses two of them in “Workinonit.” Dilla first plays one of the chords at measure 15, and then at measure 17, he plays two of them. Halfway through measure 18, we hear a reverse drum roll, which leads us into the next melodic theme, taken from 00:37 of the 10CC track. The way Dilla chops the sample obscures the original fuzz guitar sound and creates a sonic illusion resembling the Mantronix sample. These sounds come from the left speaker, while the vocals singing “Tune Up” in response come from the right speaker. This panning is happening on the original 10CC track as well, but the
!
9!
way Dilla chops up the samples provides an interesting panning effect. For example, the second time Dilla plays the “Tune Up” sample, at 00:28, he only uses the first part of it: the word “tune.” This is quickly followed by another sample of the word “Oo” from 1:47 of the 10CC track. While “Tune” is on the right side of the spectrum, “Oo” is panned center. Combined with the fuzzed guitar solo, the ear hears in rapid succession different samples moving from left to right to center. This chopping keeps the listener’s interest and also prepares us for the next section of the piece, beginning in measure 25. Exposition B (Table 2) The distinguishing feature of this section, which uses a sample taken from 1:54 to 1:57 of the 10CC track, is the tambourine. On the 10CC track this section is brief, but Dilla loops the sample for a full six full bars before switching to another similar sample that occurs from 1:07 to 1:15 in the 10CC track. In this second sample the vocals sing “Workin on it,” and there is also a tambourine, but the snare drum provides a subtle but important difference. While in the “Play me” sample, the snare hits on beat 3 of each measure, in the “Workin on it” sample, we hear the snare on beats 4 and 3 in alternating measures. This is a difference that is masked by the similarity of the vocal tracks and the constant interjections of the Mantronix and fuzz guitar samples and the introduction of a new sample: a groaning woman’s voice from an RnB track by Sweet Charles Sharell entitled “Yes Its You.” The alternating snare drum hits, as well as the tambourine both help to propel the music forward. The way Dilla ends this section bears consideration. While some artists might make the decision to end the section in a “regular” fashion, at the end of 4, 8, 12 or 16 bars, Dilla creates anticipation by ending the sample halfway through measure 37 - 12
!
10!
and a half bars after it begins. Dilla novelly inserts the Mantronix sample on the “and” of the 4th beat of measure 29. A lesser producer might think to put it on the downbeat of measure 28, right after the words “Play Me,” but Dilla’s placing of the sample is masterful. It helps bring the listeners attention to the first declaration of the song’s title, as the vocals exclaim “Workin on it!” In measure 29 Dilla manipulates the sample, so that instead of the vocals saying “Play me,” they sound like “Ray me,” a manipulation that again keeps the listener off balance and provides preparation for the first declaration of “Workin on it.” This is a really subtle manipulation, but as I delved further and further into the track, listening to it over and over, I discovered many similar examples warranting further study. Development A (Table 4) From measures 41 to 56 Dilla develops the samples heard in the Introduction and Exposition by chopping and manipulating them. The development section begins and ends in a similar fashion: with the reverse drum roll initially heard in measure 18. In Development A, we hear it at measure 44. Dilla then switches back and forth in rapid succession between the “fuzz guitar” sample and the “Workin on it” vocal sample. The “Workin on it” sample contains a tambourine that is panned right, so there’s a quick exchange between that sound coming from the right speaker and the guitars coming from the left speaker. All the declarations of “Workin on it” occur on the downbeat, in measures 47, 49 and 51. Over all of this is the “groan” sample with a heavy amount of echo. Dilla ends this section with a quick sample from the Beastie Boys, and then the reverse drum roll in M. 54. Exposition A’: Table 5
!
11!
The next segment of the piece, from MM. 57-73 is an exact replication of Exposition A with a slight difference in the last bar. In the original exposition, from MM. 37-40, we hear the fuzzed guitar sample, but Dilla does some interesting chopping with it. In Exposition A, he chops off the sample rapidly. But in Exposition A’ from MM. 6770, Dilla plays the complete sample, just like it is heard in the beginning of the track (from MM 19-22). Also, in Exposition A’ Dilla gives a full two bars of space after the sample (MM 71 and 72). After this space we hear a single power chord followed quickly with a sample from “Pee Wee’s Dance” of someone saying “Oh!” The sound of this “Oh!” is very different from the “Oo” heard at 00:23, but serves a similar purpose, as it leads the listener into the next section of the piece. Introduction to the Coda: Table 6 This is the simplest and shortest section of “Workinonit,” and arguably could be considered part of Exposition A’ or the CODA. However, I have decided to highlight it as it’s own section, primarily because of its aesthetic simplicity in relation to the rest of the work. For eight full bars, Dilla loops the same sample, “Fade me.” Perhaps due to the pitch manipulation, the “F” sound has turned “S”, and to my ears, it sounds like they are saying “Save me.” However, upon closer examination of the 10CC track, one finds that at 2:20, the vocals do indeed sound like this, and it is this part that Dilla chooses to loop, leaving one to wonder if he chose this section precisely because of it’s vocal ambiguity. This is especially relevant when one considers that the other repetitions of “Fade me” on the 10CC track all have clear diction along with the same drum rhythm and guitar parts. Clearly, using this particular sample was a conscious aesthetic choice by Dilla. CODA: Tables 7, 8 and 9
!
12!
One might ask if MM 74-137 can even be considered a CODA, as they take up almost half of the track. However, there is a clear cohesion to this entire section, and while I have chosen to label it as a CODA, I will also divide it into 3 separate sections. The primary material that Dilla uses in this section switches back and forth between two similar samples in the 10CC track: 00:08 – 00:11 and 00:26 – 00:28. Both samples have a descending thirds melody in the guitars, but in the sample at 00:26, the low E of the guitars rings underneath, as it fades out from the power chords in the previous section. It is this distinction that provides fodder for Dilla’s variations throughout the CODA. However, the sample that delineates the different sections of the CODA comes from Raymond Scotts track “Sprite: Mellonball Bounce.” Dilla uses a sample from this track as a sort of “synth pad” in the upper frequencies. It comes in right at M. 82 along with the 00:26 10CC sample with the low E guitar string. This is the place in the track where there is the widest frequency range between the lowest pitched sounds and the highest pitched sounds. Over this, Dilla uses his most heavy manipulations of the Beastie Boys sample yet, chopping it and adding echo, along with vocal interruptions from “Pee Wee’s Dance” (MM. 83 and 88). While initially the Raymond Scott sample is in the background, at measure 93 it jumps to the foreground, and becomes an antithesis to the siren and ramp up sounds heard in the rest of the track. Once the Raymond Scott sample comes in, we never again hear the power chord guitars, moaning, fuzz guitars, “Working on it,” “Play me,” or “Tune up” samples. Dilla gradually fades out the Raymond Scott sample, and from MM. 101 to 115, there is no “pad,” and so I’ve chosen to call this section CODA Part B.
!
13!
The first 8 bars of CODA Part B are similar in simplicity to 8 bars of the Introduction to the Coda, in that they are just one looped sample. However in bar 109 Dilla - never allowing a chance for respite - includes the “low e” sample, with the sound of the “low e” guitar string coming in on the “and” of beat 4 – similarly to the Mantronix sample in measure 29. Dilla allows this “low e” to ring out over the next two bars and then includes the “pause” beat found at 00:12 of the 10CC track. Immediately after this pause the Raymond Scott track comes back in at measure 116, and we enter the final section of the piece: CODA Part C. CODA Part C contains further manipulations of the Beastie Boys track and even includes one new sample: a high clarinet sound found at the beginning of Malcolm McLaren’s track “Buffalo Gals.” This new sample is found in measure 119, and it is the only time we hear it in the track. Dilla continues moving back and forth between the “low e” sample and the sample without the “low e” before introducing another “pause” beat at measure 136. After this pause, one might expect that Dilla would continue with some more beats similar to what we’ve heard in the rest of a track, but true to form we hear only one more measure after this before Dilla abruptly cuts the piece off on the 4th beat of measure 137. Conclusion As I’ve mentioned several times in this paper, there are many further angles of study that one could take with “Workinonit.” Because my vocabulary in hip hop is limited, I imagine that there are many elements of this piece that I am not hearing, and I have to wonder if there is a deeper meaning behind the samples that Dilla used. For example, when Bud Powell quotes a Charlie Parker melody in his solos, I can
!
14!
immediately pick up on it, as I am steeped in the genre of jazz. I imagine that for someone who has a deep understanding of hip hop, the very samples themselves will have an increased level of significance. Why for example did Dilla choose a relatively unknown track from a 70s British Band, and pair it with one of the most well known hip hop recordings of all time – while at the same time manipulating the sample from that well know track to the extreme? Another question I’ve wondered about is whether or not some of the decisions made in the track were just based on gut instincts. As a composer I know that I will often go with something just because I like the way it sounds, and I’ve worked with many producers who pass very quick judgment on the different sounds that I bring to the studio as a guitarist; what one producer doesn’t like, another may relish – and often times it’s based on a quick instinctual decision. However, having read about how particular Dilla was (apparently he knew where every one of his thousands of records were individually located, and could tell if someone had been looking at them), and having seen the amazing structural elements in “Workinonit” I tend to believe that he had a very concrete idea of what he wanted to do, and his colleagues can attest to that (FuzeTV). As we have seen, “Workinonit” is a highly evolved and structured musical piece, and it is only the first track on Donuts. In the future I hope to examine some of the other pieces on the album, as well as analyzing works by other hip hop artists. It has been incredibly insightful and has helped me to hear the music in a whole new way. While I am still nowhere near being steeped in the genre, I feel that with this analysis, I have a basic understanding of and appreciation for what I am hearing. What I find most inspiring is that just like Mozart’s operas, hip hop is the music of this time, and many of its
!
15!
composers are still alive and producing new work. To be able to listen to these pieces is a great gift, and I am excited to continue my explorations and listening.
!
16!
Bibliography Anonymous. Whosampled.com. http://www.whosampled.com/J-Dilla/Workinonit/. Accessed October 13, 2014. Atkins, Brian ‘B. Kyle’. “J. Dilla Still Shining.” http://thejdillaproject.com/, Gifted Films Inc. 2011. Champaneri, Nilesh. 2009. “Compositional Analysis of Hip Hop Music.” MA Dissertation. De Montfort University. D’Errico, Michael A.. 2011. “Behind the Beat: Technical and Practical Aspects of Instrumental -Hip hop Composition.” MA Dissertation. Tufts University. Fitzpatrick, Rob. 2011. “J Dilla: the Mozart of hip-hop.” The Guardian. http://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jan/27/j-dilla-suite-ma-dukes. January 27. Frank N Dank TC. 2010, “J Dilla In The Studio.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bv3h9D3v_8. Accessed October 13, 2014. Fuse TV, 2013. “J Dilla’s Vinyl Collection.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XL3ENrZwjmw. Reed, Louis Allen. 2013. “Lou Reed Talks Kanye West’s Yeezus.” The Talk House. http://thetalkhouse.com/music/talks/lou-reed-of-the-velvet-underground-talks-kanyewests-yeezus/. Schloss, Joseph G., 2004. “Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop.” Weslyan University Press. Questlove. “Couch Wisdom: Questlove of J Dilla’s Sampling Technique.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-h1K34Y468. Red Bull Music Academy.2014.
!
17!
Appendix
!
18!
!
19!
!
20!
!
21!
!
22!
!
23!
!
24!
Table 9
!
25!
