Producer Profile: J Dilla (part 3, 1998-1999)

Dilla, along with Q-Tip and Ali Shaheed Muhammad, continued their production as the Ummah by producing A Tribe Called Quest's 1998 album 'The Love Movement'. The lead single 'Find a Way' barely made a dent into the top 100 and although 'The Love Movement' peaked as #3 on the Billboard album charts, it didn't make much of a mark on the ever-changing landscape of hip-hop. 'Find a Way' begins a trend of odd, recent sample choices for Dilla - it nicks from Towa Tei's solo hit 'Technova (La Em Copacabana)' from only three years earlier. An album track from 'The Love Movement', 'His Name is Mutty Ranks', samples Aswad's 'Not Guilty'. A year later, Q-Tip would drop his solo album 'Amplified' with a heavier hitting single produced by Tip and Dilla: 'Vivrant Thing' (which samples portions of the Barry White produced 'I Wanna Stay' by the Love Unlimited Orchestra).

The Ummah lent production to Heavy D's second and final solo album in 1999 titled 'Heavy' (does production from the Ummah seem like the kiss of death to anyone else?). 'Listen' from 'Heavy' is typical of the Ummah style from the era. After the dissolution of the Ummah, both Q-Tip and J Dilla joined the loosely defined production collective known as the Soulquarians. Another artist from the collective is the Roots' ?uestlove. The link led to Dilla's production credit on the Roots' 'Dynamite!' from their critically acclaimed 1999 album 'Things Fall Apart'.

Check back for part 4 of our look at Dilla's career, including production work for Common, Erykah Badu, and De La Soul.

The Lowdown:
A Tribe Called Quest 'Find a Way' and 'His Name is Mutty Ranks'
from 'The Love Movement' (1998) (MP3/CD)
Towa Tei 'Technova (La Em Copacabana)'
from 'Future Listening!' (1995) (MP3 not available/CD)
Aswad 'Not Guilty'
from 'Live and Direct' (1983) (MP3 not available/CD)
Q-Tip 'Vivrant Thing'
from 'Amplified' (1999) (MP3 not available/CD)
Love Unlimited Orchestra 'I Wanna Stay'
from 'Music Maestro Please' (1975) (MP3 not available/CD not available)
Heavy D 'Listen'
from 'Heavy' (1999) (MP3/CD not available)
The Roots 'Dynamite!'
from 'Things Fall Apart' (1999) (MP3 not available/CD)

Producer Profile: J Dilla (Part 2, 1996-1997)

Following the limited success of 'Runnin'' by the Pharcyde, J Dilla (then, as Jay Dee) scored his second single 'Stakes is High' for De La Soul. 'Stakes is High', like 'Runnin'', was not initially successful but is now seen as one the essential mid 90s East Coast singles. The trademark laid-back beat for 'Stakes is High' is cut partially from James Brown's 'Mind Power' from his landmark album 'The Payback'. Dilla met Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest through Amp Fiddler in 1995, leading to the formation of the Ummah with Ali Shaheed Muhammed and Tip in 1996. One of the Ummah's most notable production credits is on Janet Jackson's 1997 single 'Got Til It's Gone', which famously interpolates Joni Mitchell's 1970 hit 'Big Yellow Taxi'. Though the actual production credits are still argued, the liner notes claim the producers of 'Got Til It's Gone' are Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, but many hip-hop fans contend that the beat is obviously by the Ummah.

In addition to breaking into the charts with the Ummah, Dilla was still trying to launch his own group, Slum Village. Slum Village, though not making an impression on Q-Tip at first, toured with A Tribe Called Quest in 1998. Due to problems with their label A&M, their 1997 album, 'Fan-tas-tic Vol. 1' was never officially released until 2005 (five years after the sequel was released). 'Fan-tas-tic Vol. 1' gives insight to Slum Village in an early stage and offers up some early Dilla beats. 'Forth & Back', in particular, shines with a sample from Herbie Hancock's 'I Thought it Was You'.

In a future post of this blog, we'll see Dilla's stock rise with Ummah's production for ATCQ's 'The Love Movement' and the formation of the Soulquarians.

The Lowdown:
De La Soul 'Stakes is High'
from 'Stakes is High' (1996) (MP3 not available/CD)
James Brown 'Mind Power'
from 'The Payback' (1973) (MP3/CD)
Janet Jackson 'Got Til It's Gone'
from 'The Velvet Rope' (1997) (MP3/CD)
Joni Mitchell 'Big Yellow Taxi'
from 'Ladies of the Canyon' (1970) (MP3/CD)
Slum Village 'Forth & Back'
from 'Fan-tas-tic Vol. 1' (1997) (MP3/CD)
Herbie Hancock 'I Thought it Was You'
from 'Sunlight' (1977) (MP3/CD)