Stephen F. Austin State University SFA ScholarWorks Electronic Theses and Dissertations Summer 8-11-2018 Analysis of Sampling Techniques by J Dilla in Donuts Zachary Diaz [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds Part of the Music Theory Commons Tell us how this article helped you. Repository Citation Diaz, Zachary, "Analysis of Sampling Techniques by J Dilla in Donuts" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 197. https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/197 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by SFA ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of SFA ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Analysis of Sampling Techniques by J Dilla in Donuts Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License. This thesis is available at SFA ScholarWorks: https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/197 ANALYSIS OF SAMPLING TECHNIQUES BY J DILLA IN DONUTS By ZACHARY BENNETT FISHER DIAZ, Bachelor of Music Presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Stephen F. Austin State University In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements For the Degree of Master of Music STEPHEN F. AUSTIN STATE UNIVERSITY August 2018 ANALYSIS OF SAMPLING TECHNIQUES BY J DILLA IN DONUTS By ZACHARY BENNETT FISHER DIAZ, Bachelor of Music APPROVED: ___________________________________________ Samantha Inman, Ph.D., Thesis Director ___________________________________________ Stephen Lias, Ph.D., Committee Member ___________________________________________ James Adams, M.M., Committee Member ___________________________________________ Court Carney, Ph.D., Committee Member _____________________________________________ Pauline M. Sampson, Ph.D. Dean of Research and Graduate Studies ABSTRACT The late James Yancey, known by his producer name of Jay Dee or J Dilla, is considered by many hip-hop scholars and musicians to be one of the most influential producers of the genre. His techniques of sampling are some of the most creative and intricate in the world of hip-hop beat making and are viewed as virtuosic in their own right. By analyzing his compositional process through selected tracks on his seminal (and final) album Donuts, I will be exploring how Dilla used over seventy-five samples from a variety of music genres and artists to create a sonic collage that is one of the most influential instrumental works of hip-hop genre. This analysis will demonstrate the sampling techniques of J Dilla, illustrating methodologies for analyzing specific sampling techniques. Out of the thirty-one tracks on the album Donuts, I will be analyzing several tracks within the three main chapters of the thesis: “Workinonit,” “Mash,” “Time: Donut of the Heart,” “Glazed,” and “Don’t Cry.” By applying specific methodologies of analysis to specific tracks on Donuts, I highlight the complexities and nuances involved in transforming the original sampled audio into an entirely new piece of music. i TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Introduction: The Producer as Composer and the Rise of Instrumental Hip-Hop 1 I. The Influence of J Dilla and the Story of Donuts 10 II. Plunderphonic Tension, Resolution, and Artifacting in “Don’t Cry” 26 III. Digital Processing Effects in “Mash,” “Time: Donut of the Heart,” and “Glazed” 40 IV. Sample Collage Techniques Through Amanda Sewell’s “Typology of Samples in Hip-Hop” in “Workinonit 55 Conclusion: J Dilla’s Influence on Current Hip-Hop Music Production 70 Bibliography 74 Vita 79 ii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Image of the Akai Professional MPC60 4 Figure 2: Image of J Dilla in his home studio 11 Figure 3: Comparison of “Quantized” and “Un-Quantized” Stylized Drum Patterns in “Untitled/Fantastic” by Slum Village 14 Figure 4: Transcription of “Get Dis Money” 16 Figure 5: Example of “Chopping” Technique on the MPC, from Mike D’Errico’s “Behind the Beat” thesis 17 Figure 6: Tracklist of Donuts and occurrences of the “Dilla Siren” 21 Figure 7: Description and Features of Ableton Live 9 Software 25 Figure 8: Ableton remake of “Don’t Cry” 32 Figure 9: Lyrics that feature Plunderphonic Transformation in “Don’t Cry” 34 Figure 10: Rhythmic transcription of composite drum pattern 36 Figure 11: Transcription of Composite Melody at 0:40 of “Don’t Cry” 37 Figure 12: Layout of the Boss SP-303 “Dr. Sample” 42 Figure 13: Audio Loop and melodic transcription of Guitar Melody in “Time: The Donut of the Heart” 45 Figure 14: Vocal sample playing simultaneously with Guitar Melody, Ableton and Sheet music transcription 47 Figure 15: Time-stretched guitar melody vs. original guitar melody in “Time” 49 Figure 16: Diagram of Ring Modulation 50 Figure 17: Audio of “It’s Strange” sample from Lou Rawls’ “Season of the Witch” 52 Figure 18: Table Listing all samples in “Workinonit, Sample Type, and times in which the samples occur 59 Figure 19: Featured Samples in “Workinonit,” 0:00-0:20 60 Figure 20: Highlighted Rhythmic “Stabs” of “Sweet” Charles Sherrell Sample at 0:40 of “Workinonit” 62 Figure 21: Transcription of guitar & synthesizer melody at 2:09 of “Workinonit” 63 Figure 22: Rearranged lyrics in “Workinonit” vs. original lyrics in “Worst Band in the World” 66 Figure 23: Repeated audio samples at 0:13 and 1:44 of “Workinonit” 67 Figure 24: Reversed snare at 0:22 or measure 9 of “Workinonit” 68 iii 1 INTRODUCTION The Producer as Composer and the Rise of Instrumental Hip-Hop In a 2012 interview with hip-hop magazine XXL, drummer and founding member of the acclaimed hip-hop group The Roots, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson, expressed great admiration of the late producer J Dilla. Born as James DeWitt Yancey to a family of Detroit musicians, J Dilla is considered by many hip-hop scholars and musicians to be one of the most influential producers of the genre. His techniques of sampling (or as Questlove puts it: “tricks”) are some of the most complex and intricate in the world of hip-hop beat making and are viewed as virtuosic in their own right.1 When asked about what specifically is so appealing about a J Dilla production, Questlove answered: I like his kick patches better than anyone; I love his snare patches better than anyone; I love his sample chops better than anyone; I like his ability to flip samples better than anyone; I like his engineering better than anyone; I love his chord structure better than anyone; I love his bass tones better than anyone. It really just starts there. And having listened to all of his beat creations, and over- analyzed them over a hundred times each, there's just an extreme pristine presentation.2 A multitude of skills and techniques go into creating an instrumental hip-hop track, also known as a hip-hop “beat.” Several scholars have explored the nuances of hip- 1 Rob Fitzpatrick, “J Dilla: the Mozart of hip-hop,” The Guardian, January 27, 2011, accessed May 9, 2017, https://www.theguardian.com/music/2011/jan/27/j-dilla-suite-ma-dukes. 2 Adam Fleischer, “Questlove on why J Dilla was the best rap producer of all time,” XXL, February 11, 2012, accessed January 28, 2018, http://www.xxlmag.com/news/2012/02/questlove- on-why-dilla-was-the-best-rap-producer-of-all-time/. 2 hop production, with the most influential work being Joseph Schloss’s Making Beats: The Art of Sample-Based Hip-Hop.3 According to Schloss, although more traditional musical skills are involved with hip-hop music production, such as an understanding of harmony, melody, and rhythm, one of the most innovative aspects is the process of sampling, or borrowing recordings from another source, such as a vinyl record. This process of sampling has allowed the genre of hip-hop to be influenced by other popular music genres (from popular funk and soul records in earlier days of hip-hop in the 1970s to more obscure jazz and R&B records in the 1990s) and has aided in the development of hip-hop’s own sound and identity, becoming an amalgamation of other sounds and music styles from a wide variety of other popular music genres.4 As music technology and production have evolved, the sound and production of hip-hop has also evolved with it. The use of the MPC, or Music Production Center, has shaped the compositional process of hip-hop beat making since its release by Akai Professional in 1987. With the machine’s sixteen pads, this device allows the user to digitally sample audio, rearrange said audio, and sequence audio into one or several patterns or loops. As the technology of sampling has evolved over time, so too have the producers who use said technologies, taking what was once a tool for aggregating sequenced musical patterns from other instruments and samples and using the sampler 3 Joseph G. Schloss, “It’s About Playing Records,” Making Beats: The Art of Sample- Based Hip-Hop, Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2004, 25. 4 Throughout this document, the term “sampling” will refer to the general act of digital musical borrowing, as well as the act borrowing a specific sonic event from another recording. 3 itself as an instrument.5 Several scholarly works have even observed this use of digital samplers, with the most recent example being Michael D’Errico’s master’s thesis discussing the history and evolution of the MPC and its influence on hip-hop instrumental composition. Composer John Oswald even prophesized this use of the sampler as an instrument in his essay “Plunderphonics, or Audio Piracy as a Compositional Prerogative,” written several years before the MPC was created.6 Figure 1 shows an image of the MPC (or Music Production Center) digital sampler, first released in 1987 by Akai Professional.