There’s a halo of reverence around J Dilla, a producer and beatmaker from Detroit who made some of the most fascinating and influential beats in hip hop history. Before his early death in 2006, J Dilla worked with countless artists and producers — from Erykah Badu and Janet Jackson to Busta Rhymes and Madlib — and developed an off-kilter style of rhythm and sampling that transcended the machine he used to create music, the Akai Midi Production Center, otherwise known as the MPC.
