Thelonious Martin is a J. Dilla head. He constantly references rare Dilla beats as if they are common knowledge, and in a way similar to how Walter Sobchak brings everything back to Vietnam, Martin can find the Dilla in just about any situation. He also knows the exact time when he first encountered the sounds from the man who would become his musical hero.
“I was 14 when Donuts came out,” he told me. “I’d heard The Bump on Adult Swim, they had one before the show “Home Movies”. It came on around 11:30PM. It was the “Intro/Outro” to Donuts. It was only about 10 seconds, but I heard it and was like, ‘yo, what is this.’ So I went on my computer and youtubed, ‘first Adult Swim Bump’, looked what the description was, found it and found J. Dilla. Then I went further went into his music, what samples he was using, I found Donuts the album. The rest is history.”
We asked Thelonious to give us his top 5 favorite Dilla beats, and he obliged. Check them out below.
“Believe In God”
[audio:http://rubyhornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dilla_Believe-In-God.mp3|titles=dilla_Believe In God]
This is from J Loves Japan. I know the record he sampled, but to this day I can’t even fathom how he brought that to be a beat. That’s why it’s on my top 5 list.
“Donuts (Intro)”
[audio:http://rubyhornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/31-Donuts-Intro.mp3|titles=Donuts Intro]
This is off Donuts. That’s actually the bump I heard on Adult Swim that got me into beats, really. I heard it and was really trying to sit there and figure out how people make music like this. It made me take a step back and think about making music.
“Stepson The Clapper”
[audio:http://rubyhornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/14-Stepson-of-the-Clapper.mp3|titles=14 Stepson of the Clapper]
Also off Donuts, Definitely one of my favorites. Everyone has flipped the Long Red Record, but none slap like that. It’s kind of ridiculous.
“Love It Here”
[audio:http://rubyhornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dilla_beat_Track-05.mp3|titles=dilla_beat_Track 05]
I have the J.D. Beat Tape 3, which includes some instrumentals that some people don’t have. Like the Elzhi, “Love It Here” beat. I’ve heard this sample flipped a bunch of times, but there’s just something about the way Dilla did it, there’s a certain element and rawness to it that gives me the ugly face.
“Track 3”
[audio:http://rubyhornet.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/dilla_beat_Track-03.mp3|titles=dilla_beat_Track 03]
I don’t even know the title to this beat. It’s beat number 3 off Beat Tape 3, and I mean, again it’s like a sample that pretty much everyone knows but there’s just a certain way he does it. It’s just ridiculous.