Thread by @dancharnas

Some of you have seen this symbol on my Twitter page, and on the Dilla Time website.

On the penultimate eve of the release of Dilla Time, it’s time to talk about The Triptych, and what it means…


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This is the Straight Time grid, representing stack of sounds in a rhythm in which all the beats are evenly spaced. /2

This is an example of a song in Straight time. /3

This is the Swing Time grid, representing stack of sounds in a rhythm in which the beats are uneven. /4

This is an example of a song in Swing Time. /5

This is the Dilla Time grid. It represents Dilla's singular rhythmic innovation, combining several sounds—some straight, others in varying degrees of swing—and putting them in conflict with each other. /6

The rhythmic friction that results is somewhat disorienting, and has been called sloppy, drunken, limping, dragging. But it’s very intentional. And it's a time-feel that people have been using in the 20 years since Dilla first pioneered it... /7

...widely employed in music, even from artists who have no direct relationship to him.

This is an example of a song in Dilla Time... /8

Now put them all together, and you have The Tripych. But… /9

I sometimes express the Dilla Time grid using the broken grid of Downtown Detroit. Why? A couple of reasons…

1. The map itself is a conflicted polyrhythm
2. It LOOKS like Dilla Time FEELS.
3. Dilla lived, as a baby, right there in that grid. He was born into it..... /10

So I like the stylized version of The Tripych, the totem of Dilla Time, symbolically uniting Dilla, Detroit, and Rhythm. But… /11

...there are some other resonances and meanings. Can I get a little semiotic here? The grid plays a role in the larger cosmology and symbology of Dilla… /12

What’s the symbol that most people associate with Dilla? It’s… /13

The donut…. 🍩 /14

Obviously, because that’s his last and frankly most famous album. But… /15

That shape, the RING, symbolizes the religiosity of Dilla, the posthumous iconography, the love movement, the irrational, unexplainable emotional connection people have with him & his music that has you up on Sunday morning reading long Twitter threads about Dilla. Maybe... /16

It also symbolizes the RECORD, his sacrament, and the connection that hip-hop and its beatmaking clergy mediate with machines between the past, present, and future. And maybe... /17

It also symbolizes, too, the kind of Dilla fandom that emerged with Donuts as the entry point.

Which for some of us older Dilla fans can be slightly… .....annoying? /18

So.... when I first thought about the design for the cover of Dilla Time, I sent my fantastic publisher (👊👊👊) a little memo of ideas. I was super clear about one thing:

Not. One. Motherfucking. Donut.

What did I want as the symbol of Dilla? The opposite! I wanted... /19

... THE GRID, which represents not only the way a programmer like Dilla creates events spaced in time, but some other important things... /20

It represents Jay Dee, the pad grid of the MPC, those years from his time in Amp’s basement until his breakthrough album, Slum Village's Fantastic Vol 2. This is not… /21

...the mystical side of Dilla, it’s the rational side, the science of Dilla. It’s the intention, the physics of movement. The mechanics. How things actually work. I wanted to... /22

...counterbalance the donut, and Donuts — *though I love them both!* — and bring *intention* and *science* back into the narrative. Dude wasn't *only* a sonic sorcerer, he was a *programmer*. If you like Star Wars, think of it this way… /23

We often talk about J Dilla as if all he did was "turn off his targeting computer" like Luke Skywalker did, blowing up the Death Star by feeling alone. You know, "Trust your *feelings*, Luke!"... /24

But he was also the nerd technician buried deep within Rebel command, the dude that actually *looked at the blueprints and found that little thermal exhaust port* so all you little hotshot pilots could go on in and drop some bombs... /25

Both the grid and the donut, for me represent the two sides of Jay Dee: irrational and rational, quantized and unquantized. They bring balance to the force. Which is, in a way, what I am trying to do with Dilla Time… /26

Which is interesting: Looking at @Rodrigo_Corral’s gorgeous cover design—which features the grid prominently—now what do I see?.. /27

... within that grid? Would you look at that?! A few dozen golden donuts. I was a grid militant, and Rodrigo brought balance to the force. /28

I hope y’all enjoy the book. Dilla is deep. You’re gonna find out just how deep that rabbit hole goes... /END

Order Dilla Time here, out Feb 1: DillaTimeBook.com