Dilla became the first producer I studied. His swing, timing, manipulation of sound — none of that made me a fan at first glance. It would take me years to digest those techniques; to this day, I still don’t know half of what he’s done. What hooked me was his sound selection, and the first track I latched on to was ‘Players.’ The bass bounces at you. The sample keeps time, which is especially nice if you lack rhythm. The drums feel like a cheering section; I have no choice but to join in through head nods. 

With ‘Players’ on repeat, it took less than two weeks for me to idolize this man. His ear for music pushes me to watch for the pieces of personality in the music I listen to; where does the artist go off? Feels what they’re doing? Since I was listening to Chaka Khan heavily then, both Dilla and Rufus allowed me to connect hip-hop to other genres. 

Sampling became more of an art to me. As I began digging the crates of other genres, my ear could recognize samples in the hip-hop joints I encountered. I wish I could pinpoint the first time I figured out the original from the sample. I know that version of me was bugging out – body shifted from the previous position, hands on head, and eyes bulged. I know my heart was racing as my mind tried to make sense of the reconstruction of what I’m used to hearing deconstructed. 

Dilla unlocked my ability to fall into that seat as a passive listener while feeding my hunger for finding the best samples. It became another way for me to enjoy music, removing the FOMO from not knowing the music and adding some excitement toward learning something new.