J Dilla: The Beatmaker Who Changed The Way Musicians Play

Discover a hidden genius—a man whom the greatest figures of contemporary pop call a “demigod” of music. J Dilla, who died in 2006 at the age of 32, never had a mainstream pop hit, but he created a new “time-feel” that forever changed the way musicians compose and play, whether they’re contemporary jazz composers, hip-hop artists, or rappers. Find out why this unsung visionary is revered everywhere from conservatories to universities, his ideas present in the music of Kendrick Lamar and Robert Glasper. With the recent New York Times bestseller Dilla Time, Dan Charnas, a pioneer of hip-hop journalism, gives us “one of the few hip-hop sagas to take the music as seriously as its maker” (Publishers Weekly). Joined by #1 New York Times bestselling author and screenwriter Adam Mansbach (Go the F**k to Sleep; I Had a Brother Once), Charnas will show us why recent Oscar-winner QUESTLOVE called Dilla “an unexplainable genius”—one whose gift and legacy is revealed at last in the pages of Dilla Time.

The bookstore partner for this session is Books Inc.! Buy the books online on their website, at Bookshop.org, or purchase them in person at the Festival. More information here.

Book signing information: Books Inc. tent in the park immediately after event