J Dilla: Dan Charnas on the Life and Legacy of Jay Dee

Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

Today we’re talking to Dan Charnas—author, hip-hop journalist, professor, show runner, former A&R person for Def American, and also a longtime friend of Rick Rubin's. Charnas's latest book, Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm is the product of four years of exhaustive research and nearly 200 interviews.

On today’s episode, Rick Rubin speaks with Dan Charnas about how the roots of his new book go all the way back to a trip to Detroit with rapper Chino XL to work with the producer then known as Jay Dee. Rick and Dan also reminisce about their earliest memories together and Dan shares what it was like meeting Rick’s mother, Mrs. Rubin, for the first time.

Subscribe to Broken Record’s YouTube channel to hear all of our interviews: https://www.youtube.com/brokenrecordpodcast and follow us on Twitter @BrokenRecord.

You can also check out past episodes here: https://brokenrecordpodcast.com.

Hear a playlist of all of our favorite songs produced by J Dilla as well as songs Dan Charnas worked on HERE.

If you’d like to keep up with the most recent news from this and other Pushkin podcasts be sure to sign up for our email list at Pushkin.fm.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.