Questlove writes of Dilla, These are the things that built my career

[On The Edge of Insanity]

Swipped from Okayplayer, Queslove's blog (http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=14437053&blogID=86896414)

1. the kicks on pharcyde's "Bullshit"
2. the piano loop on pharcyde's "Runnin"
3. the chopping of herbie hancock's chords on "fantastic pt 1"
4. the whole idea of "i don't know"
5. those chords on "fat cat song" mixed with "turn off the lights" "oohs ahhs and say!"
6. the synchopated stutter kicks he programmed t3's "when you grip the mic biy you wack as hell..."
7. the background pattern on "the look of love"
8. the bill evans rhodes on "hoc and pocky"
9. the drum pattern sloppppppily displayed mastery on "beej n dem"
10.the clever use of "....(glasses clank) ....friday the 13th....." on beej en dem
11.the chopping of "fly like an eagle" on "Fantastic 2"
12. synchopated use of words as percussion on "fantastic 2 and 3"
13. the odd count pattern on "fantastic 3"
14. manipulating the unlimited singers "claire" to say "players"
15. the chord structure of "Pregnant"
16. the rhyme pattern of "things u do" (remix) and
17 the mangling of "jonez in my bonz" for "things you do" remix
18.the use of the floor tom in "hold tight"
19.HIM LETTING ME DRUM ON "TELL ME" LOL
20.marrying al b's "night and day"/"fly like an eagle"
21. the "is it all over my face" drums on "forth and back"
22.FALL IN LOVE is in my top 10 songs of all time.
23 Get Dis Money is in top 100 of all time
24.Raise it Up's marriage of Clinton (Drums) and Synth (daft punk)
25.the Kalimba in "Once Upon a Time"
26.His mangling of "Jonez In My Bones" and grabbing the "she's always in my hair" drums which is IMPOSSIBLE
27.Cb4's congos and choked cymbal work
28.Go Ladies flip of "holding you and loving you"
29. the kickwork on "Get Together"
30. the drunk programing on tribe's "wordplay"
31. the nerve of him freaking the carpenters on "straight boss hog"
32. the "just drunk enough to work" cat and mouse chase of the snare and kick on "fly girl" (send one of your love) mix
33. turning that song from anthrax (some live song) and turning it into the "long red" break on the "beej en em" remix.
34. his fake ass modesty when i told him his use of roy ayers "love from the sun" in slum's "the worlds full of sadness" was the ultimate. he shrugged and took it off Fantastic Vol 2 and replaced it with "Fall in Love"
35. Turning Sly's "in TIme" into an intense funk workout on "stupid ass lies"
36. the "winter challenge" when he made me pick a "useless" record and his gurantee that he would make a miracle out of it. the record: "give it to me baby" rick james, the freak: slowed the intro down and manipulated it into what later became: common's "doin it".
37. finding that loop (tony allen "aisko") for common's "heat"--and rash never ever finding the one.
38.Me telling you and com how much i thought "the light" was not "exciting enough!" and dilla could do something "a little better" (lol)....and yall STILL finished that song behind my back. (lol!!!!!!!!!!)
39.taking "Funky For You" and showing me how any 4/4 song can now be freaked in 12/8 meter.
40.the extended version of "Time Traveling". how i thought pino was playing bass and to my surprise when i left the drum booth james was on organ, d was on triton, melena was on percussion (she was in town with macy gray), roy was on trumpet, and pino was eating his food!!!! YOU played bass!!!!!!
41.of course "a film called pimp" was funky....but the magic was in the bill summers interlude that followed that i saw you freak.
42. you not getting mad at me when i took "afrodisiac" reels and reversed em so that jef lee johnson could do all that backwards stuff.
43. you, d and james adding the last burst of climax on that same song in the last :06 seconds with the most visual arpeggio bloom i've heard in my then 29 years. that right there was the most touching finish of any song i ever worked on.
44.you taking gil scott heron's udetetectable piano loop and turning it into "thelonius"---to this day i dont know how you heard that loop in your head. cause to hear it on Gil's album i woulda NEVER thought to freak it like that.
45. your homemade "time compression" trick for ensuring that "the payback" would be in the same key and rhythm as the key to "payback is a grandmother". being the pathetic peon of an executive producer i was i told com and you on the phone that "idea cant work cause the notes wont match"....you never once told me "NIGGA SHUT THE FUCK UP!!! DONT YOU KNOW THAT I AM YOUR GOD?!?!?!?"
46. the swirl of a circus sound in the chorus of "certified" on guru's joint.
47. the bass drag on bilal's "reminisce"
48. you cloning primo to the bone on phat kats "dedication to the suckers"
49.the first 10 seconds (with "flub flub flub Love luh luh ") part on "microphone master"--not to mention that guitar loop is killer.
50. my FAVorite loop of yours: "Don't Nobody Care About Us" phat kat


these are songs that built my career.

[Sir Petey]

thank you so much for posting this...I got my copy of donuts the day he died....