How J Dilla made a drum machine swing like a human player. Written and directed by Estelle Caswell for Vox’s Earworm, 2017. 10 min
Before his death in 2006 the Detroit producer worked with Erykah Badu, Janet Jackson, Busta Rhymes, Madlib and many others. The episode shows how he switched off quantization and placed his drums slightly off the grid, building a feel that went beyond the Akai MPC he made it on. His MPC is now in a museum.
With J Dilla.
On YouTube from Vox.