After winning both an Oscar and Peabody Award for his Summer Of Soul documentary, Questlove is ready to embark on new filmmaking projects. Today, The Roots drummer has been announced as an executive producer for Dilla Time, a documentary about the life and times of hip-hop producer J Dilla. The documentary is based on the book Dilla Time: The Life And Afterlife Of J Dilla, The Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm, by Dan Charnas. Charnas is also a producer on the project, along with Questlove’s Summer Of Soul partner Joseph Patel. Questlove’s Two One Five Entertainment will helm the project along with Cinetic Media, Scenario Media, and The Estate Of James Dewitt Yancey (J Dilla).
“Explaining musical genius is my mission,” Questlove said in a statement. “To be able to tell the world about the musician that had the most influence on me is a dream come true. Not just on me, but on an entire generation of musicians that everyone knows and loves. J Dilla was our teacher. And what he taught us was how to feel rhythm in a way we had ever felt before. I’m so honored to be a part of bringing his story to the world through this documentary.”
Dilla passed away in 2006, but his influence in hip-hop has only grown since then. The documentary will look at his legacy as it continues to be shaped, and lives on in the music of past collaborators like Erykah Badu, Common, A Tribe Called Quest, Busta Rhymes, Slum Village, and so many more.
This will serve as the first and only documentary of J Dilla. His estate added, “We trust the judgment of Ahmir, Joseph, Dan, and Scenario to elevate Dilla’s life, music, and legacy to their rightful place in the canon of music’s great innovators; and their film is the only documentary project we have endorsed.”