J.Dilla’s “Sunbeams” is from The 1996 What Up Doe Sessions. The title comes from how many Detroiters greet each other by saying “What Up Doe?” The song was built with Joe Sample’s “Black Is The Color” and Grady Tate’s “Be Black Baby.” “Sunbeams” was another instance of Dilla’s genius understanding of rhythm. He took the samples from each song and turned them into an endless moody meditation helmed by a delicate snare drum. The sound of early morning or late at night depending on the listener is one of Dilla’s most famous instrumentals. The bootlegged collection of beats was recorded in 1996, the same time Dilla’s productions were being heard on De La Soul’s Stakes Is High and A Tribe Called Quest’s Beats, Rhymes and Life. The Detroit Pistons chose to honor J. Dilla in 2024 which would have been his 50th year of life with a new line of merchandise that will debut on March 13th.
