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Tuesday, January 20, 2026

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Watch the first Music Book Club interview, with Dan Charnas of ‘Dilla Time’!

The acclaimed author and educator told us how he wrote his epic tome on the Detroit hip-hop beats genius.

48 Hills is stoked to partner with music (and food!) writer Tamara Palmer on Music Book Club, featuring tremendous authors talking about their books on music legends.



The first Music Book Club interview, from last Sunday, offered loads of fascinating anecdotes and ideas from Dan Charnas, author of acclaimed 2022 bestseller Dilla Time: The Life and Afterlife of J Dilla, the Hip-Hop Producer Who Reinvented Rhythm. He spoke about Dilla’s revolutionary sounds, his complicated and sometimes violent personal life, and how he wrote the book, conducting almost 200 interviews. Check out more free Music Book Club online events here (the next one is Feb. 7 with Danyel Smith of Shine Bright: A Very Personal History of Black Women in Pop Music. Join us!

48 Hills welcomes comments in the form of letters to the editor, which you can submit here. We also invite you to join the conversation on our Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

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