Onra via Onra/Instagram, J Dilla via Gregory Bojorquez
David Ma‘s TV ain’t HD, that’s too real.
J Dilla could build an entire world around one minor sound. Detroit’ own James Yancey was well known for flouting convention on the MPC, using unquantized drums that were tapped live (imperfections and all). But the vastness of genres he deliberately plucked from is an often under-appreciated aspect of his ear— rivaled perhaps only by Madlib’s eclectic sample choices.
Dilla’s approach and ideations have been well celebrated, but he’s also a guiding force for a whole generation of producers. Onra, a longtime Parisian producer, has built an expansive career of almost two decades by openly adopting some of Dilla’s techniques, working with labels like Fool’s Gold or All City Records, and rappers like Chuck Inglish and Daz Dillinger.
Onra gained immediate praise with 2007’s The Chinoiseries, a first-of-its-kind project driven specifically by scarce Vietnamese samples. It’s a staggering achievement to source original records from a war-torn country— even more difficult to navigate if you don’t speak the language (despite him being of Vietnamese descent). Remaining records, if found, are likely in congested city areas like Saigon or Hanoi, and even then, they’re likely tattered 45s, remnants of yesterday made before 1975 when the Americans fled. Records made after 1975 were considerably more tame and less interesting, most of which were sanctioned by the conservative government that took over.
Onra not only sourced the rarest of the rare but also constructed songs like “I Wanna Go Back” and “Smoking Buddha,” standouts from The Chinoiseries which sound like RZA demos that survived a flood on the Mekong. Onra lamented that old Vietnamese records like the ones he found have likely been picked clean at this point: “It was hard to communicate to locals what I was even looking for. It was scarce even back then [in 2005], so I can say there probably isn’t anything there now.”
Asian samples have long been a fodder for rappers. This isn’t anything new. For instance, 1999’s “Simon Says” by Pharoahe Monch famously used a snippet from a Godzilla soundtrack. Producers like Alchemist, Madlib, Just Blaze, and Dan the Automator have all used Asian samples to shift their songs in unpredictable directions, but the finished product never sounded particularly Asian (exceptions exist, of course, like swirling sitars on Jel’s “Near East Bounce”).
The use of Asian samples that outwardly retain their original qualities, rather than altered into unrecognizable bits, has been undoubtedly more prominent in recent years– particularly South East Asian ones– in part due to the success of projects like The Chinoiseries. This was expected, given the sheer number of unexcavated records in Asian territories. Like African records in the 2010s or ultra-obscure soul in the early 2000s– it was a new sonic palette to behold.
In 2020, DJ Preservation (Mos Def, Ka, and billy woods), released Eastern Medicine, Western Illness, a project made entirely from rarely heard records from Hong Kong. More recently, legendary turntablist DJ D-Styles’ production on J Scienide’s “Slovakia” specifically relies on Thai and Cambodian sources; clanky loops that sound like an outdoor market in Bangkok and a chorus replete with high-pitched psychedelic Khmer vocals reminiscent of a fever dream. DJ Platurn’s 45 Is The Virus Mix from 2020 is a celebration that showcases absurdly rare Asian records and has been a frequent go-to for hardcore collectors and producers.
Zudrangma Records, operating out of Thailand, has seen a huge recent boom in its revivalist record reissue series based on forgotten Psychedelic Thai records. Even more recently, Redman’s latest single, “Lalala,” interpolates Betty Chung’s fiery Mandarin take on Cher’s classic, “Bang Bang.” This heightened awareness of Asian rarer samples is galaxies away from Biz Markie’s “Chinese Food,” a silly ode to chicken chow mein from 2003.
I spoke with Onra for Ego Trip shortly after he released The Chinoiseries Pt. 2, a hugely anticipated sequel at the time. In 2014, he completed the ambitious trilogy with The Chinoiseries Pt. 3. While parts 2 and 3 focus more on Chinese samples, the first Chinoiseries remains a singular effort due to its synthesis of super scarce Vietnamese vinyl. We examined Onra’s working process and Dilla’s towering presence but also discussed his all-time favorite Dilla flips. “He traumatized me!” said Onra, explaining that Dilla is indeed his biggest influence. He also stressed: “These Dilla flips aren’t in any particular order or anything. I totally love these all songs equally.”
Source: Brenton Wood – “Gimme Little Sign” [Double Shot, 1967]
I’ve been a huge fan of Brenton Wood for a while now. It was like 2004, me and my friends just came back from some flea market in the countryside of France and I found a 7-inch of Brenton Wood’s “Gimme Little Sign”. I played it on my turntable and got all excited! I played it on loop for a few times, telling my friends ‘Yo, listen to that organ loop!!!’ But none of them liked it so I figured I wasn’t gonna play with the sample anymore and just left it alone. Next thing you know, Dilla sampled it and put it out as a 7-inch picture disk on Stones Throw! I’m glad I never sampled it after all [laughs].
Source: Cyrkle – “The Visit” [Colombia, 1967]
Now with this sample, it is from a late 1960s psych rock band called The Cyrkle. This basically opened my mind to this genre of music that I really appreciate these days. The samples are so dope. But I still don’t have a clue why he decided to chop those particular two parts of the song; the sample is not really an obvious one. Again he proved how exceptional his ears were.
Source: Bob James – “Nautilus” [CTI, 1974]
This is the first song produced by Jay Dee that I ever had on CD. Before that, I only heard A Tribe Called Quest’s fourth album, Pharcyde’s second album, as well as Busta Rhymes’ first album. I was only fifteen and didn’t know too many details about who was who because it was credited as remixed by The Ummah. I remember I bought it because I was a fan of the original version, which was the lead single. For some reason, I’ve always found myself preferring this remix to the original version.
Source: D’Angelo – “Jonz In My Bonz” [Virgin, 1995]
I’ve read that he sampled D’Angelo’s “Jonz In My Bonz” for this one. I still have no idea how, because I’m pretty familiar with the song, but he made it sound very different. Also, this particular one has one of the illest Dilla signature drumkits. I’ve heard him use these drums many times but it remains one of my all-time favorites.
Source: Acqua Fragile – “Cosmic Mind Affair” [Contempo, 1974]
When this joint came out, we all bought it the first day it was in stores. I was going crazy over this one! I had never heard Dilla go so hardcore on a beat before. I felt like something kind of changed at this point— like this was the moment Jay Dee became J Dilla or something.
Source: The Supremes – “Wisdom of Time” [Motown, 1972]
I feel like he spent a lot of time on this one, there’s a lot of progression and so many different elements. I’ve heard the original sample on House Shoes’ King James album. He basically built everything around the beautiful guitar loop and played all kinds of synths and even some electric guitar at the end. I think this beat belongs in a category as one of his best, if not, most technically advanced.
Source: Crea Watson – “Dead” [Charay, 1970]
This one is probably one of Dilla’s most minimalist works. Only two tracks were pitched and there was probably an up-and-down Rhodes chord sample that was played on his MPC 3000. Add to that a killer drum kit mixed with a tambourine on tremolo. Perfect proof of how simple he can be, but so dope and complex too.
Source: Herbie Hancock- “You’ll Know When You Get There” [Warner Bros., 1971]
I got so obsessed with this and tried hard to sound the same [laughs]. When I started making beats, this was my reference. I didn’t even want to make my own personal music or release records or whatever, all I wanted was to be able to make beats like those and listen to it for hours. This beat, well, the whole album really, made me sample all the Rhodes samples I could find!
Source: Shawn Phillips – “I Don’t Want to Leave You, I Just Came To Say Goodbye” [A&M, 1977]
I first heard this on Funkmaster Flex’s mixtape when it came out and I remember being so frustrated that it was cut short. I never was able to hear the song entirely because it was all mixed up and edited until I finally found out that it was on one of ATCQ’s The Jam EPs. It’s the only song where u can hear Dilla rapping with ATCQ, so it’s kind of special to me.
Source: Isao Tomita: “Clair De Lune” [RCA/Rec Seal, 1974]
Well, it would be hard to explain how everything changed when I first heard this album so I’m just gonna give you a little story about this song. At the end of it, you can hear a small sample of Al B. Sure’s “Night And Day” and I always thought it was cool that Dilla sampled later R&B shit. It gave me the idea to make an edit of the same song.
Sources: Hugh Hopper – “Morning Order” [Cunieform, 1980], Roy Ayers – “Running Away” [Polydor, 1977]
I read somewhere that according to Common, Dilla made this beat when he stepped away from the studio and shortly after it was done. Common sounded amazed by how quickly Dilla put everything together. To me, it’s like Dilla put two extremely beautiful samples together and it was magic. They fit so perfectly with each other! The chemistry between two amazing samples is unexplainable, another one of my all-time favorites.
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