Video: Waajeed X Dilla Breakdown of Q-Tip - "Higher"

Waajeed of Bling47 breaks down the sample J Dilla flipped on the beat for Q-Tip's "Higher" as only someone who knew Dilla personally can. Jeedo, you see, got to hear this classic beat (one of my personal favorites, as anybody who's heard my 48 Hrs in Transit mixtape with Jamal Ali can tell) before the rest of us--on his answering machine! That's what you call a hotline. Read what Jeedo said below and then bug out to the video (above).

Needless to say, without Q-Tip’s contributions to Dilla’s career, most people would’ve never heard of him at all. In May of 1999 I got a chance to hang out with Dilla and Tip in New York during a session for Common’s Like Water For Chocolate and D’Angelo’s Voodoo.

“Higher” is one of my favorite Q-Tip tracks on Amplified, partially because I heard a sneak preview of the beat early one morning. Dilla was notorious for calling in the middle of the night, leaving voicemails with beat ideas and demos of songs.

On our weekly record trips, we’d trade notes, exchange ideas and occasionally exchange records. This Roy Haynes album, “Vistalite” is one of those records I wish I’d gotten my hands on first. -Jeedo

props to B47