Holy Sh*t You Need to See Jon Bellion's Fallon Performance Honoring Dilla
I’m ashamed. I’ve been a fan of DJBooth for over five years and having seen Jon Bellion’s name grace the pages of DJBooth on multiple occasions, I never took action.
Even seeing his latest single “All Time Low” receive holy shit status wasn’t enough to slap me out of my Bellion-slumber, and after today my leg will be bruised and mangled from kicking myself repeatedly.
This morning (January 27), I was sent a video of Jon Bellion’s recent performance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, which I was told featured a tribute to the late, great J Dilla. Dilla being one of those names that could get me to click on literally anything, I finally began to hear the faint sounds of an alarm ringing from within my Bellion-slumber dream state.
Then I hit play.
Holy shit. What have I been doing with my life? Watch this man, right now.
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Bellion kicks off his performance with an unreleased verse, aptly titled “Hall & Oates,” over an incredibly dope, live instrument-assisted version of J Dilla’s “This Is It,” aka “Track 12” from the iconic producer’s Another Batch project (which contained a sample of Hall & Oates' “Wait for Me”).
Before I can even begin to realize that this guy I’ve been sleeping on just kicked an awesome verse and meta-schooled me on some J Dilla knowledge simultaneously, Bellion seamlessly transitions and proceeds to rock the everloving shit out of his now-Platinum single “All Time Low.”
Being unfamiliar with Bellion, seeing such a quick switch between talents and styles was just as impressive as the track itself. The passion was undeniable, and on top of all that, I’m pretty sure I just witnessed my first MPC solo.
And with that, I shall sleep no longer on Jon Bellion. The spirit of Dilla brought me to him, and apparently for damn good reason. Consider me a fan.
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By Brent Bradley. Follow him on Twitter.
Photo Credit: NBC
