Donuts (album)

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Donuts
Donuts cover
Studio album by J Dilla
Released February 7, 2006
Genre Hip hop, instrumental hip hop
Length 43:25
Label Stones Throw
Producer J Dilla
Professional reviews
J Dilla chronology
Champion Sound
(2003)		 Donuts
(2006)		 Donuts EP: J. Rocc's Picks
(2006)

Donuts is an instrumental hip hop album by producer J Dilla. Donuts was released on February 7, 2006, his 32nd birthday, and only three days before his death. This album was a major breakthrough for this underground artist, in which his unique style could be shown and many see as having subtle meanings in many of its tracks and their names (for example, the titling of "Don't Cry" and "Bye" in light of Dilla's passing afterwards). On Metacritic, Donuts received "universal acclaim" from critics based on an aggregate score of 84/100 from fifteen reviews.[1]

Contents

[edit] Creative process

In the December 2006 issue of The Fader magazine, J Dilla's mother, Maureen Yancey, who is a former opera singer, spoke of watching her son's daily routine while working on Donuts:

I knew he was working on a series of beat CDs before he came to Los Angeles. Donuts was a special project that he hadn't named yet. This was the tail end of his "Dill Withers" phase, while he was living in Clinton Township, Michigan. You see, musically he went into different phases. He'd start on a project, go back, go buy more records and then go back to working on the project again.

I saw it because I was at his house every day, all day. I would go there for breakfast, go back to Detroit to check on the daycare business I was running, and then back to his house for lunch and dinner. He was on a special diet and he was a funny eater anyway. He had to take 15 different medications, we would split them up between meals, and every other day we would binge on a brownie sundae from Big Boys. That was his treat.

I didn't know about the actual album Donuts until I came to Los Angeles to stay indefinitely. I got a glimpse of the music during one of the hospital stays, around his 31st birthday, when [friend and producer] House Shoes came out from Detroit to visit him. I would sneak in and listen to the work in progress while he was in dialysis. He got furious when he found out I was listening to his music! He didn't want me to listen to anything until it was a finished product.

He was working in the hospital. He tried to go over each beat and make sure that it was something different and make sure that there was nothing that he wanted to change. "Lightworks", oh yes, that was something! That's one of the special ones. It was so different. It blended classical music (way out there classical), commercial and underground at the same time.[2]

[edit] Aftermath

Dilla's death (he suffered from an incurable blood disease, TTP, as well as lupus) three days after the album's release, was widely mourned by the hip hop community, including all those who he worked with in the past and the years closer to his death, especially Detroit's hip-hop community (which included rapper Proof, a friend and associate of Dilla's, who also died 2 months later on April 11).

The tracks "One for Ghost" and "Hi" were used in Ghostface Killah's Fishscale, under the names ""Whip You With a Strap" and "Beauty Jackson", respectively. Ghostface Killah also used "Geek Down" for the song Murda Goons released on his Hidden Darts: Special Edition album. Busta Rhymes and Rah Digga used "Gobstopper" and "Last Donut of the Night" as beats for "Just Another Day at the Range" and "Best That Ever Did It." "Workinonit" was used by The Roots for a collaboration with Saigon for the album Game Theory, however it was not included out of respect for Dilla's passing.[3] The verse from Saigon can be heard on his mixtape Return of the Yardfather. J Dilla's posthumously released album The Shining, also released with new verses on Common's Finding Forever, uses a re-edited version of "Bye."

The aforementioned tracks were, for the most part, recorded or planned during Dilla's lifetime. After Dilla's passing, The Roots used "Time: The Donut of the Heart" for their J Dilla tribute "Can't Stop This" on the album Game Theory. In 2007, the track "Mash" was rapped over by MF DOOM and Guilty Simpson on the track "Mash's Revenge" feature on the Stones Throw compilation "B-Ball Zombie War". "Lightworks" was used for the "B-Ball Zombie War" track "Lightworking," which features Talib Kweli and Q Tip.

Adult Swim, which has been in a partnership with Stones Throw records, cited the track "Stepson of the Clapper" as their addiction.[4]

[edit] Unofficial or unauthorized use of beats

After Dilla's death many Detroit hip hop rappers started to use many of the beats from the Donuts album for mixtape tracks:

  • Rapper Skyzoo recently recorded a song titled, "Sky's Last Donut", using "U-Love." The song has circulated across the web and has received quite a buzz within the hip hop community. The song is a dedication to J. Dilla, whom Skyzoo cites as "the greatest of all-time."
  • Rapper Termanology also recorded a track entitled, "Only One Can Win" using J. Dilla's track "Two Can Win." The song is a tale about a man choosing between rap and a woman. He pays respect to Dilla in the beginning of the song.
  • Rapper Talib Kweli has used "Dilla Says Go" on a track called "Kweli Says Go" from the mixtape with Clinton Sparks.
  • Rapper Big Pooh had used "Gobstopper" for a track entitled "Plastic Cups" he also used "One Eleven" for a track with the same name featuring O-Dash on a mixtape with Mick Boogie.
  • Busta Rhymes added a verse to Q-Tip and Talib Kweli's on "Lightworks". This was included in his Dillagence mixtape, 2007.

[edit] Track listing

  1. "Donuts (Outro)" – 0:12
  2. "Workinonit" – 2:57
  3. "Waves" – 1:38
  4. "Light My Fire" – 0:35
  5. "The New" – 0:49
  6. "Stop" – 1:39
  7. "People" – 1:24
  8. "The Diff'rence" – 1:52
  9. "Mash" – 1:31
  10. "Time: The Donut of the Heart" – 1:38
  11. "Glazed" – 1:21
  12. "Airworks" – 1:44
  13. "Lightworks" – 1:55
  14. "Stepson of the Clapper" – 1:01
  15. "The Twister (Huh, What)" – 1:16
  16. "One Eleven" – 1:11
  17. "Two Can Win" – 1:47
  18. "Don't Cry" – 1:59
  19. "Anti-American Graffiti" – 1:53
  20. "Geek Down" – 1:19
  21. "Thunder" – 0:54
  22. "Gobstopper" – 1:05
  23. "One for Ghost" – 1:18
  24. "Dilla Says Go" – 1:16
  25. "Walkinonit" – 1:15
  26. "The Factory" – 1:23
  27. "U-Love" – 1:00
  28. "Hi." – 1:16
  29. "Bye." – 1:27
  30. "Last Donut of the Night" – 1:39
  31. "Welcome to the Show (Intro)" – 1:11

[edit] Samples

  • "Airworks" contains a sample from:
    • "I Don't Really Care" by LV Johnson
  • "Lightworks" contains a sample from:
    • "Bendix 1: 'The Tomorrow People'" by Raymond Scott
    • "Lightworks'" by Raymond Scott
  • "Gobstopper" contains a sample from:
  • "Light My Fire" contains a sample from:
  • "Walkinonit" contains a sample from:
  • "One Eleven" contains a sample from:
  • "Waves" contains a sample from:
    • "Johnny Don't Do It" by 10cc
  • "Stop" contains a sample from:
  • "Time: The Donut of the Heart" contains a sample from:
  • "Last Donut of the Night" contains a sample from:
    • "To You with Love" by The Moments
  • "One for Ghost" contains a sample from:
    • "To the Other Man" by Luther Ingram

[edit] Donuts: J Rocc's Picks

In promotion for the album, Stones Throw released a limited edition EP called Donuts EP: J. Rocc's Picks. This EP contained five extended versions of Donuts instrumentals and the exclusive track, "Signs."

  1. "Lightworks"
  2. "Two Can Win"
  3. "Signs"
  4. "People"
  5. "Light It Again"
  6. "High"

[edit] Charts

Chart (2006)[5] Peak
position
U.S. Top Independent Albums 21

[edit] References

  1. ^ J Dilla aka Jay Dee: Donuts (2006): Reviews. Metacritic. Accessed May 20, 2008.
  2. ^ The FADER - Shine On...and On (Extended Sentimental Remix)
  3. ^ Exclusive Hip Hop News, Audio, Lyrics, Videos, Honeys, Wear, Sneakers, Download Mixtapes
  4. ^ Stones Throw
  5. ^ allmusic ((( Donuts > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums ))). Allmusic. Accessed May 20, 2008.
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