Music Review: J. Dilla - Donuts

On February 10, 2006, James Yancey, better known by either Jay Dee or J. Dilla, passed away from cardiac arrest. At the time of his death, he was also suffering from the disease Lupus. J. Dilla was one of the premier producers in hip-hop. He worked with some of hip-hop's best artists including A Tribe Called Quest, Common, Busta Rhymes, Ghostface Killah, and De La Soul. This producer's producer was also an artist himself as a member of Slum Village, as one-half of Jaylib (a collaboration with producer Madlib), or solo.

The final album Dilla released before his death went into stores only three days prior to his passing. Donuts was released on February 7, 2006 on Dilla's 32nd birthday. It is a collection of 31 hip-hop instrumentals. Donuts might not seem all that special initially. Other hip-hop producers have released instrumental collections including Dr. Dre, Madlib, Pete Rock, MF Doom, and RJD2. The idea of an instrumental hip-hop album is not unique. However, Donuts transcends the simple notion of an album of beats. It is unlike any other instrumental collection in both content and construction. It is a beautiful, detailed, and innovative album that will influence producers and artists for years to come.

Your first listen to Donuts might throw you off a bit. Every song on Donuts is less than three minutes long and most are under two minutes long. It doesn't have a clear flow to it. Just when you really get into one song, the album has moved on to something else. It's a messy ride for the uninitiated and it might just underwhelm you. Like a lot of great works, it takes a little time to really enjoy this album for what it is. Once you get past the first listen, though, you begin to notice the things that make this album great.

The first thing you will notice are the album's standout tracks. Although virtually every song on this album is great, there are a couple that standout from the rest. One such standout is “Workinonit,” the first full song on the album and its longest. What sounds like revving race cars drop you right into the action as things get started. This song straddles the line between a beat and a “real” song and also straddles the line between hip-hop and the various genres of dance/electronica. It also gets you acquainted with Dilla's technique of unexpectedly dropping elements into a song. Guitars pop in out of nowhere as do the chants of “Workin' on it!” Even with all the disparate elements, nothing feels out of place.

Article Author: Sterfish

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