Donuts by J Dilla is a revolutionary yet devastating album that was released on February 7th, 2006. Producer J Dilla made this album in both his Los Angeles apartment and at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. Suffering from Lupus and Pneumonia at the time, this didn’t stop him from making one of the most inspirational hip-hop albums of all time. This is the story and review of Donuts by J Dilla.
The making of Donuts is one of the most incredible, heartbreaking, and influential stories in music, due to its background, context, and the music itself. J Dilla passed away on February 10, 2006, at the age of 32. This was three days after the release of his album. J Dilla suffered from a chronic inflammatory disease called Lupus, and also suffered from a rare blood disease, thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura (TTP)
He spent a lot of time in and out of the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. J Dilla spent most of 2005 there as his health started to decline, but he also used his free time creating music and the album Donuts.
Some say he made most of the album at the medical center. J Dilla started to know that his death was coming, and he needed his mother, Maureen Yancey, to help him. His mother asked his friends to bring his equipment from his label, Stone Throw Records, so he could continue creating music. When J Dilla’s hands got too swollen, he had his mother massage his fingers so that he could keep using his equipment and creating more music. He also let the doctors listen to his beats through the headphones.
After working day and night against all of his health problems and conditions, Donuts was released on February 7th, 2006, which happened to be his 32nd birthday. It became an instant classic in the instrumental hip hop genre. Sadly, three days later, J Dilla passed away due to a cardiac arrest, according to his mother. In my opinion, it’s a miracle that he was able to release the album before his health deteriorated. It reminds me of the Meaning Management Theory, which Dr. Paul Wong suggests that humans are meaning-seeking and that finding and managing meaning in life is the most effective way to confront existential anxiety, particularly the terror of death. It was like J Dilla was only living to create music, and this album, before passing away.
Now, let’s talk about the innovative and monumental music that he made for this album. Donuts was almost entirely made on an MPC3000 sampler/drum machine. The whole album was made using samples, which some may call lazy, but sampling can be creative, and the way he did it was revolutionary. He flipped a huge variety of records and made some of the most unique hip hop beats of all time, and most of them can’t even be rapped on. The songs were composed of many jazz and soul samples and contained almost no lyrics except for short phrases from the samples.
What makes his beats so incredible and unique is that he didn’t use quantization, which makes notes and sounds conform to a rhythmic grid, and that he couldn’t see the sound waves of the samples. He did everything by ear, and it’s unbelievable how he composed these songs and put all these samples together. What makes this album so heartbreaking is some of the messages he put into the songs that were aimed towards his family and his friends before he passed. We will be getting into the meanings of the songs and the breakdowns of the samples in the review.
In my review, I will not be reviewing all 31 songs, but the ones that stick out to me, have the most meaning, and have the best composition.
“Workinonit” is the second track on the album and the opening song. This song samples “The Worst Band in the World” by 10cc and is used for the whole duration. Throughout almost the whole song, it has this simple yet groovy bass line, interrupted by an almost hard rock guitar that makes the song sound hardcore. Then, at an almost chorus-like part of the song, he chops up some vocals that sound so trippy and some might find weird, but it adds to the uniqueness of this song. For the second half, he loops this brighter-sounding guitar sound, accompanied by some dialogue samples that you would think would be repetitive, but it keeps you interested. “Workinonit” is just a cool and charismatic song and a great way to open the album.
“Waves” is the third track and is right after “Workinonit,” and it sounds almost the complete opposite, but so cohesive at the same time. This may be because the sample was made by the same band as the last song. The sample is “Johnny Don’t Do It” by 10cc and is one of the most different beats on the whole album. Throughout the whole song, J Dilla chops up some almost inaudible vocals that sound psychedelic and chill at the same time. If you listen closely, J Dilla chops up the sample to make it sound like it’s saying “Johnny do it,” which is a message to his brother pushing him to go forward with making music, which is what his brother did.
“Stop” is the sixth track and probably my favorite off the album. This song samples “You’re Gonna Need Me” by Dionne Warwick, and I would say this is one of the most dramatic-sounding songs off the album. In my opinion, this is less of him showing off his beat-making skills but more of sending another message. In the small amount of sample chopping he does on this, the sample repeats “you’re gonna need me,” “you’re gonna want me back in your arms,” and “you better stop, and think about what you do,” with a beautiful instrumental part behind it. He is trying to tell his fans basically that they are going to want him back to produce songs, and giving advice to examine their lives, ask themselves the meaning of what they are doing.
“Time: The Donut of the Heart” is the tenth track and is one of the best actual beats on the album. The song samples “All I Do Is Think Of You” by Jackson 5 and makes this beat sound so soulful and chill. One of the great things J Dilla does is alter vocal samples, like when Jackson 5 originally sang “day and night”, he made it sound like they were saying Dilla. This song is just a pleasant listening experience.
“Don’t Cry” is the eighteenth track, and some consider it the greatest and most heartbreaking beat of all time. It samples “I Can’t Stand (To See You Cry)” by The Escorts, and you can guess what the message he is trying to convey. The sample repeats in between the actual beat “I can’t stand to see you cry”. He is telling his mother not to cry when he is gone and instead of mourning him, to celebrate what he has contributed to hip-hop and the world. Now, what makes this one of the greatest beats of all time? J Dilla chopped the smallest sounds across the whole song all by ear and turned it into an actual beat. He used an eighth note technique where he turned microchops into a whole different melody than the original song, which is what makes sampling so unique. This is indeed his magnum opus and inspired many with just this song.
“U-Love”
“U-Love” is the twenty-seventh track and is definitely the cutest beat off the album. It samples this sweet song, “Just Because I Really Love You” by Jerry Butler. Obviously, from the title, it repeats “just because I really love you” throughout the whole beat. The message is very clear, he is saying “I love you” to those he knew before he passed. I just love this song in general, as it is very wholesome and heartfelt.
“Welcome to the Show” is the final track off the thirty-one song album. It samples “When I Die” by Motherlode, and it has such a soulful yet hard-hitting beat that is a great way to send off the album. You may be wondering why he would put an intro-looking and sounding song at the end?
Well, just take a look at the album title, it all circles back like a donut.
