Album Review: J-Dilla – Donuts
It’s insane to think that while he was sitting in the hospital bed, far from his beloved studio, bearly walking and suffering from his rare blood disease, Dilla was able to inspire himself to make a masterpiece like Donuts. Or maybe albums from that kind only could be formed in a particular atmosphere while you are knocking on heaven doors because this body of work defines and assume things are arbitrary and belongs to the future.
In 31 tracks deployed along magical 44 minutes, Dilla showed how to create a sample-based instrumental hip hop album flawlessly, manipulating each sample, aiming to redefine it, and giving new meaning to every tune he used. Composing vast of genres and proving he is an expert across all the genres he deals with. This masterwork could feel like big chaos in a first listen, Dilla gathering all the musical genres and force them to meet head-on. It is unordinary to hear in one record soul, jazz, prog rock, electronic, and many other musical styles that communicate perfectly.
The production in Donuts is not similar to Dilla’s aesthetic as a beatmaker, neglected the smooth beats and the spacing identified with him, and designed it as a mixtape. Yet, even if mixtape crafting was what Dilla aimed for in this one, he achieved more than that because Donuts formed new perspectives and hip hop, music, and even life, underlying ideas deeply rooted in the music scene.
The album was released on the 7th of February, Dilla’s 32nd birthday. Only three days before his death, it is symbolic that Dilla spends his last year on earth to create an album that admirably represents Dilla’s legacy.
In Donuts, Dilla demonstrates he is much more than a beatmaker or hip hop producer; he is a pure musician, an innovative artist who consistently pushed musical limits, experimenting with sounds that people afraid to explore. This is the closest hip hop ever get to post-modernism art, a work made by a genius.
More than a collection of beats, Donuts is about a listening experience; only one track is longer than two minutes