J Dilla- Donuts

This is an odd album to write about because it’s hard to say anything definitive about the album, and yet there’s so much to say that it’s hard to know where to begin.

Do I start with J Dilla himself? How his name should be more well known? How he worked with people like Common, A Tribe Called Quest, and Erykah Badu? How he’s easily one of the most admired producers of all time?

Or maybe I should talk about how this album was made: in a hospital bed with a sampler and a stack of 45s. And maybe I can include a nice part where I mourn Dilla’s early passing at the age of thirty two, just a few days after this album was released.

I would rather try and talk about the music itself, though. After all this blog is about music not biography. But even that has some roadblocks. First, whether or not you like this album is going to be split along generational lines: those that grew up with rap music, and those that didn’t. People that just don’t like rap music, but grew up with it and have an ear for it will still appreciate the achievement here.

People that can make beats are amazing to me. These people spend hours or even days mining for records that no one has ever heard or cared about before. Then, they listen with well trained ears for bits they can take, cut out and isolate. These bits don’t sound good on their own mind you, but this wizard can somehow know “Oh, this’ll sound good with those drums, or this vocal sample.” And THEN, they somehow combine all that to create something beautiful. Even if it’s just coherent it sounds good.

Now, to some, this album won’t sound beautiful, it’ll sound repetitive and jarring. Let me try to justify my claims with a pretentious analogy. Ahem, : Whenever Paul Cezanne would paint…. Anybody still with me? Good. Whenever Paul Cezanne would paint he would use small brush strokes. He’d build up patches with those small brush strokes and then from those patches an image would emerge. This album is the same way: every beat is made up of smaller brush strokes that build into patches of songs that leads to solid, if a bit harsh album. Look at on of Cezanne’s paintings of Mont-Sainte Victoire. It’s not beautiful in the same way Botticelli is beautiful. But it is solid and hypnotic. I’m not saying J Dilla is Cezanne, I wouldn’t go that far, I’m saying this album is like a painting by Cezanne, just to be clear. J Dilla is his own artist.

5/5 If you think beats are boring, still check out a couple of tracks. If you like beats okay, check this out and you’ll like them even more. If you love beats then you already know this album, but should revisit it.