“Donuts” by J Dilla
2000s Week continues with a bittersweet hip-hop totem from a legit legend.
Programming note: It’s 2000s week! I'm spotlighting some of my favorite records released between 2000 and 2009. Like previous decade-themed newsletter posts, I've selected albums that cover multiple genres and deliberately avoided the well-worn titles that top all "best of" lists for this decade. In other words, no Kid A, Marshall Mathers LP, and so on.
Hope you enjoy it!
Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s 2000s music pick is a bittersweet hip-hop totem showcasing the virtuosity of a game-changing talent.
Genre: Hip-Hop, Experimental
Label: Stones Throw
Release Date: February 7, 2006
Vibe: 🥹🥹🥹
Few artists have shaped the sound of 21st-century hip-hop as thoroughly as James Dewitt Yancey. His micro-chopping technique bent carefully selected samples to his unique creative vision, transforming the MPC from a machine into an instrument. Released just three days before his tragic passing at age 32, Donuts is arguably the best showcase for his unique talents. Spanning 31 tracks and 43 minutes, it’s a joyous journey through Dilla’s favorite soul records, deconstructing them with surgical precision and reshaping them into instrumentals that still sound fresh and fun today. I’m not prepared to say JD invented lo-fi hip-hop but he definitely elevated it to an unprecedented level of artistry. After Donuts dropped, you could hear its influences stretch beyond hip-hop and infiltrate indie rock, pop, and the burgeoning ambient electronic scene that skyrocketed to prominence in the mid-2010s. Countless producers and bands alike (Questlove once called Dilla the “world’s greatest drummer”) owe a major debt to his stylistic ingenuity.
A huge part of the thrill of listening to Donuts is picking out each song’s individual components and marveling at how he puts these mismatched pieces together perfectly, again and again. There’s deeply-felt soul and Motown samples from Dionne Warwick (”Stop”), Eddie Kendricks (”People”), and Smokey Robinson (”One Eleven”). There’s multiple snippets from 10cc, as well as nods to 80s rap mainstays like Beastie Boys, Run-DMC, and Mantronix. After the third or fourth front-to-back listen, it becomes less of a jigsaw puzzle and more of an intricate, handwoven tapestry. On top of all that, you have some unexpectedly tender moments that one can imagine Dilla finishing off from his hospital bed. “Don’t Cry” sounds like a soothing, knowing message to his friends and collaborators, while “Bye” has a ghostlike quality, as if its creator was slowly slipping into the great beyond at far too you an age. After a fresh listen for this post, I found myself so moved by the emotion embedded in Dilla’s sampling choices that I was on the verge of tears.
Taken as a non-stop musical suite, it’s stunning.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈