Who's Diggin' J Dilla's "Donuts"?

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I picked up J Dilla's "Donuts" yesterday and it's rockin' my socks. It's apparent that hanging out with Madlib has had an effect on him, because his work and Lib's work (or Doom's instrumentals for that matter) are starting to sound more and more alike.

That said, I think "Donuts" is genius. It's like that Avalanches record, but better, or like Prefuse 73's "Extinguished," except not totally fuckin annoying.

― Joshua Alston, Thursday, 9 February 2006 05:54 (nineteen years ago)

looking forward to this for months!

― karl76 (karl76), Thursday, 9 February 2006 10:11 (nineteen years ago)

Fuck yeah, this is good. It just never gets dull and is frequently totally ear-popping. I mean, you really haven't heard sound bent quite like this.
I like the fact that even though he has so many ideas he still kills tracks stone dead after a minute - current highlights for me have to be 'Lightworks' and 'Geek Down'.
I'd say it was this year's 'Beauty & The Beat' but fuckit, it's way better than that'd suggest.

― Neil Kulkarni, Thursday, 9 February 2006 12:14 (nineteen years ago)

how is this not the most boring this ever?

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:35 (nineteen years ago)

"It's like that Avalanches record, but better"
WTF, this doesn't sound like the Avalanches at all, does it ?

― snowballing (snowballing), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:41 (nineteen years ago)

xpost

Because the songs are all like 90 seconds long. And the loops are all at totally oddangles. The whole album sounds like a bunch of skipping rare-groove records with someone scratching Joeski Love on the top.

― Whiney G. Weingarten (whineyg), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:42 (nineteen years ago)

I've become more accepting of the Jay Dee aesthetic of late (Big Tone's album is pretty good) but this does sound boring.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:51 (nineteen years ago)

no rapping, no credibility

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:57 (nineteen years ago)

(I like Jay Dee a lot, but I know that if I got this I wouldn't listen to it more than once or twice.)

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 February 2006 16:58 (nineteen years ago)

hold up indie dudes dont go yet!! i still need to know how it compares to endtroducing, timbaland, MIA, clouddead, diplo, rjd2 & public enemy!

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:09 (nineteen years ago)

deej im at work so can you post a yousendit of copywrite ft kingdom - thats a wrap

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

it's kind of like archers of loaf meets st. ettiene

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:10 (nineteen years ago)

this is a decent enough record but i still prefer that ge-ology mix.

< / complementary ethan threadbait >

― mark p (Mark P), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

but its hip-hop right?? how does it compare to dr octagon & still tippin?

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:13 (nineteen years ago)

Haha I would but I'm at work too!

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:14 (nineteen years ago)

ge-ology is dope - solid cuts for vinia mojica & sadat x

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:15 (nineteen years ago)

I picked up J Dilla's "Donuts" yesterday and it's rockin' my socks.

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:16 (nineteen years ago)

i go off ilm for a couple months & come back to shit that makes me wanna go ELLI$ on a bitch

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

not in a gay puerto rican stalker way tho

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:17 (nineteen years ago)

You ever check that Soul Position song?

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

Speaking of RJD2.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:23 (nineteen years ago)

this is like a nostalgia thread!

― s1ocki (slutsky), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:24 (nineteen years ago)

nah im at work now so its just ben hill squad & k-rab all day

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:25 (nineteen years ago)

what the fuck they redesigned art of rhyme!!! end of an era dude

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:27 (nineteen years ago)

hiphopsite needs a redesign.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:41 (nineteen years ago)

i can get all the way through "welcome 2 detroit" but that's probably because it's not 100% straight instrumentals. "donuts", if i got it right, is just instrumentals, right?

i wish he'd released it as-is on lp for djs and such and done it as a mixtape for CD. something tells me i will eventually shell out for this and end up never listening to it (same as all every slum village thing since "fantastic")

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 9 February 2006 17:45 (nineteen years ago)

part of me will die inside if hiphopsite loses the "where you @' logo

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:28 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.recordcompanyrecords.com/graphic/int/eso1.gif >>>>>>>>> http://thaformula.com/Formula%20Pictures/Rakim_Int_Pic.jpg

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:36 (nineteen years ago)

Its easy to clown HHS (look at the stupid mix they're pushing on the front page right now) but they did hook me up with a "Damn Homie" t-shirt when I bought GRODT.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:44 (nineteen years ago)

what kinda herb buys grodt off hiphopsite?? do you live in norway??

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

i mean i got mine at the discount mall for $5 two weeks before it dropped

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:46 (nineteen years ago)

The herb who wants a Damn Homie t-shirt!

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:49 (nineteen years ago)

aight fennessey

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:51 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.recordcompanyrecords.com/graphic/int/eso1.gif
The music doesn’t make those kids cool. But don’t mock me because I know all the words to Mos Def’s Black On Both Sides. Just call me cultured.

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:53 (nineteen years ago)

I was just trying to acknowledge the ever-emerging Blackness in daily life. :(

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:54 (nineteen years ago)

the ever-emerging herbish newjackness of rap critics

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:55 (nineteen years ago)

Now just because I appreciate and respect the culture, doesn’t mean I falsely (and lamely) try to emulate it. It has its place. That place just is not in my house or on my body. Like I said, I’m white and I deserve khakis and loafers with pennies in them. When I see a white kid from Rye County or Long Island or any other blessed region dressed in FUBU jeans and a doo rag, I think to myself, “That’s a shame. That kid has no identity.” But just because I know my place doesn’t mean I can’t get down to any type of music I please. I’m often pleased by Rakim and De La Soul.

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

^^ big no homo on that last line

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:56 (nineteen years ago)

this thread title sounds nasty

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

Now just because I appreciate and respect the culture, doesn’t mean I falsely (and lamely) try to emulate it. It has its place. That place just is not in my house or on my body.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v226/casualt/More%20Fun%20Bags/racist.gif

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 18:59 (nineteen years ago)

what dude allows in his house >> http://themack.org/SeanColumnElliott.html

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:02 (nineteen years ago)

The only kid to write about rap that's actually a bigger cornball than Padgett and Patrin is Fennessey (not counting Harvell, obviously).

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:05 (nineteen years ago)

not in a gay puerto rican stalker way tho
-- ,, (...), February 9th, 2006.

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:06 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not puerto rican.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:10 (nineteen years ago)

i was talking about tego calderon

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:11 (nineteen years ago)

YO..FUCK JEEZY..IT'S ALL ABOUT CHECKMARK FROM STITZOFRENIKS IN 2006 !!!

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:14 (nineteen years ago)

not in a gay (...) stalker way tho
-- ,, (...), February 9th, 2006.

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:16 (nineteen years ago)

You can't call anyone gay when you wear capri pants and have an online buddy list which includes fat techno fans from Seattle.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:20 (nineteen years ago)

who the fuck are you talking about?? matos isnt on my buddy list

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

LOLerskates.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:24 (nineteen years ago)

J Dilla
Donuts
[Stones Throw; 2006]
Rating: 7.9
J Dilla's eagerly awaited Donuts, the follow-up to 2001's Welcome 2 Detroit (released as Jay Dee), is, like its predecessor, a stark departure from the cozy-socks-and-Xbox feel of his former group, Slum Village. In fact, Dilla, if anything, is imposing a meta-rap bent on neo-soul, assaulting the senses in ways unseemly for a guy who used to work with Q-Tip. The drums, though remarkably fluid, are lighter, domineered by dense, abrasive samples that are sequenced with a sense of swing. Percussive end pieces are shorn cheese-grater sharp, then appended to sickly spliced moans. The end result is akin to Norman Smith and DJ Shadow sitting in on a RZA-produced session-- spry, voiceless prog-hop by any other name.
Opener "Workinonit" comes on like a Rubin-produced take on Schoolhouse Rock. Clang-y guitars give way to doubled-up groans and what sounds like a back-masked Zulu chant. The sample, supplied by '60s soulsters Them, is diced with manic precision, and around the 2:00 mark, the melody builds to a climax, fading, with echo-y vocal bits, into bodiless abyss. Equally engaging is "Anti-American Graffiti", which combines lighters-up, love-not-war humility with a track both wistful and world-weary: A crazed voice spouts end-of-the-world admonishments like some disenfranchised apparition, colliding with somber guitars.
"Don't Cry" finds Dilla taking sprightly, blu-lite soul crooning and flipping it counter-cockeyed: "If Blue Magic or Whoever could see me now!" First he plays the original, then throws in the "Now, you play it and I'll show you how my voice would have made it unbelievable!" bit, before gently lifting its face off. It's chest thumping, to be sure, like the Copa shot in Goodfellas or Bigger and Deffer. And it's courteous. Similarly cordial is "Time: The Donut of the Heart", where he turns the Jackson 5's "All I Do Is Think of You" into a lucid dream-- the song's intro is now with the chorus it always coveted. Says ?uestlove: "[J Dilla] time compresses Michael and Jermaine's ad-libs with the uneasy ease of a tightrope-walker, with oil shoes on, crossing one 90-story building to another, after eight shots of [Patrone]." I'm sayin'.
Not that Donuts deals with only obvious sample sources-- "The Twister (Huh, What)" is the sound of flu-sick flutes chiming in time to a busted weathervane; "Waves", a hiccuping Hare Krishna class. It's Dilla's show-and-tell method, however, that's most effective, because it illustrates how he's, more or less, upgrading soul music-- we get to see how he unpacked its bag, what spots he told it it missed. This approach also allows Dilla to pay homage to the selfsame sounds he's modernized; the drums are light, to reflect the original sound from which he's borrowing. In that sense, Donuts is pure postmodern art-- which was hip-hop's aim in the first place.

-Will Dukes, February 9, 2006

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:25 (nineteen years ago)

you should be using your 3rd period study skills time to catch up on yr pre-algebra HW, not troll

― vahid (vahid), Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:26 (nineteen years ago)

The end result is akin to Norman Smith and DJ Shadow sitting in on a RZA-produced session

patrin alert

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:27 (nineteen years ago)

Mike Ladd
Welcome to the Afterfuture
[Ozone]
Rating: 8.6

You know the old dystopian prediction that cities of the future would be these huge ramshackle constructions, piled on the buildings of years past? Well, the reason that hasn't happened is that the "new" world would rather throw out the "old" unless they're too poor not to use it. Really the only old shit you see around now is preserved up all untouchable, museum-style. Practical application of existing structures just isn't viable in this modern urban landscape of ours.
Look at the cover of Mike Ladd's Welcome to the Afterfuture. It's an awful electrical mess, superimposed onto old building walls. Ladd's music reflects the artwork with chunky, pharmaceutical beats that sneak past dim strings. It's nasty New Orleans bounce with lyrics about listening to bootlegs of the Fall. And even though it looks kinda like a Marlboro ad, it's still a dope cover.
The record starts with "5000 Miles West of the Future," violently switching up from an analog keyboard assault to a sweeping ambient flow and back again, all while jazzy horn progressions seep through the background and make like Sun Ra handwriting. Ladd's rhymes on Afterfuture are at their most conversational, especially in breaks where he casually explains, "I'm gonna steal from the foreign merchant.../ For the cinnamon peeler's wife.../ Like I was bedding down with Isis."
As the buzzing keyboard stabs fade out, "Airwave Hysteria" begins, and the rest is swapped for rising strings and faux-Hindu chants, drifting yet again into some funky, bugged-out Casio shit over which Ladd first hits his lyrical stride, MCing with self-assured flow and coming with dense rhyme content to match ("Breakbeats from Thailand down over by the Ku Klux Klan chapter in Croatia/ We've come a long way from migrating crustaceans/ Generations of relations, history of violence/ I talked along in Babylon, next time I'll try silence"). Unlike many poet-turned-MCs, Ladd manages to go off like a motherfucker, and it all ends with a classic scratch breakdown, cut open with more of those damned trilling strings of his.
"Planet 10" breaks from these jams to bust on the simple beauty of a simple song, an intricate nautilus of synth tones and deep-space vocals stretching over junkyard ambience to some kind of nappy-haired slow-grind trajectory. Fuck neo-soul, this is post-soul, only somehow better than something called that should ever be.
Nothing else here really touches these first three tracks, but the rest comes close-- the lilting rush of the mostly instrumental "Takes More than 41," and the slow-to-start "To the Moon's Contractor," a song more summery than its interstellar title might lead you to believe. "I Feel Like $100" sounds like Warp Records unfavorites Red Snapper with actual forward drive and rhythmic interest, even with its dodgy "Strawberry Fields" reference.
Amazingly, Ladd goes for delf on every cut except the Company Flow-assisted "Bladeruners," a violent fucking storm of next-level racial and sexual articulation, wide string samples criss-crossing like frozen rivers, and a plodding organic bassline. It's perhaps the closest to rap traditionalism the album ever flirts with-- something for BET to sneak in on that lazy Thursday afternoon to give you a Videodrome-style brain tumor.
"It's all confused and beautiful" are the lines Ladd chooses to open "Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)," and it's exactly that. Besides Ladd's waxen imagery of childhood memories, the lyrics are mostly befuddling and his delivery is unconvincingly wide-eyed enough to fuel a thousand Björk videos. I know good and well that Ladd's trying to make this closing track a "Strange Fruit" for a future of money, women and computers, and I'll be damned if he doesn't actually come shockingly close. It's a stunning end to the album.
For all the obvious influences ("Starship Nigga" is pretty much just Björk's "Pluto" instilled with spaced-out black rage), the album still manages to sound pleasantly new, taking all the bits from the past that demand to be resurrected, and recontextualizing them into Ladd's own brainspace. Of course, this sort of thing has been done before, but I can't think of anything that's ever sounded as genuinely beautiful at the same time. It's all the wires from the liner notes covering children while they spread Christ-like onto antique brownstones. It's the genius of Ezra Pound and Greg Nice over tinny, rolling drums, and the awkwardness of my first paragraph over beautiful dimethicone symphonies. It's Mike Ladd assembling his personal afterfuture over the ramshackle remains of a distant past. Fresh!

-Ethan P.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:29 (nineteen years ago)

in my defense that was heavily pitchforkified after i turned it in

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:32 (nineteen years ago)

but fuck it that was 5 years ago!!! i was in h.s.!!! nobody is digging up your m4m personals from 2001 either

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:34 (nineteen years ago)

http://gossipingbitches.com/phat_nuggets/viewtopic.php?t=357

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:37 (nineteen years ago)

unless you think i say shit like "MCing" & talk about bjork on the regular

xpost shoulda figured youre down w/ the only other dudes in the universe who still get hard-ons from obsessively dissing nerd rap in 2006

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:39 (nineteen years ago)

G.B is dead, son.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:41 (nineteen years ago)

what the fuck ever, it was only funny for like 15 minutes in 2003 anyway

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:42 (nineteen years ago)

They bit me too.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:52 (nineteen years ago)

yo i believe it

we need to fight the real newjack enemy here

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:54 (nineteen years ago)

Where is Patrin today ???

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

Haha. Oh, 2001...such fond memories of seeing Mike Ladd rock for about 30 dudes in Wisconsin after that record came out.

― Jordan (Jordan), Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:55 (nineteen years ago)

patrin aint really a newjack, he was rockin co flow back in his furry days

― ,,, Thursday, 9 February 2006 19:59 (nineteen years ago)

I listened to Once Upon A Time in Amercica by Smoothe Da Hustler this AM! Man...Broken Language....still amazing. Also, now I "get" DV Alias Christ...I didn't like him when I bought it back when, he was too ahead of his time.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Thursday, 9 February 2006 20:33 (nineteen years ago)

There's a version of "still alive" by AZ over the "broken language" beat which is ill.

― ETHAN FAGGETT, Thursday, 9 February 2006 20:50 (nineteen years ago)

somebody's mom musta had a ridiculous case of butterfingers.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 9 February 2006 23:47 (nineteen years ago)

bbc's tim westwood just reported (via dj premier) on radio that jay dee died this morning. i can't find confimation anywhere tho... hoping its another crossed wire, i know his health's been shaky :(

― hold tight the private caller (mwah), Friday, 10 February 2006 22:11 (nineteen years ago)

Jay Dee (a.k.a. J-Dilla; a.k.a. James Yancey) RIP?

― that's so taylrr (ken taylrr), Friday, 10 February 2006 22:14 (nineteen years ago)

you guys...always diggin. thats why youre so good at liking rap and stuff.

― Sean F (Sean F), Saturday, 11 February 2006 04:52 (nineteen years ago)

first listen, early thoughts:

1) this sounds like major force west megamixes circa 1990 (see: return of the original artform, "prop master's party))

2) was he listening to lots of theo parrish mixes or something?

3) where are the shuffly drums?

4) did he sequence it like this on purpose? is it supposed to flow?

5) he sampled the beastie boys???? (see #1)

― vahid (vahid), Saturday, 11 February 2006 06:54 (nineteen years ago)

so sad that he passed away...such a shame

― sad, Saturday, 11 February 2006 20:58 (nineteen years ago)

hmmm, here i was thinking this thread would be about people raving over how great this album is

and its ILM Rap Wars rerun number 193

what a shame

anyway, great fucking record. the key is he cuts all the songs after a minute. but he think he does some real clever juxtapositions too... check the way People starts out with bongoes and clarion calls (Last Poets) then falls into the abyss (some other sample I don't know)

― bugged out, Saturday, 11 February 2006 21:27 (nineteen years ago)

5) he sampled the beastie boys???? (see #1)

this came as no small surprise, even as someone unfamiliar with his previous work. i've listened to it twice now.

― blackmail (blackmail.is.my.life), Saturday, 11 February 2006 21:33 (nineteen years ago)

It is eerie that I listened to Donuts yesterday and then today this happens, not a bad album, but nothing id prolly ever listen to again

very sad thing that has happened tho, RIP

― J. Lamphere (WatchMeJumpStart), Saturday, 11 February 2006 21:34 (nineteen years ago)

5) he sampled the beastie boys???? (see #1)

i've got a few old beat cdrs of his and he's always sampled them. the most recent one has some tracks that made it to donuts, the dollar track from the spacek album and supposedly some stuff that's gonna be on q-tip's new one.

the thing with jay dee that i've seen happen over the years is that he sorta see's what's going on in mainstream rap and tries to turn it into his own and one up them. for the q-tip album he went puffy upbeat party rap. for the frank-n-dank album he did synthy neptunes beats (especially on "Take Dem Clothes Off"). and then on donuts he's trying to do a kanye/justblaze/heatmakers soul vocal snippet thing. i think on the beat cd he even has a few sped up vocal samples. i think this is the least jay dee sounding thing i've heard from him. there's hardly any of the non-quantized off beat thump. it completely shows how much he's been hanging out with madlib.

― team jaxon (jaxon), Saturday, 11 February 2006 22:26 (nineteen years ago)

I listened to some samples of this and was impressed. I don't know if I could take an entire album of it though. I can't help but imagine that the songs being between 30 seconds and 2 minutes is a blessing.

― deej.. (deej..), Saturday, 11 February 2006 22:57 (nineteen years ago)

Dude's made so many great tracks, you forget how much until you look at that discography on the stones throw site.

― deej.. (deej..), Saturday, 11 February 2006 22:59 (nineteen years ago)

Queens Lounge

for some reason I only have that shitty sounding version on here, I'll see if i can find the CD i burned with the LP on it that has better quality.

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, 12 February 2006 01:36 (nineteen years ago)

haha oops wrong thread.

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, 12 February 2006 01:39 (nineteen years ago)

jaxon OTM about kanye/heatmakerz comparisons (esp heatmakerz). on the way home from work i kept thinking about how this sounded like some sort of avalanches vs kanye west tape.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 12 February 2006 02:15 (nineteen years ago)

by the way, i think this is better than avalanches. it kind of misses the peaks but it's much better in the low points and overall.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 12 February 2006 02:16 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not sure I follow the Avalanches comparisons, it seems like they're both going in different directions or something; it seems like the much better comparison is madlib. But then I like the Avalanches a lot and while Donuts sounds nice in short bits I really have trouble following the whole thing. Beautiful moments just seem to even out when they follow each other so quickly and incompletely.
I think I just like Jay Dee's rap beats better.

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, 12 February 2006 02:33 (nineteen years ago)

avalanches comparison = 1 minute loops of soul/funk/old school samples arranged into a 1 hour mix.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 12 February 2006 02:45 (nineteen years ago)

Yeah I mean it seems logical but they sound so entirely different; its like two artists using the same instruments but one makes funk and the other, I donno, salsa or something. Because the Avalanches has this forward momentum, this sense that you are listening to a 'dance set' where it picks up speed and *goes* somewhere. But Dilla sounds like he's enjoying the moment, I guess? Less dance-oriented, certainly. I'm going to have to think about this more to express what I mean effectively. I enjoy both of these, but Dilla's album is like idea, new idea, new idea, etc. and the Avalanches had some sort of flow and a better sense of uniting ideas into songs.

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, 12 February 2006 02:52 (nineteen years ago)

Avalanches was a collection of moments united into songs, Dilla is just the moments with no effort to contextualize. Does that make sense?

― deej.. (deej..), Sunday, 12 February 2006 02:53 (nineteen years ago)

yes i recognize the distinction. on a formal level, i think the sound is very similar (esp in the stretch from tracks 15-25 on jay dee's cd), but i agree that mood and vibe-wise it's very different.

― vahid (vahid), Sunday, 12 February 2006 04:27 (nineteen years ago)

should i listen to the avalanches?

― team jaxon (jaxon), Sunday, 12 February 2006 06:17 (nineteen years ago)

also, vahid, do you have any of these major force mixtapes you were comparing the album to upthread? i'd love to hear one. what are they like?

― team jaxon (jaxon), Sunday, 12 February 2006 06:18 (nineteen years ago)

how did he die? that's sad...

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Sunday, 12 February 2006 15:41 (nineteen years ago)

three different causes are being reported: kidney failure, liver failure, and some bone marrow condition...I'm not sure which is correct

― Space Is the Place (Space Is the Place), Sunday, 12 February 2006 15:50 (nineteen years ago)

He had his heart broken by this thread, and just faded away.

― Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:44 (nineteen years ago)

RIP Dilla! u the man

one of the best producers in the game - these guys dont know what there on about. Cant wait for your other stuff to be released that you were workin on before u passed!!

if u guys dont respect dilla as a producer im sorry u dnt know what ure talkin bout!

― Miniface, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 16:19 (nineteen years ago)

is that the first time a googler has directly addressed the subject of a thread that was deceased?

― Alex in Baltimore (Alex in Baltimore), Wednesday, 15 February 2006 17:00 (nineteen years ago)

is this the first time youve aloofly commented on ilm?

― ,,, Wednesday, 15 February 2006 17:06 (nineteen years ago)

if anyone's interested, i uploaded two cdr beat tapes that were passed around for a while. they're like 50 tracks each of sketches. some of the tracks from 2004 ended up on Jay Lib, some from 2005 ended up on Donuts & the new spacek. they show how incredibly experimental he was. so many commonly used samples (dee lite, was a dog a donut) that he flips so hard they're almost unrecognizable.

http://rapidshare.de/files/13365085/Beat_CD_2004.zip.html
http://rapidshare.de/files/13365373/Beat_CD_2005.zip.html

― team jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 16 February 2006 00:08 (nineteen years ago)

also, i listened to donuts this morning on the way to work and it sounds like a hip hop version of Akufen

― team jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 16 February 2006 00:09 (nineteen years ago)

Thanks a lot – 2005 is great.

― Orange (Orange), Thursday, 16 February 2006 23:25 (nineteen years ago)

two months pass...

Finally listening to Donuts and it's just a joy. Everyone who walks by asks for a copy.

Jax, if you'd like to pass along those Beat CD's, I'd be mighty appreciative.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Monday, 15 May 2006 21:22 (nineteen years ago)

I was listening to this album over and over again last month

― Chris Bee (Cee Bee), Monday, 15 May 2006 21:28 (nineteen years ago)

Only a small handful of mediocre tracks

― Chris Bee (Cee Bee), Monday, 15 May 2006 21:29 (nineteen years ago)

track #1, track #17 are standouts.

― The Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Monday, 15 May 2006 21:37 (nineteen years ago)

czech yr email, duder

― jäxøñ (jaxon), Monday, 15 May 2006 21:51 (nineteen years ago)

WORKINONIT is the song of the year! People shoud buy this album and support Dilla's kids! He was a visionary for sure!

― Antonio Depietro, Monday, 15 May 2006 22:22 (nineteen years ago)

ONLY ONE CAN WIN!

― Chris Bee (Cee Bee), Monday, 15 May 2006 22:23 (nineteen years ago)

Yr. a prince.

― Forksclovetofu (Forksclovetofu), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 00:58 (nineteen years ago)

10cc - the worst band in the world >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> workinonit

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 01:04 (nineteen years ago)

for those in Canada that haven't picked it up, HMV has it as part of their 2 for $25 deal. Everywhere else I've seen it has for $21 or so.

― pinder (pinder), Tuesday, 16 May 2006 02:43 (nineteen years ago)

three months pass...

No one's talking about "The Shining" right? I like it a lot. I wish Pharoahe Monch would steer clear of Dilla-style beats though. I find Common's adult contemporapping a lot more bearable. Best song might be the Dwele remix, but I think I just secretly wish Dilla only produced R&B

― deej.. (deej..), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 20:56 (nineteen years ago)

The production is really beautifully lush and labored over, although part of that is his rep talking the production really does sound terrifically layered and gorgeous in a way that implies very intentional, non-accidental craft.

― deej.. (deej..), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 21:02 (nineteen years ago)

im loving the shining. on the same tip is some new kid i heard today named FLYING LOTUS on stones throw that was totally kick ass.

― chaki (chaki), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 21:11 (nineteen years ago)

but I think I just secretly wish Dilla only produced R&B

He should've done a lot more.

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 22:50 (nineteen years ago)

the shining hasn't stuck with me the way other jay dee albums have. i need to listen to it more i guess.

my friend just sent me this email: yo, chris has an ipod playlist of originals from Donuts. It's crazy because that album is fraught with hidden messages. They're all messages from his death bed. when you go back and listen to the original songs they're all ominous like "Fruitman" by Kool & the Gang about the importance of good food (he got sick by not eating right), and "When I die" by Motherlode. Real real deep. It's really apparent when you hear the originals.

also the new qtip album kinda sux. i really liked Kamaal and this is more of the same live band funk/soul/rock type shit, but it's way jammier and just doesn't do it for me. my favorite track on the album is a jay dee produced number.

― jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 23:50 (nineteen years ago)

sorta related - said friend from the email said the De La Soul mixtape of unreleased cuts and stuff is one of his favorite hip hop albums of the year

― jaxon (jaxon), Wednesday, 6 September 2006 23:55 (nineteen years ago)

New Q-Tip album? Tell me more. I just saw ATCQ the other night. Great show.

Am I the only one that likes the similiar Madlib album that came out a few months ago better than Donuts?

― Post-Rodney (But no one called it that at the time) (R. J. Greene), Thursday, 7 September 2006 02:30 (nineteen years ago)

Whats this 'new qtip' - you don't mean the jazz album from a couple years back? His first all-dilla album was pretty underrated.

The Shining is sitting real well with me right now.

He should've done a lot more.

No doubt. How is the rest of the Steve Spacek album after "Dollar," and did Dilla do any more beats on it? I've been going to this club lately where they use that song as an end of the night wind-down thing, I love it more each time.

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 7 September 2006 02:32 (nineteen years ago)

the new qtip is called Live at the Renaissance here's an article/interview about it
http://www.allhiphop.com/features/?ID=1171

i love the first jaydee produced one. the 'jazz' one you're talking about is called Kamaal the Abstract. i think it's pretty great, and this new one is pretty similar but just not as good to me.

jay dee only produced 'dollars' on the spacek album. spacek produced most of it himself. i think it's pretty good. here's a thread i started about it. The new Steve Spacek album is really good...

― jaxon (jaxon), Thursday, 7 September 2006 02:56 (nineteen years ago)

Pet peeve time: Having those little links that pop up is like having a mixtape DJ shouting over your article.

― Post-Rodney (But no one called it that at the time) (R. J. Greene), Thursday, 7 September 2006 03:36 (nineteen years ago)

The last track on the Shining uses a break thats a deadringer for the beatnuts' "We got the funk"

― deej.. (deej..), Thursday, 7 September 2006 03:49 (nineteen years ago)

"Footsteps in the Dark," no?

― Andy_K (Andy_K), Thursday, 7 September 2006 07:09 (nineteen years ago)

loving the shining, and the dilla tracks on the new roots. donuts is still the best thing i've heard all year, and i would love a peep at the playlist of sources.

― i am not a nugget (stevie), Thursday, 7 September 2006 07:57 (nineteen years ago)

i like this better and better over time.

deej was right: this isn't so much like the avalanches record.

― the art ensemble of chicago house (vahid), Friday, 8 September 2006 06:59 (nineteen years ago)

one year passes...

i've been listening to this album a lot the past couple days, and i just can't believe how great it is. things i like about it:

1. the anti-cohesive cohesiveness, i came to really enjoy the abrupt track changes, there is definitely a flow to this album that isn't apparent at first
2. the different textures of the static in the background of the samples is a very pleasing sound to me, especially on the more relaxed tracks. that combined with off-kilter unusual melodies and sample choices, such an awesome sound.
3. the sentimental part of me hears it as a kind of nostalgic montage that was meaningful to dilla, like his life flashing before his eyes
4. the brevity of each track pulls me into listening to the whole album instead of skipping around. one track just makes me want to hear the next one because i can already hear the transition coming up, but at the same time i don't get bored of the transitions because they're still so suprising. it also just gives the album a really unique "shape" (i guess that ties into #1)
5. tracks: 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 14 (a good example of the static-y textures thing that i like), 15, 16... i guess listing tracks is kinda pointless, i pretty much love all of em

i've been listening to the shining and welcome 2 detroit, but neither have grabbed me as much as this one. any recommendations?

― later arpeggiator, Saturday, 9 February 2008 20:22 (seventeen years ago)

i cant believe this thread. the avalanches? dilla sounding like madlib? what were you guys smoking? Donuts is the man's masterpiece, i like much of his shit but 2 years later that album still gets mad plays from everyone i know. that shit has enchanted people i know who arent even really hiphop fans.

only the post above mine has really hit the nail on the head, and it took 2 years. when i first listened to Donuts, it was the day it came out. i skipped through the tracks on vinyl, and i wasn't feeling it. i listened to it the next day on CD and realized that this was the obviously superior method for listening to it and i bought it immediately. it's now one of my top 10 albums of all time in any genre. the ebb and flow of emotions over the record is outstanding. it is so sad, beautiful, dark, happy, sexy, dirty, and deep, all at the same time.

for me, the guy was the greatest man to rock a sampler. but i've loved him forever, been rocking Welcome 2 Detroit since that shit came out, a total classic as well. between those two records and Fantastic Vol 1 alone, the guy is the greatest hiphop producer of all time. when you throw in other singles of his like "fuck the police" and shit he did for other cats, he just cant be topped.

also, i saw someone upthread ask if he had been listening to theo parrish records before making donuts. id assume it was quite the opposite, though im sure dilla heard theo as well. if you look on youtube, there is a video of Waajeed (who was dilla's boy) going record shopping in Melodies and Memories and he talks about the classic detroit records by Moodymann and Carl Craig. those cats know about detroit shit for real.

― pipecock, Sunday, 10 February 2008 03:52 (seventeen years ago)

this is a good record

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 10 February 2008 04:09 (seventeen years ago)

the ever-emerging herbish newjackness of rap critics

-- ,,, Thursday, February 9, 2006 6:55 PM

― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Sunday, 10 February 2008 04:10 (seventeen years ago)

"someone"

― moonship journey to baja, Sunday, 10 February 2008 04:18 (seventeen years ago)

those cats know about detroit shit for real.

there was a really old benji b radio broadcast w/the slum village cats talking about music and they said in detroit there wasn't really a differentiation between listening to techno and listening to hip hop. it was all just good music to them.

― jaxon, Sunday, 10 February 2008 06:22 (seventeen years ago)

that shit has enchanted people i know who arent even really hiphop fans.

ahh yes the sign of a great hip hop producer

― deej, Sunday, 10 February 2008 17:23 (seventeen years ago)

i prefer reading a forum where this album's perfection is in question because the obligation im supposed to feel to call this the 'a love supreme' of hip-hop when i read soulstrut or wherever else is real obnoxious to me, even tho i do like this record

― deej, Sunday, 10 February 2008 17:24 (seventeen years ago)

here i was thinking that alex posting old fennessey columns on the graduation thread was a landmark event :(

― J0rdan S., Sunday, 10 February 2008 19:04 (seventeen years ago)

how did he die? that's sad...

-- M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Sunday, 12 February 2006 15:41 (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

He had his heart broken by this thread, and just faded away.

-- Dom Passantino (Dom Passantino), Sunday, 12 February 2006 16:44 (1 year ago) Bookmark Link

^^^Classic Passantino

― Dom Passantino, Sunday, 10 February 2008 19:13 (seventeen years ago)

love love love this album

― sleep, Sunday, 10 February 2008 19:52 (seventeen years ago)

deej - if dilla praise annoys you NEVER go to okayplayer - they literally worship him there

― The Brainwasher, Sunday, 10 February 2008 19:55 (seventeen years ago)

"ahh yes the sign of a great hip hop producer"

it is the sign of making great music. when someone can do something that is within a genre but its appeal is far

"i prefer reading a forum where this album's perfection is in question because the obligation im supposed to feel to call this the 'a love supreme' of hip-hop when i read soulstrut or wherever else is real obnoxious to me, even tho i do like this record

-- deej"

i mean, if you want to question the greatness of an awesome record, that's up to you. you can think whatever you want about this album, but my guess is that this record is only going to be more revered as time goes on, and for good reason.

― pipecock, Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:10 (seventeen years ago)

"there was a really old benji b radio broadcast w/the slum village cats talking about music and they said in detroit there wasn't really a differentiation between listening to techno and listening to hip hop. it was all just good music to them.

-- jaxon"

the detroit scene is insane. it really is something to experience. if you ever get a chance to hear it, Waajeed did a mix CD for 555 Soul that is all electro and non-hiphop. its a dope mix.

― pipecock, Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:12 (seventeen years ago)

its not that i dont think its good, and i in fact think it is excellent - its that i think its a beat tape and getting all 'omg transcendent' about it is weird

and i love dilla

― deej, Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:18 (seventeen years ago)

"its not that i dont think its good, and i in fact think it is excellent - its that i think its a beat tape and getting all 'omg transcendent' about it is weird

and i love dilla

-- deej"

but it isnt just a beat tape. what i like about it is that it mines some similar emotional territory to DJ Shadow's Endtroducing, but in a completely different manner. Shadow's stuff is long, epic, and structured. Dilla did it short, loopy, and choppy. i think the tracks that were on Donuts that have also been released with people rapping over them show that the beats on Donuts are certainly not bettered by being made into a song instead of a part of the big collage that is Donuts. the way the little vocal snippets change the atmosphere, the way the tracks go together, it is very impressive.

― pipecock, Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:23 (seventeen years ago)

beat tape my ass; his beat tapes are good but this has so much more going on

― winston, Sunday, 10 February 2008 20:55 (seventeen years ago)

yeah, people love this record for a reason, and i don't think its just dilla's legacy

― later arpeggiator, Sunday, 10 February 2008 21:02 (seventeen years ago)

like his life flashing before his eyes

this is pretty apt

― winston, Sunday, 10 February 2008 21:47 (seventeen years ago)

two years pass...

Have folks heard this bit of awesomeness: http://www.wevegotthejazz.com/?p=10616

It's an awesome live performance of Donuts front to back.

― matt2, Thursday, 20 January 2011 20:29 (fourteen years ago)

should i listen to the avalanches?

― team jaxon (jaxon), Sunday, February 12, 2006 12:17 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did u ever do this?

― *gets the power* (deej), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:01 (fourteen years ago)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qXm4nzyev8

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:03 (fourteen years ago)

amazing thread

― fruit of the goon (k3vin k.), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:09 (fourteen years ago)

lol @ pipecock's dilla changed my t-shirt essay upthread

― *gets the power* (deej), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:17 (fourteen years ago)

I would like to point out that deej was otm on this thread

― puff puff post (uh oh I'm having a fantasy), Thursday, 20 January 2011 21:29 (fourteen years ago)

Guys the main reason I listened to this album is it seemed to be about my mortal enemy, the donut.

― Stop Non-Erotic Cabaret (Abbbottt), Thursday, 20 January 2011 22:17 (fourteen years ago)

should i listen to the avalanches?
― team jaxon (jaxon), Sunday, February 12, 2006 12:17 AM (4 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

did u ever do this?
― *gets the power* (deej), Thursday, January 20, 2011 9:01 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

this never happened

― jaxon, Thursday, 20 January 2011 23:49 (fourteen years ago)

ha
too bad. i honestly dont know if you would like it or not

― *gets the power* (deej), Friday, 21 January 2011 01:05 (fourteen years ago)

four months pass...

Does anyone have a (preferably unmixed) copy of the Okayplayer/DJ Soul "Assorted Donuts" that used to be up for free download? U will be my friend 4 life

― Pompoussin (admrl), Friday, 27 May 2011 16:38 (fourteen years ago)

http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&safe=off&q=assorted+donuts+rar+mediafire&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=

― just sayin, Friday, 27 May 2011 18:55 (fourteen years ago)

nine months pass...

I love jamming this in the morning

― love, light, and walkabout-thinking (admrl), Wednesday, 29 February 2012 17:34 (thirteen years ago)

Steppin' to the a.m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VgOvNkqFe8

― Andy K, Wednesday, 29 February 2012 18:45 (thirteen years ago)

six years pass...

happy bday JD

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ek_cufWYvjE

― flappy bird, Thursday, 7 February 2019 18:09 (six years ago)

Best motherfucking ever.

― Totally different head. Totally. (Austin), Friday, 8 February 2019 00:12 (six years ago)

lol ethan padgett was such a shithead

― A True White Kid that can Jump (Granny Dainger), Friday, 8 February 2019 18:02 (six years ago)

nah, yung padgett was a god

― the late great, Friday, 8 February 2019 19:12 (six years ago)

one year passes...

J Dilla’s classic Donuts track “Workinonit” is the subject of a new copyright infringement lawsuit https://t.co/RMz9QWvolp
— Pitchfork (@pitchfork) September 1, 2020

boooooooooooo

― whiney on the moon (voodoo chili), Tuesday, 1 September 2020 23:37 (five years ago)

four years pass...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zLNmnh9uE40

Common with a very heartfelt remembrance of "Donuts" at the end. the idea of him making that while watching Gondry/Jonze music videos and Jerry Springer is hilarious.

― Western® with Bacon Flavor, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 04:52 (one year ago)

In case anyone is in doubt about Dilla's legacy — not that there's any reason to be — my son asked for Donuts on vinyl as a 20th birthday present.

― Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, 24 September 2024 05:09 (one year ago)

it's influence on modern jazz is pretty incredible

― Heez, Tuesday, 24 September 2024 15:17 (one year ago)

In case anyone is in doubt about Dilla's legacy — not that there's any reason to be — my son asked for Donuts on vinyl as a 20th birthday present.
― Blitz Primary (tipsy mothra), Tuesday, September 24, 2024

Your work as a parent is done. You've done well.

― Soundslike, Wednesday, 25 September 2024 02:18 (one year ago)

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