J Dilla
Donuts 2LP vinyl

Jay Dee's CV is about as faultless as they come in hip-hop; part of A Tribe Called Quest's production team, he helped craft bona-fide hits for the likes of Busta, De La Soul and Pharcyde, before cementing an entire sound through his minimalistic beats for Common, Q-Tip and Slum Village in the late 90's. He then changed his name to J Dilla, formed a duo with Madlib (Jaylib), released a solo album 'Welcome to Detroit' and then constructed one of the most original hip-hop albums for years; without an MC in sight... Made up of brief sample-heavy vignettes, 'Donuts' origins as a production beat-tape are clear; but rather than flounder without lexical structure, the thirty-one pieces represent such a broad spectrum of sound and vision that any extra ingredients could well have destroyed its distinctive flavour. Alternating between bubbly electronica and hook-heavy soul, 'Donuts' is the antithesis of the beige and bullet-proof chic currently populating much mainstream hip-hop; with tracks like 'Two Can Win' and 'Da Factory' possessing more style, innovation and grace in two minutes than $1000's worth of 50 Cent.

NEW / Released in 2006 / Reissue 

Tracklist:

A1 Donuts (Outro)

A2 Workinonit

A3 Waves

A4 Light It

A5 The New

A6 Stop!

A7 People

A8 The Diff'rence

B1 Mash

B2 Time: The Donut Of The Heart

B3 Glazed

B4 Airworks

B5 Lightworks

B6 Stepson Of The Clapper

B7 The Twister (Huh, What)

C1 One Eleven

C2 Two Can Win

C3 Don't Cry

C4 Anti-American Graffiti

C5 Geek Down

C6 Thunder

C7 Gobstopper

D1 One For Ghost

D2 Dilla Says Go

D3 Walkinonit

D4 The Factory

D5 U-Love

D6 Hi.

D7 Bye.

D8 Last Donut Of The Night

D9 Welcome To The Show