Donuts

by J Dilla

Donuts cover art
  • Type: Album
  • Released: February 7, 2006
  • Label: Stones Throw
  • Country: United States
  • Length: 43:24
  • Community rating: 4.38/5 from 51 ratings

Album Notes & Community Reviews

J Dilla's 'Donuts' is an instrumental hip hop album built from a dense collage of soul, jazz, and rock samples, defined by its brief, abruptly shifting tracks. Employing signature micro-chopping and looping production techniques, Dilla recontextualized disparate audio into poignant, off-kilter grooves, creating a cohesive and disorienting journey. Released just three days before his death, the album's cyclical structure and evocative sample choices are widely interpreted as a profound meditation on mortality, cementing its status as a landmark work of influential modern music.

Genres

Descriptors: instrumental, sampling, soulful, lo-fi, groundbreaking

Tracklist

  1. Donuts (Outro) (0:12)
  2. Workinonit (2:57)
  3. Waves (1:38)
  4. Light It (0:35)
  5. The New (0:49)
  6. Stop (1:39)
  7. People (1:23)
  8. The Diff'rence (1:52)
  9. Mash (1:31)
  10. Time: The Donut of the Heart (1:38)
  11. Glazed (1:21)
  12. Airworks (1:44)
  13. Lightworks (1:55)
  14. Stepson Of The Clapper (1:01)
  15. The Twister (Huh, What) (1:16)
  16. One Eleven (1:11)
  17. Two Can Win (1:47)
  18. Don't Cry (1:59)
  19. Anti-American Graffiti (1:53)
  20. Geek Down (1:19)
  21. Thunder (0:54)
  22. Gobstopper (1:05)
  23. One For Ghost (1:18)
  24. Dilla Says Go (1:16)
  25. Walkinonit (1:15)
  26. The Factory (1:23)
  27. U-Love (1:00)
  28. Hi. (1:16)
  29. Bye. (1:27)
  30. Last Donut Of The Night (1:39)
  31. Welcome To The Show (1:11)

Credits

  • J Dilla - producer, sampler, keyboards, drum machine, vocals, composer, drums, percussion
  • Jeff Jank - art director, design, editing, sequencing
  • Peanut Butter Wolf - executive-producer
  • Dave Cooley - mastered by
  • Duncan Stanbury - lacquer cut by

More from J Dilla: full discography