His peerless way of manipulating samples changed hip-hop forever, introducing a stoned-out, erratic sound that blew apart rap’s stodgy 4/4 tempo with rushed snares, flammed claps, and scattered kicks. ‘Donuts’ has been recognised as a summation of the Detroit hero’s production genius, a time-bending compendium of perfectly collaged fragments sourced throughout music history, beat abstractions that verge on the avant-garde - and which can still make grown folks break down in tears.Īs a rapper, producer and mentor, Dilla was amazingly prolific in his short life, from singing with his family as a toddler in church through touring half the globe with Madlib and his group Slum Village just before he passed. D is for ‘Donuts’, the legendary 31-track collection that James Dewitt Yancey - aka Jay Dee, aka J Dilla - created while in and out of the hospital before his untimely death in 2005, from a rare blood disease, at the age of 32.
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