Donuts

Donuts is an instrumental album by Detroit producer J Dilla, released by Stones Throw on February 7, 2006, his 32nd birthday. He died three days later.

The story

Dilla was seriously ill while finishing the record in Los Angeles. The famous story says he made it in his hospital bed on a small sampler and a 45 player. Dan Charnas’s book Dilla Time says most of it was finished earlier, in Pro Tools. Either way, it was his farewell.

Sound and production

Thirty-one short pieces loop and chop soul, funk and pop records with sirens, stutters and off-kilter timing. “Don’t Cry,” “Workinonit” and “Waves” are among the best known.

Legacy

Donuts inspired a generation of beatmakers and helped create the instrumental hip hop and beat scene that followed.