"What's better than listening to Donuts for the 1st time in 4 yrs?..NOTHI..."
I'm on a road trip with the lady and decided to revisit this for the 1st time in years. Truth be told, I wore out the album so much when it dropped that I had no desire to go back after a year of non stop listening..
Today was like hearing it for the first time again. Just glorious man! So imperfectly perfect.. The false starts, the chops, the sirens, from crisp to dusty to soul to menacing hard shit to the quirky to classic breaks. Shit just makes no sense.
From the jump we get a soulful 10 second intro...and you think ok...this falls right in line with the 05 beat tapes...AND then.....
Naw nigga fuck you!! Here come some engines revving up!!! ...on some "racers start your engines! We about to embark on a musical journey that you don't know shit about...BRACE YOURSELF"---Workinonit sets the pace and pretty much makes u ill-prepared for everything that comes thereafter...
Man I could go on...but I won't since every track tells a story., I would be here all night. (Except Glazed. Fuck glazed...Might could be dilla's only misstep in life)
Nothing beats this feeling man...
Okay peeps.....Name some other modern classics that many of us might have shelved over the past few years that can invoke the Donuts Effect.....Tell it!
2. "Donuts was literally the first time I'd ever heard Dilla's music." In response to Reply # 0
This video store near my college sold albums and for some reason they had all the Stones Throw stuff even though there was damn near zero interest in those around that area. I picked up Donuts off the strength of all the good reviews on OKP.
My mind was blown....even now I occasionally notice stuff on each track that I hadn't caught on earlier listens.
I never even thought rap beats could even be structured that way. Changed my whole thinking about what rap could be and it opened a Pandora's box because I ended up going on tangents where I'd discover a new artist off a collaboration. When I dl'd Dilla's catalog, I ended up finding Madlib then Doom then a few others.
Donuts is still in all-time Top 10 albums regardless of genre. I rank it up there with the likes of Charles Mingus, Miles Davis, and some others. It's that good.
10. "RE: interesting, are you referring to..." In response to Reply # 6
ayo! i just realized that your join date is the same day as his birthday. now that's whats up!
happy dilla day!
me and someone who was really close to me, used to make music together. and in between working on the songs, we'd blaze blunts, play soul caliber and bump donuts.
we used to have full on battles! and there would be times when our sword hits would literally be on beat with the music. but it would go on like this for like whole sessions at a time. not like a couple sword hits, but whole fights at a time.
we'd have "donuts" soul caliber sessions, and we'd compete for "the belt." it was serious.
36. "you're doing too much, pal.entirely too much" In response to Reply # 10
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
13. "personally, I prefer Beat Konducta 5: Dil Cosby Suite" In response to Reply # 4
to me, it perfectly marries Donuts to Madlib's aesthetic, it's just a beautiful tribute to a best friend and that year it came out it became just about the only thing I listened to. Madlib's near the top of my last.fm stats almost solely thanks to that album. It's not as succint as Donuts but it's every bit if not more beautiful.
32. "Agreed on Another Batch and the "Motown" Beat CD" In response to Reply # 22
I play both of those from start to finish WAY more than Donuts. I disagree that Donuts was a misstep, however - it's a great album and creative as hell, but I think it's been overrated due to the circumstances when it was recorded/released.
Donuts was a logical conclusion to what he was doing on the Motown tape. And I say "conclusion" because I believe Dilla had already moved on to another sound once Donuts was released. A real shame that we didn't get to witness it.
38. "i take issue w/ this line of thinking" In response to Reply # 32
>it's been >overrated due to the circumstances when it was >recorded/released. >
i think that the context of the record's creation is crucial to *why* it is so great
i think this exercise in trying to separate the art from the context it was created in is foolish
i think anyone who understands the circumstances of its creation *should* have their appreciation enhanced &, if not, i feel like there's some emptiness & inability to connect art to a larger active human energy in that person
imo
________________________________________________________________ whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers you did them to me
i don't think heads understand where he made more than half of the album (on his death bead at the hospital) and on what set-up (a turn table and an mpc plugged into the hospital wall w/ JRocc, Com and Lib bringing him records).
i also think some of these dudes have not heard some of the OG samples and think he just chopped and looped. Some of the OG samples are slowed down or sped up. tempos have been manipulated or different parts of the song(s) reassembled to create what we hear. also the massive amounts of change ups throughout the record (and how they change) within songs only 1min-2min long is production excellence.
45. "i had considered a post saying what you said about the set up..." In response to Reply # 44
how it was created w/ minimal equipment on his death bed
there is no precedent for that that im aware of
he literally created an opus as he slipped away to his transition, its amazing
plus all the references to the thoughts and concerns of a dying man reflecting on his life & situation
one thing tho, i always thought it was a 202 or 303 he used for Donuts, not an MPC ... which, if im right, makes it even more impressive bc the sp takes more creativity & skill to get stuff out of than an MPC (from what ive heard anyway, sp's arent easy but ive never used an mpc myself)
________________________________________________________________ whenever you did these things to the least of my brothers you did them to me
46. "it's important but you guys stress it a little too much" In response to Reply # 45
ultimately the only thing that really matters is how well an artist executed their ideas, and he did that incredibly well for damn near all of his projects with Donuts being no exception as such I'm not one to think the circumstances of the album make it any better or worse, and as far as him being on another plane of existence that isn't true-he did what he always did and to the same high level he always did it at if anything that makes it more of a lasting statement than saying he was somewhere else with the shit
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
48. "no need to get persnickety there, son" In response to Reply # 47 Wed Feb-12-14 06:28 PM by Garhart Poppwell
but I recall it was the 3o3 and a PTo1, both run on batteries so they don't have to be plugged in to anything I'd think it'd be a great help when he had to get moved around and go from room to room in the hspital
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
52. "from experience they're both easy to use and highly functional" In response to Reply # 49 Wed Feb-12-14 07:16 PM by Garhart Poppwell
but the SP is smaller and while it doesn't sound as full (especially with drums), it's really easy to manipulate and create with the only thing they have on the older MPCs (6o and 3ooo) is the onboard effects; Kev Brown actually uses one in a chain with the MPC to color his samples with before they get sampled in it's coming down steady now, I've already turned my car around so I can leave in the morning you get much where you are?
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
58. "not really, it's very simple to use" In response to Reply # 53
but it really depends on how you interpret the equipment it's really it's own thing so you have to go into it as such
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
55. "I own the album in multiple formats ..." In response to Reply # 12
... but when I listen to it I don't look at the names of the tracks. If Glazed is the one where it's like "It's a factory", that one gets me mad. One of the Dilla beats I don't dig, if not the only one. Plus it makes me feel like he made that geared towards all the shit in the hospital where he prolly felt like it was making his body work like a factory. Anywho that's what I bring to the table with this discussion.
15. "Edan's Beauty & The Beat has this effect on me" In response to Reply # 0
No doubt, Donuts does too (and unlike ya'll, I tolerate Glaze), but Edan's LP, like the aforementioned Dilla classic, are the only two LPs I HAVE to play without skipping every time I hear them.
********************* www.dumhi.com -- We are ALL dumhi
and i love the "wake up world...give peace a chance...aren't you afraid...time is running out" sample. fits perfectly with the beat, and is (more) evidence that dilla knew the end was near.
30. "I guess I don't like it as much you guys do" In response to Reply # 0
I have a similar feeling with Welcome 2 Detroit, I love that album, but I haven't played Donuts since 2oo7 or so I really have to be in the mood to hear it, it's a great album but I'm not one of those 'it altered the course of beats' niggas; he didn't do something new as much as he did reinterpret the old and sometimes that's even more difficult
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
>I have a similar feeling with Welcome 2 Detroit, I love that >album, but I haven't played Donuts since 2oo7 or so >I really have to be in the mood to hear it, it's a great album >but I'm not one of those 'it altered the course of beats' >niggas;
I don't think it altered the course of beats at all. I'm not one of the people who overstate Dilla's impact. I know he had respect from all of the big names but I really don't hear his influence on them. However, I think Donuts as a whole is just a well organized album of chaos and emotion that is a tight cohesive listen from top to bottom. The samples, the tempos changes, the audio clips...it just sounds like a cool art project lol.
Welcome 2 Detroit I almost never go back to. It has some great moments but it's not a nicely arranged album to me. The style of beats vary to the point they sound like they should be on different album. The guest MCs are serviceable but not amazing and ultimately break the flow in a bad way to me. I would've preferred a complete compilation album or a complete instrumental album. And lastly, after coming off of his great work of 2000...some of the material just seemed like left overs. And I am not writing all of that to say it's a bad album...because I do enjoy it for what it is. I just don't find it to be special.
he didn't do something new as much as he did >reinterpret the old and sometimes that's even more difficult
35. "I'm not saying it's special, I just like listening to it" In response to Reply # 31
I don't bust a nut over any Dilla album but I find I listen to it the most out of all his stuff I really like his rapping on this album though, and the vibe he has on it seems like some late-night bumpery type of feel, which I can appreciate it is some really good pass the time music, though with Donuts I have to really want to listen to it and usually I want to sit with it for a while, but I haven't been compelled to do that for some time now
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
39. "I knoooooooow (c) JJ Evans" In response to Reply # 37
there's almost nothing to it as far as musical elements, but I like they way that beat came together there's just enough of everything, I wish more people did sparse beats like that now
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
51. "see it's not like some ill ass chop or anything" In response to Reply # 42
it's a really simple beat and fit what he was talking about perfectly, I really like beats like that a lot
__________________________________________ CHOP-THESE-BITCHES!!!! ------------------------------------ Garhart Ivanhoe Poppwell Un-OK'd moderator for The Lesson and Make The Music (yes, I do's work up in here, and in your asscrease if you run foul of this
Dj Joey Joe Member since Sep 01st 2007 13770 posts
Mon Feb-10-14 11:29 AM
33. "The Answer: Listening To "Fantastic Vol.2" For The First Time!" In response to Reply # 0
I was a big J-Dilla fan before "Donuts" dropped and when it did I was kind of disappointed cause I was hoping for something more but I understood that was the phase his beatmaking was in at the time (cause we all knew how many times he kept changing) but days later when he passed and was completely distraught for a week, and didn't listen to "Donuts" until a week later and felt a little more for it than before but inbetween time that week I was listening to nothing but "Fantastic Vol. 2" & "Welcome 2 Detroit" over & over.
Slum Village's "Fantastic Vol. 2" is the essential J-Dilla album to get introduced to, "Donuts" is like "oh you're into listening to internet producers who loop & chop soul samples well he's the kat who did it the best"; I remember when I had a bootleg cassette copy of the original "Fantastic Vol. 2" album, I was floored and had it on repeat until it popped (had to fix it and still listens to it just as much as the retail cd version), it's no way that "Donuts" is that amazing than his previous works.
--------- "We in here talking about later career Prince records & your fool ass is cruising around in a time machine trying to collect props for a couple of sociopathic degenerates" - s.blak
41. "To answer your last question" In response to Reply # 0 Wed Feb-12-14 09:50 AM by Anonymous
The Fix is another album that I put up there.
There are tons of great albums from that 2001-2009 era like The Rennaissance, Never Better, Below The Heavens etc but the two that I go back to most are The Fix and Donuts.
There is just something classic about those albums to me.
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