The samples that make J Dilla’s classic ‘Donuts’
J Dilla’s legacy is one of a mysterious figure who created pure magic and hip-hop history from a dingy basement studio in Detroit. The late producer and emcee worked with several acts during his career. However, his impact on the culture was profound.
J Dilla produced for The Roots, Common, Erykah Badu and many other artists in the 1990s and revived people’s love for soul and jazz with his samples and, as hip-hop production became more robotic, managed to humanise music with his unique beat-making style.
Dilla (real name James Yancey) was an official member of Slum Village and gained tremendous attention with his production style, which countered the gritty sound of New York with a smooth, soul-inspired sound that was heavenly.
Yancey is known for his ingenious way of utilising the MPC 3000, a piece of technology that led hip-hop instrumentals to become highly stiff, mechanical, and too perfect regarding timings. Yancey found beauty in the imperfections that humans brought to music—the slightly offbeat hit off a snare, the erratic movement that percussionists intuitively provide. As such, with his purposefully wonky drums and haphazard approach to sampling, Yancey gave his machine a soul.
In a 2006 documentary on J Dilla’s career and life, Chicago rapper Common referred to him as an “esoteric spirit” who came down to earth and returned to heaven. However, his most significant gift to hip-hop while he was on earth was Donuts, an entirely instrumental project widely considered his magnum opus.
In 2002, Yancey was diagnosed with a dreadful illness. Suffering from thrombocytopenic purpura combined with lupus, J Dilla was hospitalised and told that his body was turning on itself and destroying his organs. As such, he was hospitalised. However, wheelchair-bound and dying, the Detroit native began working on a final album.
29 of the album’s 31 tracks were made in his hospital room, and its chaotic yet beautiful arrangement was perceived by many as Yancey’s way of musically confronting death and the notion of an afterlife. Following its release in 2006, fans were made aware that some of the album’s closing tracks were made days before the musician began palliative care in preparation for death.
J Dilla used a range of samples for Donuts, but some iconic songs he sampled more than once although listeners would never be able to tell. From soul to electro and jazz, some tracks were the backbone of the project. Below, you can see some of the samples that made Donuts.
The samples that make J Dilla’s classic ‘Donuts’:
- Beastie Boys – ‘The New Style’, Licensed To Ill, (1986)
- Run-DMC – ‘Here We Go’, Run-DMC, (1985)
- Shuggie Otis – ‘Not Available’, Inspiration Information, (1974)
- Raymond Scott – ‘Bendix The Tomorrow People’, Manhattan Research, Inc (2000)
- Joeski Love – ‘Pee-Wee’s Dance’, Pee-Wee’s Dance, (1986)
- Luther Ingram – ‘To The Other Man’, I’ve Been Here All the Time, (1972)
- Malcolm McLaren – ‘Buffalo Gals’, Duck Rock, (1982)
- Lou Rawls – ‘Season Of The Witch’, The Way It Was, The Way It Is, (1969)
- BR Gunna featuring J Dilla – ‘Do Ya Thing’, Dirty District Vol. 2 (2004)
- Skillz and Rass Kass – ‘Six Figures’, Six Figures, (2003)
- Stevie Wonder – ‘For Once In My Life’, For Once in My Life, (1969)
- Mantronix – ‘King Of The Beats’, ‘King Of The Beats, (1988)
- Sweet Charles Sherrell – ‘Yes It’s You’, For Sweet People From Sweet Charles, (1974)