Condition: Brand New

Ships from: Melbourne

Description
Release details
Tracklist

Donuts, released in 2006 (just three days before his death), is the crowning achievement in J Dilla’s catalog and widely considered his magnum opus. The album is built from 31 succinct, loop-driven instrumentals—most under two minutes—where cuts of soul, funk, jazz, and obscure records are meticulously recontextualized. With abrupt transitions, layered drum grooves, and emotional resonance emerging from restraint, Donuts feels both fractured and whole—a work that absorbs and reflects the urgency of its creator’s life circumstances. Its circular sequencing (beginning with an “outro” and ending with an “intro”) reinforces the motif of cycles and mortality inherent in the title itself. Conceived during Dilla’s declining health, Donuts takes on the aura of a final testament, even though it was never explicitly intended as such. Its spare architecture leaves room for silence and space, turning minimal gestures into deep emotional statements. Over time the album has become canonical in instrumental hip-hop, celebrated as a blueprint for producers who follow. Its influence spans genres, inspiring beatmakers, ambient artists, and electronic musicians to treat the sampler as a compositional instrument, not just a tool for backing rhythms.

Reviews

“J Dilla’s eagerly awaited Donuts … is imposing a meta-rap bent on neo-soul, assaulting the senses in ways unseemly for a guy who used to work with Q-Tip.” – Pitchfork

Review

AllMusic rating:

AllMusic users:
(775 votes)

Read the AllMusic.com review
Artist: J Dilla

Label: Stones Throw Records

Format: LP

Units: 2

Country: US

Genre: Hip Hop & RnB

Style: Instrumental
A1 Donuts (Outro)
A2 Workinonit
A3 Waves
A4 Light It
A5 The New
A6 Stop!
A7 People
A8 The Diff'Rence
B1 Mash
B2 Time: The Donut Of The Heart
B3 Glazed
B4 Airworks
B5 Lightworks
B6 Stepson Of The Clapper
B7 The Twister (Huh, What)
C1 One Eleven
C2 Two Can Win
C3 Don'T Cry
C4 Anti-American Graffiti
C5 Geek Down
C6 Thunder
C7 Gobstopper
D1 One For Ghost
D2 Dilla Says Go
D3 Walkinonit
D4 The Factory
D5 U-Love
D6 Hi.
D7 Bye.
D8 Last Donut Of The Night
D9 Welcome To The Show