The song begins again, but tentatively, differently, the first two notes sliding in like tiny little fingers and piercing you just there in the back of the head. The opening to вЂњAirworksвЂќ is a glossy little gliss into a sweet soul vibe, cut off a mere second after it begins, before you even know whatвЂ™s happening. A great many of these tracks, sold to vocalists and properly promoted, could probably have been hits Donuts throws them about with willfully reckless abandon, ticking off beat after consistently dope beat seemingly at random, the kind of dense record you could spend days or years or a lifetime coming to know and decipher.Дilla manipulates us with his fingers on the vinyl, building and releasing tension, birthing a whole new mood in just four bars. Donuts was his stepping-stone to greater fame, begun simply as a beat-tape that evolved into something bigger. Rather, it was his biggest work to date, a relatively high-profile release on respected indie label Stones Throw, released only days before his unexpected passing. Disbelieving, speechless, stunned.ДЇrom his work as half of the Ummah with A Tribe Called Quest to more recent productions for artists from Busta Rhymes to Common, Jay Dee was almost terminally underground, never achieving the respect he deserved - for a producer whose distinctive sound essentially changed the face of a lot of hip-hop production, disturbingly large numbers of people have been mistakenly calling Donuts his solo debut.

Jay DeeвЂќ, in a million fonts, a million voices, people that had never met James Yancey but knew him through his music. It was a dark day for hip-hop in the worst ways possible: message boards and forum threads crashed under post after emotional post grown hip-hop men broke right on down and cried. J Dilla, Jay Dee, James Yancey, the heart and soul behind so many great albums and beats, passed away last Friday after an undisclosed length of illness he was only 32. This is how a brilliant mind says goodbye.ДЄ liquid-blue soul siren, a laid-back old-school whine.

J dilla donuts review