The songs on Donuts that aren’t soul and funk-based, or twist funk and soul sources so much it sounds from space or something, pop-up every few songs, sending the whole thing off-course. Although nearly every review touches on the emotions behind Donuts, I think the zig-zag approach to “Yo, I’m dying, here’s some music about it” confused many. To me, it’s just realism. Rarely ever are our minds or experiences so calcified.Had Donuts been a 31-track suite of emotive soul chops and only that, Donuts would’ve won some awards or topped Top-Ten lists because it’d be so easy to contextualize and write about. Donuts‘ genius is that it’s not Johnny Cash’s American Recordings or Lou Reed’s Berlin or My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade–something oppressive and one-note and therefore, oh-so-important and focused–it’s a sloppy celebration of life that occasionally takes-on death and dying. Dilla sticking “The Factory” after the killer run of “One from Ghost” to “Walkinonit” slows-down the meditative momentum the album’s building-up and realistically deviates for some weirdo fun.
This side of Dilla, this electronic, noisy side never really got to develop the way it should’ve and could’ve and a lot of it had to do with the staunch traditionalism of many of his fans. Amplified got dismissed by too many because it dared to be fun and a little synthetic and the unreleased Frank-N-Dank record 48 Hours went even further and probably scared closed-minded label heads–even though it was concurrent with Timbo and all that–because it would’ve scared closed-minded neo-soulquarian smarty-pants hip-hoppers or something.
And so, Dilla interrupts the cumulative effect of devastating soul loops he had going for a downright annoying, squonking, creaking blipping blopping blooping minute and a half. The best part though, might be the way he stops it all except for that tin-can drumming a few times throughout even ending “The Factory” on it, like it’s a count-out for the next track, “U-Love”.
The idea of “Da Factory Mix” is making an attempt at connecting krautrock/post-punk/new wave/hip-hop to J Dilla’s Donuts-era aesthetic. I chose “Da Factory” as a reference for the mix because of its obvious connections to the aforementioned styles.
Tracklist
01. Mantronix – “King of the Beats”
02. J Dilla – “[untitled Dilla Beats track]“
03. The Beastie Boys – “Ask for Janice”
04. Kool G Rap & DJ Polo – “Cars”
05. Gary Numan – “M.E.”
06. Public Enemy – “M.P.E.”
07. J Dilla – “[untitled Dilla Beats track]“
08. Richard Pryor – “Acid”
09. J Dilla – “[untitled Dilla Beats track]“
10. Faust – “I’ve Got My Car and My TV”
11. Malcom McLaren – “El San Juanera”
12. J Dilla – “[untitled Dilla Beats track]“
13. Holger Czukay – “Fragrance”
14. Just-Ice – “Little Bad Johnny”
15. This Heat – “Paper Hats”
-Joseph
Dilla is pretty quirky, which should be obvious from the donut theme, and that aspect lends itself to how Willy Wonka these tracks are. Something about slightly cheery yet disaffected singing plus the constant bubbling in the background of “Lightworks” and tic-tac bassline of “Factory” just gets to me. Probably the best appropriation of a commercial jingle since Busta Rhymes’ “Dangerous” in the former, with the latter seeming like Dilla went out to just make the weirdest sound thing he could’ve.
-Christopher
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