Donuts

Donuts proves that the cliché about some people just having to make music is true: producer Jay Dee/J Dilla (Common, A Tribe Called Quest) reportedly completed much of the album in his hospital bed, using vinyl, a portable turntable and a Powerbook. One of the Slum Village founder’s last works before his death just after turning 32, this is a fantasia of loops, bringing together soft-soul guitar lines and verbal warnings (Eddie Kendricks: “People, the time has come”), an early electronic-music demo record, a yearning line from “For Once in My Life” and a holler from the Beasties’ “It’s the New Style” in a dreamscape that’s playful, challenging and repays the compulsive listening it invites. Included are “One for Ghost” and “Hi,” two beats Dilla provided for Ghostface’s Fishscale.