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Donuts just might be the one release that best reflects his personality.
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The end result is akin to Norman Smith and DJ Shadow sitting in on a RZA-produced session-- spry, voiceless prog-hop by any other name.
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Donuts is hip-hop, then, like “Howl” is poetry or Guernica is painting: the best aspects of a particular style, developed to their fullest and executed masterfully.
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Q MagazineEven if... it never quite adds up to more than the sum of its parts, it's never less than a pleasure to listen to. [Apr 2006, p.119]
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Where Champion Sound built and expanded on Dilla's signature champion sound, Donuts blasts off into the sonic stratosphere, straying far from his trademark neck-snapping drums, dirty keyboards, and backward melodies in favor of stream-of-consciousness weirdness and free-associative sonic experimentation.
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A schizophrenic palate of honeyed soul, downbeat electrix, timeless hip hop and bare-knuckle beats, these 31 tracks (spread over 44 minutes) are packed with triple the hooks – and suffer from attention deficit disorder (to the listener’s benefit).
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Alternative PressFresh and interesting. [Mar 2006, p.138]
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Donuts is a big black pot of sonics, comparable only to Madlib's 2002 effort, Blunted in the Bombshelter, the difference being that this is all original material.
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Free from the constraints of perfunctory pop structure, Dee funnels seemingly dissonant patterns into pulsing tides of harmonious congruence.
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It’s entirely too richly tragic and fitting that the man’s last release is the apotheosis of his work, the finest and most representative example of what he contributed to music and, in turn, how music inspired him.
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It's like a medicinal tonic cleansing your system of the toxic effects of 10+ years of boring, bloated rap full-lengths.
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UrbExperiencing multitudes of brief bangers is a rare treat. [Mar 2006, p.113]
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Years from now these "Donuts" will still be just as fresh as the day they first hit the store.
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Be forewarned: Donuts can be a frustrating tease when the average instrumental clocks in around the one-minute mark. But for those who hold a true appreciation for Dilla and his avoidance of predictable sounds and mainstream beats, Donuts will sound right on track.
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Donuts is fascinating, disorienting and -- despite its best efforts to avoid such sympathies -- a bittersweet document of a too-young talent who ran out of time.
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 101 out of 111
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Mixed: 1 out of 111
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Negative: 9 out of 111
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Nov 3, 2010
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NVWhiteAug 11, 2008
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Jan 12, 2023The techniques used in this album have gone on to inspire a whole new generation of music. It is albums like this that truly deserve a 10 out of 10.