Damien Mickel
Before the completion of Donuts, the last album in his lifetime, James Yancey, otherwise know as J Dilla, had unquestionably become a legend amongst aficionados and chroniclers of hip-hop. In fact, the construction of Dilla’s homage to the golden era of soul was underway as he engaged in a brutal battle with a rare blood disease that will claim him as a victim. The completion of Donuts under such circumstances is a testament of his dedication to the craft especially in this age of diminishing sonic sensibility.
With Donuts (very fittingly I might add), classic soul becomes the palette on which Dilla paints his delectably unorthodox concoctions—a treat for deprived eardrums. Whereas Kanye West and Ninth Wonder, respectfully, translate soul samples into contagiously catchy hip hop odes, Dilla, true to his eccentric and eclectic musical sensibilities traveled a different route. Instead of creating polished, silky remnants of yesteryears, Dilla constructed beats that embodied the murkiness of a late night pool-hall filled with shit-talking hustlers. In Donuts, he chopped samples into jagged shards of melody with fluctuating patterns that are grainy and gritty and emit a downright dirty sound.
For instance, in The Diff'rence, the melody is left to drunkenly fade off beat for a second and then is right back on beat again before becoming infectious in a manner that is deliberately rule-breaking. Dilla’s penchant for innovation is prominent through out the entire album as vocal samples uppercut beats at the most unlikely moments rendering it a sound akin to a soul singer with a mild case of Tourette syndrome. But in Dilla’s hands, the sick soul singer becomes yet another vocal treasure in his bag of musical tricks.
And just in case you thought Dilla couldn't conjure Sunday afternoon, lemonade sippin', lawn chair sittin' soul, you are wrong. In Two Can Win he chops different pieces of the same sample and overlaps them so precisely that the listener is fooled into believing it to be just a loop of the original song. Nope! Guess again. It is just another gem from the Dilla bag.
As he displayed time and time again throughout his illustrious but brief career, Dilla refused to be boxed in, not even in a box labeled hip-hop, a genre he helped redefine. So it was no surprise that even a hip hop giant and gifted sonic guru Pete Rock once confessed he considered Dilla his favorite producer!
In fact, dig-worthy but obscure Dilla treasures like 90210 alum Brian Austin Green’s terribly rapped, but excellently produced debut, One Stop Carnival attest to Dilla’s infectious musicality. But most of all his ability to leave his mark on even bad projects. However, for Dilla neophytes, Donuts is as good as any starting point to walk into his world. Dilla remains a testimony to what dedication to innovation can birth.
Damien Mickel is a writer and life-long hip hop head and producer. He resides in Houston.
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