Producer experiences J Dilla - Donuts for the first time

Welcome to the show! Ha ha! This video was so fantastically difficult to bring before you. First I was worldwide blocked by Ghostface Killah (which was very annoying and unfair!). And then the Roots' record label insisted that their music couldn't be used at the EXACT same time as I was reading a report that one of them died. I had the 'worldwide block' and the 'news item' on my screen at the same time. Talk about priorities! All so unfortunate. And then the song "Welcome to the Show" became the sticking point. Anyway... here we are. Apart from the fact that all of my music-related videos are blocked in Denmark (?!?)... this is my reaction (as much as any of my 'reactions' are reactions) to J Dilla's beautiful album, Donuts. Thank you. :-)

He made most of this album in the hospital on his death bed with a portable record player and a small primative sampler. He sampled 45's that his mother and friends would bring him hence the title Donuts.

J Dilla donuts is the staple album of a perfect loop. The  ending of the final track flows right into the beginning of the first one, forming an infinite loop, and alluding to donuts' circular form.

Last Donut of the Night is meant to represent his death, & Welcome to the Show is meant to represent his entrance to heaven. Dilla died 3 days after Donuts release

22:58 for “Don’t Cry” ... my absolute favorite and top 3 greatest flips of all time. This song, according to QuestL in an interview was a message to his mother ... Rest easy Dilla, thank you for that beautiful music.

The chops on "Don't Cry" are ART. He shows us every part of the song he sampled from, before and after, and then chops it into a wholly new composition with a functional bassline. I can't comprehend it.

You might be the first youtube to ever react to Donuts. Woaah. Keep going. Madvilliany Next.

I've always found it genuinely remarkable that Dilla managed to tell such a personal story, across an album, just using samples. The man was a genius.

i would 100% recommend reading the 33 1/3 book on donuts. the whole back story of dilla being on his death bed while finishing the album and how every sample is so consciously chosen to create his final goodbye letter to his loved ones and fans adds a whole other layer of brilliance to this absolute masterpiece

Some recommendations: Freddie Gibbs & Madlib - Piñata Common - Be (I'd strongly recommend Resurrection, Like Water For Chocolate, and One Day It'll All Make Sense too, LWFC and Be have a lot of Dilla on em) The Pharcyde - Labcabincalifornia Slum Village - Fantastic Vol. 2 MF DOOM & Madlib - Madvillainy

Thank you 100x over. J Dilla is such an inspiration to me and I'm glad you've checked Donuts out. I feel as though a lot of modern music sounds the way it does because of this album. So many risks, hours spent crate digging and fipping samples but it all pays off in the end.

I highly recommend the book about it by Ferguson. The story behind the album is dismal, but very inspiring. J Dilla was a maverick. His last show, he was onstage in a wheelchair spitting on that mic. Really powerful moment from a powerful artist - he loved his fans. A well respected legend. Knowing the powerful story behind it will give you a perspective. In the same vein, Bowie’s last album Blackstar was written while he knew he was going to die. Wild ride that album is. Give that one a shot - intense!!

Watching this dude mimic what my brain did the first time I heard this 15 years ago is legit amazing. Keep rocking out bro

I feel like you are a really underappreciated editor. Your use of effects, even though the effects themselves are really cheap and kinda shit, are placed really well and it actually adds a LOT to the videos.

If you could react to The Avalanches - Since I left You it would make my life one step closer to completion

My favorite YouTuber at the moment

Imagine a whole album with this dude rapping and singing over it... I would buy that cd

I was so fortunate to see j dilla more than once live before his passing. RIP j dilla!

I’m so glad I found your channel. It’s awesome seeing someone get so much joy from great music!

Love this album so much, its like structured chaos especially with how the samples are put in to contrast each other and the drum and sample patterns like on don't cry, we lost J-D too soon.