Madlib – Sound Ancestors

Undeniably one of the greatest hip-hop albums ever, J Dilla’s influential “rap album without rappers” LP Donuts is now back in stock at Stones Throw. The story of Donuts is widely known but for those unfamiliar or just now diving into the genius of James Dewitt Yancey, this is a great place to start. Recorded with just a Boss SP-303 sampler and a portable turntable during a year when Dilla was in and out of Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Donuts captures the essence of hip-hop with its wildly creative reimagining and flipping of seemingly disparate samples into completely new sounds. The album would later be described as “pure postmodern art” and influence generations of musicians and producers including Thundercat, Flying Lotus, Panda Bear, Erykah Badu, Kanye West, Joey Bada$$ and many many more.
– Phil Cho
Recommended – Full Listen
A1 Donuts (Outro)
A2 Workinonit
A3 Waves
A4 Light My Fire
A5 The New
A6 Stop
A7 People
A8 The Diff’rence
B1 Mash
B2 Time: The Donut Of The Heart
B3 Glazed
B4 Airworks
B5 Lightworks
B6 Stepson Of The Clapper
B7 The Twister (Huh, What)
C1 One Eleven
C2 Two Can Win
C3 Don’t Cry
C4 Anti-American Graffiti
C5 Geek Down
C6 Thunder
C7 Gobstopper
D1 One For Ghost
D2 Dilla Says Go
D3 Walkinonit
D4 The Factory
D5 U-Love
D6 Hi.
D7 Bye.
D8 Last Donut Of The Night
D9 Donuts (Intro)
Design [Cover] – Jank
Executive-Producer – Peanut Butter Wolf
Lacquer Cut By – DS
Mastered By – Dave Cooley
Producer – J Dilla