(What If...?) - J Dilla - Dilla's Donuts - Vocal Version

What if J Dilla's classic beat tape "Donuts" had been released as full vocal album?

J Dilla - Donuts: The Vocal Version by Wx Mixtapes on Mixcloud

Jay Dee aka James Dewitt Yancey will always be remembered as one of the music industry's most influential hip hop artists. He led a troubled life having been diagnosed with Lupus and TTP.  Dilla died in 2006 aged just 32, three days after his universally acclaimed classic "Donuts" dropped. The original idea for Donuts came during an extended hospital stay in the summer of 2005. Dilla's friends from the L.A.-based indie label Stones Throw came to visit and brought him a Boss SP-303 sampler and a small 45 record player so he could make music while in the hospital. Dilla completed 29 of the 31 songs on Donuts while still in the hospital. The name "Donuts" was explained by Dilla's mother in a New York Times article...

"Easy explanation, Dilla likes donuts. I just bought two dozen a week ago!" - Dilla's mother smiling as she remembers her son.

Many of the tracks have been used since "One for Ghost" and "Hi" were used in Ghostface's Fishscale under the names "Whip You With a Strap" and "Beauty Jackson", respectively. Ghost also used "Geek Down" for the song Murda Goons. Busta Rhymes and Rah Digga used "Last Donut of the Night" for  and "Best That Ever Did It." "Workinonit" was used by The Roots for a collaboration with Saigon for the album Game Theory, however it was not included out of respect for Dilla's passing. The verse from Saigon can be heard on his mixtape Return of the Yardfather. J Dilla's posthumously released album The Shining, also released with new verses on Common's Finding Forever, uses a re-edited version of "Bye."The aforementioned tracks were, for the most part, recorded or planned during Dilla's lifetime. After Dilla's passing, The Roots used "Time: The Donut of the Heart" for their J Dilla tribute "Can't Stop This" on the album Game Theory. In 2005, the track "Mash" was rapped over by MF DOOM and Guilty Simpson on the track "Mash's Revenge" feature on the Stones Throw compilation "B-Ball Zombie War". DOOM also used "Anti-American Graffiti" which appeared on the Dilla Ghost Doom release Sniperlite, under the track name "Sniper Elite". DOOM later used "Lightworks" on a track of the same name on his album Born Like This. "Lightworks" was also used for the "B-Ball Zombie War" track "Lightworking," which features Talib Kweli and Q-Tip. Busta Rhymes added a verse to Q-Tip and Talib Kweli's on "Lightworks". This was included in his Dillagence mixtape, 2007.

Big shout to Seanuz from WuCorp who complied this tape. He has been working on this for a long time and it sounds like an official album that could be released. As with the Cuban Linx II version Seanuz complied he has used the original titles for all tracks. He has used the best versions of all the tracks he could get as mentioned above and a few others that were a little harder to find. People featuring Common was mixed by DJ Unexpected for his ‘Something In Common’ mixtape, as the song ‘My People, Hold On’. This is based on that but mixed slightly differently by Seanuz.
The Diff’rence featuring Grand Puba is taken from the song ‘Let’s Get It On / The Diff’rence (Fozzie Bootleg)’ off of Fozzie’s ‘BIG EP II’. Gobstopper featuring Nas & Jay Electronica was Mixed by DJ Smu as ‘The Season (Smu Mix)’  The Jay-Z track Don’t Cry is the ‘Song Cry (Dilla Remix)’ and Thunder featuring M.O.P is ‘Pounds Up’ both taken from DJ Soul and Okayplayer’s ‘Assorted Donuts’

Again Big Thanks to Seanuz for this one, Listen above / Download below.

Dilla R.I.P.

Tracklist:

1. Donuts (Outro)
2. Workinonit (feat The Roots)
3. Waves (feat XV)
4. Light My Fire
5. The New (feat XV)
6. Stop
7. People (feat Common)
8. The Diff’rence (feat Grand Puba)
9. Mash (feat MF Doom & Guilty Simpson)
10. Time: The Donut Of The Heart (feat The Roots)
11. Glazed
12. Airworks
13. Lightworks (feat MF Doom)
14. Stepson Of The Clapper (feat Roc C & Oh No)
15. The Twister (Huh, What) (feat Roc C & Oh No)
16. One Eleven (feat Little Brother & O-Dash)
17. Two Can Win (feat Big Sean)
18. Don't Cry (feat Jay-Z)
19. Anti-American Graffiti (feat MF Doom)
20. Geek Down (feat Ghostface Killah)
21. Thunder (feat M.O.P)
22. Gobstopper (feat Nas & Jay Electronica)
23. One For Ghost (feat Ghostface Killah)
24. Dilla Says Go (feat Talib Kweli)
25. Walkinonit
26. The Factory
27. U-Love (feat Skyzoo)
28. Hi. (feat Ghostface Killah)
29. Bye. (feat Common & D'Angelo)
30. Last Donut Of The Night (feat Rah Digga & Busta Rhymes)
31. Donuts (Intro)

Download - Donuts: The Vocal Version Here