33 1/3 Donuts by Jordan Ferguson

As another installment of the 33 1/3 music book series Toronto freelance culture writer Jordan Ferguson delves in the mysterious classic instrumental album Donuts by legendary music producer J Dilla. Not only is this book a great peek inside of Donuts and the making of the album, it is also a rare glimpse inside the life of one of Hip Hop’s most mythical figures. This aspect is only approached through the angle of trying to uncover the hidden gems left in the famed producer’s last work, with the intent to find why these gems were left and what correlation it has to J Dilla consciously knowing his time on earth is ending soon. Layered with ancient Greek mythology and Western philosophy Ferguson gives his opinion on the more layered aspects to Donuts and how they relate to what the man producing, what he most likely knew was his last work, was going through. The author successfully convinces the reader that Donuts is a spiritual journey more than an instrumental album, and even unearths some almost eerie ‘hidden gems’ found in the album. From sample choices in another language that when translated deal with death, that Dilla more than likely would not have even known what they were saying, to the 5 stages of mourning or acknowledgement of impeding death located throughout the entire album. This book does give a short but detailed history of Dilla but with the producer’s cult like following most serious “Dilla Heads” will immediately recognize all the source material. No knew interviews or quotes are presented in this book, and most “Heads” probably have the original interviews saved in the favorites online as all of the source material for this book can be found on the internet. But this book’s purpose isn’t to give the untold story of Dilla but to ask the philosophical questions we all wonder in our heads that surround this mysterious final project. Ferguson is sure to make it known that this is just his opinion on a person and their art, and perhaps there is no true meaning embedded in this particular piece of art, but after re-listening to Donuts after this book, I am pretty sure there may be more gems than we think we know in this album.