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1[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donuts_orig.jpg]]
2 [[caption-width-right:350:[[labelnote: Click here to see the original 12" cover.]][[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/donuts.jpg]][[/labelnote]]]]
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4-> ''[[Music/TenCc Workin' on it!]]''
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6''Donuts'' is the second studio album released by American HipHop producer Music/JDilla, and the final album released in his lifetime before his untimely death as a result of a rare blood disease and lupus. Largely in the instrumental hip hop genre, composed of remixed [[{{Sampling}} sampled]] content, the album was released on February 7, 2006, his 32nd birthday, and three days before his death.
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8In this sense, the album essentially functioned as [[SwanSong Dilla's goodbye]] to his loved ones, his fans, and all of the hip-hop community. While the theme of mortality doesn't overtly manifest in the album's tracks, death definitely forms a conceptual undertone, what with some of the sample choices Dilla makes, and [[BookEnds the album being structured as a perfect loop]].
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10It's often claimed that Dilla created much of the album while bedbound in hospital, though this may be a myth. According to Dan Charnas' biography ''Dilla Time'', the album began life as an earlier beat tape, and was edited and sequenced into its final album form by Stones Throw Records' art director Jeff Jank while Dilla was in hospital.
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12In terms of current-day legacy, the beats on ''Donuts'' have been used by a number of different rappers since the album's release. Also, as the album was named after Dilla's favorite food, donuts have become a [[TrademarkFavoriteFood lasting trademark]] for him, such that his uncle Herman Hayes started a donut shop in Detroit 10 years after its release named Dilla's Delights.
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14!!Tracklist:
15# Donuts (Outro)
16# Workinonit
17# Waves
18# Light My Fire
19# The New
20# Stop
21# People
22# The Diff'rence
23# Mash
24# Time: The Donut of the Heart
25# Glazed
26# Airworks
27# Lightworks
28# Stepson of the Clapper
29# The Twister (Huh, What)
30# One Eleven
31# Two Can Win
32# Don't Cry
33# Anti-American Graffiti
34# Geek Down
35# Thunder
36# Gobstopper
37# One for Ghost
38# Dilla Says Go
39# Walkinonit
40# The Factory
41# U-Love
42# Hi.
43# Bye.
44# Last Donut of the Night
45# Welcome to the Show / Donuts (Intro)
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47!!The Tropes of the Heart:
48* AlternateAlbumCover: The CD release of the album depicts a headshot of Dilla, while the LP release features a drawing of a donut shop.
49* AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence: One interpretation of "Welcome to the Show" paints it as a representation of Dilla crossing over into the next life, or the "show".
50* BackToFront: The album begins with its outro and ends with its intro.
51* BookEnds: The album has a cyclical and reversible nature. Its intro and outro being switched may seem tongue-in-cheek upon first glance, but it's actually pretty ingenious; the last two tracks of ''Donuts'' ("Last Donut of the Night" and "Welcome to the Show") make sense when interpreted both as the album's openers and closers, considering the nature of the album positions them both at the start and end simultaneously.
52* ContinuityNod: "Time: The Donut of the Heart" [[Music/HIStoryPastPresentAndFutureBookI isn't the first time]] Dilla got to work with some of Music/MichaelJackson's material.
53* CrossReferencedTitles: "Workinonit" and "Walkinonit", "Airworks" and "Lightworks", and "Hi" and "Bye".
54* EarlyBirdCameo: Several tracks from ''Donuts'' appeared on a now-extremely-rare 2005 beat tape.
55* EpicRocking: Although "Workinonit" is only 3 minutes long, it feels like this since it's surrounded by one- or two-minute tracks.
56* FaceOnTheCover: Of Dilla himself, taken from a frame of the music video for M.E.D.'s "Push", which Dilla produced.
57* FadingIntoTheNextSong: A lot of the tracks flow into each other surprisingly well, given the variety of sounds on this album.
58* {{Foreshadowing}}: A snippet of the start of "Lightworks" plays around the very end of "Airworks".
59* GenreRoulette: Due to the eclectic sampling of the album, there are a number of different sounds that Dilla plays with, from normal hip-hop to tribal music. His mother has even testified that during production, he went over each beat to ensure that it was something unique.
60* GrandFinale: "Last Donut of the Night" as well as the album "intro" combine not only to serve a suitable finale for the album, but [[BookEnds also serve as a good introduction if the album is played on loop]].
61** The album itself. Dilla lived just long enough to see it released on his thirty-second birthday, but died just three days after.
62* InstrumentalHipHop: Most of the tracks, if the vocals in the samples don't count.
63* TheImmodestOrgasm: Female moans can be heard throughout "Workinonit" and "Time: The Donut of the Heart".
64* MeaningfulName: "One for Ghost", which is a beat [[Music/WuTangClan Ghostface Killah]] would sample soon after on his song "Whip You With a Strap."
65* MinimalisticCoverArt: The vinyl cover of the album is rather simplistic, only consisting of a donut shop with a massive donut statue on top, a few lampposts, and a plane flying overhead.
66* MinisculeRocking: A majority of the tracks are 1-2 minutes.
67* NonindicativeName: The first track is called "Donuts (Outro)", while the final track is called "Donuts (Intro)".
68* OneWordTitle: "Workinonit", "Waves", "Stop", "People", "Mash", "Glazed", "Airworks", "Lightworks", "Thunder", "Gobstopper", "Walkinonit", "Hi", "Bye".
69* RecurringRiff: A variant; there's an alarm sound first introduced in "Workinonit" that is then heard multiple times throughout the album.
70* RepurposedPopSong: "Geek Down" and "Bye." (the latter under the title "So Far to Go") later appeared on Dilla's posthumous album ''The Shining'' a year later, with vocals from Music/BustaRhymes, Common, D'Angelo, and Dilla himself. Common and D'Angelo would release a different version of "So Far to Go" on the former's 2007 album ''Finding Forever''.
71* {{Sampling}}: The main crux of the album, with samples from a multitude of sources and genres being utilized in Dilla's beats.
72* SequelSong: "Stepson of the Clapper" is a follow-up to "The Clapper" from Dilla's debut, ''Music/Welcome2Detroit''.
73* StopAndGo: At one point in [[MeaningfulName "Stop"]], all audio in the song cuts out for the quarter-beat after its main sample says "You better stop".
74* ThemeNaming: Some tracks are named after actual types of donut flavors, or given donut-themed names.
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