absolutely heartbreaking...this makes me hear Donuts in a completely different way.
After listening to certain tracks on Donuts did anyone else get the feeling he was placing subtle clues in the music that he was going to pass away? I got that especially after listening to "Last Donut Of The Night" and "Bye".
I finally got the (real) CD this week and while I was listening to "Workinonit", towards the end you hear "save me..." "save me..." which wasn't on the advance. There's actually alot more on the retail version. I recommend everyone buying a copy, for obvious reasons.
I believe all of this about James leaving messages in the music. I just read the Free Press article and it left me with three emotions: Depressed, Focused and Inspired. Love every minute of the time you have here.
Man i'm all choked up. Shit is really sad. I think it's time for everyone to step up and donate some money to dilla's family. They should not have to suffer the double tragedy of loosing a loved one and then a crushing financial debt.
I believe all of this about James leaving messages in the music. I just read the Free Press article and it left me with three emotions: Depressed, Focused and Inspired. Love every minute of the time you have here.
Took the words right outta my mouth man. He had so much soul that his music and spirit will live on. I've been going back and listening to a lot of his work recently. Soooo much soul, he put into his work.
After reading the Free Press article I had trouble thinking about anything else for the rest of the night. The anecdotes the author used got so far under my skin that I was talking about it to my Moms, who had just arrived on a flight from Detroit, as soon as I took her bags. The next thing I know I awoke 4 a.m. thinking about James in his last days, what it would feel like to know, ???Hey, I???m about to go,??? and wondered with a burning intensity what messages he left us in ???Donuts.??? I reached over Moms sleeping in the other room to grab my iPod and best pair of headphones. Once back in my bedroom I laid down and took another listen???a closer listen; with less emphasis on the beats and more on the vocal samples. When you take into account the idea that J, at the time of production, was hospital bound, barely speaking, waking his mother in the middle of the night to move him in front of his equipment to finish his opus, you realize that the records were his only outlet, his only remaining voice.
The samples tell us the story and dreams he had difficulty expressing vocally. It???s during ???Workinonit??? at the album???s beginning that you hear the words ???chewed up??? (donuts), "yumm", and the exclaimation ???save me??? like day mentioned above. It only took a few minutes for the tears to start streaming down my face. I could spend the rest of this post deconstructing the meaning of the songs and the lyrics, but I???ll leave that experience up to everyone one of you to go through yourselves. I spent the next 30 minutes sobbing and shaking in bed listening to these seemingly twisted, raw, soul-possessed, and carefully constructed mini-compositions, a last will and testament of a musician, a man, who knew death might come in the morning.
This is as serious and honest as it gets folks. I don???t know what else to say at this point besides insisting that you read the article, if you haven???t already, and giving ???Donuts??? another listen on headphones, where you can hear all of the intricacies of the music James squeezed out of himself before he left this planet. In the back of my mind I can envision him hitting stop on the sequencer for the last time and setting his headphones down, knowing that his final work and contribution to the world was complete. It???s a feeling that I will always remember and never want to forget.
Woah.. i just finished reading. damn.. the suffering, the unfairness of life... gee. think i'll go put a record on now... ta for posting... kinda wished you hadn't, but glad you did...
Reading this first thing when I came into work was almost too much. Pretty heartbreaking reading the details of what he and his Mum went through.
Time to go listen to some Dilla.
DocMcCoy"Go and laugh in your own country!" 5,913 Posts
After reading the Free Press article I had trouble thinking about anything else for the rest of the night. The anecdotes the author used got so far under my skin that I was talking about it to my Moms, who had just arrived on a flight from Detroit, as soon as I took her bags. The next thing I know I awoke 4 a.m. thinking about James in his last days, what it would feel like to know, ???Hey, I???m about to go,??? and wondered with a burning intensity what messages he left us in ???Donuts.??? I reached over Moms sleeping in the other room to grab my iPod and best pair of headphones. Once back in my bedroom I laid down and took another listen???a closer listen; with less emphasis on the beats and more on the vocal samples. When you take into account the idea that J, at the time of production, was hospital bound, barely speaking, waking his mother in the middle of the night to move him in front of his equipment to finish his opus, you realize that the records were his only outlet, his only remaining voice.
The samples tell us the story and dreams he had difficulty expressing vocally. It???s ???Workinonit??? at the album???s beginning which talking about ???chewed up??? (donuts) and exclaims ???save me??? like day mentioned above. It only took a few minutes for the tears to start streaming down my face. I could spend the rest of this post deconstructing the meaning of the songs and the lyrics, but I???ll leave that experience up to everyone one of you to go through yourselves.
I spent the next 30 minutes sobbing and shaking in bed listening to these seemingly twisted, raw, soul-possessed, and carefully constructed mini-compositions, a last will and testament of a musician, a man, who knew death might come in the morning. This is as serious and honest as it gets folks. I don???t know what else to say at this point besides insisting that you read the article, if you haven???t already, and giving ???Donuts??? another listen on headphones, where you can hear all of the intricacies of the music James squeezed out of himself before he left this planet. In the back of my mind I can envision him hitting stop on the sequencer for the last time and setting his headphones down, knowing that his final work and contribution to the world was complete. It???s a feeling that I will always remember and never want to forget.
Rest In Peace.
Man, this is almost as moving as that article. Props for putting that out there. I agree that the samples tell the story; The Escorts' "I Can't Stand To See You Cry", Motherlode's "When I Die", The Isleys' "Don't Say Goodnight". Not that I want to get on some post-Cobain/Tupac search for hidden meaning in every musical gesture Dilla made, but those choices don't seem quite so random in the light of his death, and certainly not after reading that article. RIP.
What's sad is that for all his great work his family could end up in debt or just break even. It would be a real shame if his daughters ended up with nothing because of all of the hospital bills, and whats worse is that this happens to a lot of people every day[/b].
"last donut of the night" hit me hard after reading the article on the 1st page last night. the vocals and cuts in the beginning of it shook my shit up. especially it being placed as the next to the last song.
just imagine knowing you're about to depart life as we know it and cutting up "ladies and gentlemen...it's time." like he knew it would the one last thing he would scratch. fucking tears me up. it takes all thought and attemped hidden meanings in my own mixtapes and crushes them like a grape.
"all i give to you and give to you." i haven't been this sad in a while.
"last donut of the night" hit me hard after reading the article on the 1st page last night. the vocals and cuts in the beginning of it shook my shit up. especially it being placed as the next to the last song.
just imagine knowing you're about to depart life as we know it and cutting up "ladies and gentlemen...it's time." like he knew it would the one last thing he would scratch. fucking tears me up. it takes all thought and attemped hidden meanings in my own mixtapes and crushes them like a grape.
"all i give to you and give to you." i haven't been this sad in a while.
EXACTLY! That's the actual track that really got me thinking about "messages". That exact part of "All i give to you" section. Same with the Ladies & Gentlemen intro talking about being on a grip of records, kind of like a sumarization of his life.
Comments
I finally got the (real) CD this week and while I was listening to "Workinonit", towards the end you hear "save me..." "save me..." which wasn't on the advance. There's actually alot more on the retail version. I recommend everyone buying a copy, for obvious reasons.
This whole thing has made me genuinely sad.
I believe all of this about James leaving messages in the music. I just read the Free Press article and it left me with three emotions: Depressed, Focused and Inspired. Love every minute of the time you have here.
Shit is really sad. I think it's time for everyone to step up and donate some money to dilla's family. They should not have to suffer the double tragedy of loosing a loved one and then a crushing financial debt.
Took the words right outta my mouth man. He had so much soul that his music and spirit will live on. I've been going back and listening to a lot of his work recently. Soooo much soul, he put into his work.
The samples tell us the story and dreams he had difficulty expressing vocally. It???s during ???Workinonit??? at the album???s beginning that you hear the words ???chewed up??? (donuts), "yumm", and the exclaimation ???save me??? like day mentioned above. It only took a few minutes for the tears to start streaming down my face. I could spend the rest of this post deconstructing the meaning of the songs and the lyrics, but I???ll leave that experience up to everyone one of you to go through yourselves. I spent the next 30 minutes sobbing and shaking in bed listening to these seemingly twisted, raw, soul-possessed, and carefully constructed mini-compositions, a last will and testament of a musician, a man, who knew death might come in the morning.
This is as serious and honest as it gets folks. I don???t know what else to say at this point besides insisting that you read the article, if you haven???t already, and giving ???Donuts??? another listen on headphones, where you can hear all of the intricacies of the music James squeezed out of himself before he left this planet. In the back of my mind I can envision him hitting stop on the sequencer for the last time and setting his headphones down, knowing that his final work and contribution to the world was complete. It???s a feeling that I will always remember and never want to forget.
Rest In Peace.
the suffering, the unfairness of life...
gee. think i'll go put a record on now...
ta for posting... kinda wished you hadn't, but glad you did...
Time to go listen to some Dilla.
Man, this is almost as moving as that article. Props for putting that out there. I agree that the samples tell the story; The Escorts' "I Can't Stand To See You Cry", Motherlode's "When I Die", The Isleys' "Don't Say Goodnight". Not that I want to get on some post-Cobain/Tupac search for hidden meaning in every musical gesture Dilla made, but those choices don't seem quite so random in the light of his death, and certainly not after reading that article. RIP.
I think I'll now be hearing things I probably didn't when I first listened to Donuts.
Especially with all that visual information we now have.
"last donut of the night" hit me hard after reading the article on the 1st page last night. the vocals and cuts in the beginning of it shook my shit up. especially it being placed as the next to the last song.
just imagine knowing you're about to depart life as we know it and cutting up "ladies and gentlemen...it's time." like he knew it would the one last thing he would scratch. fucking tears me up. it takes all thought and attemped hidden meanings in my own mixtapes and crushes them like a grape.
"all i give to you and give to you." i haven't been this sad in a while.
EXACTLY! That's the actual track that really got me thinking about "messages". That exact part of "All i give to you" section. Same with the Ladies & Gentlemen intro talking about being on a grip of records, kind of like a sumarization of his life.
shit's real.