J Dilla's 'Donuts' Album to Be Turned Into 130-Page Book

As on of the most iconic albums in hip-hop, J Dilla‘s Donuts has gone on to provide instrumentals for artists both old and new. The album is considered a must have by many hip-hop enthusiasts and now the digital disc has inspired a brand new book, which will release in April. Set to be published by 33 1/3 Books, which is a series devoted to classic albums J Dilla’s Donuts is authored by Toronto-based writer Jordan Ferguson, who also writes on his own blog Poetry for Grave Diggers.

Author Jordan Ferguson interviewed pretty much everyone associated with the album’s creation – Stones Throw’s PB Wolf, Jeff Jank, Eothen Alapatt – and many of Dilla’s associates in his L.A. and Detroit years. The book is not merely a behind the scenes look at the creation of Donuts, but a look at Dilla’s career as a whole, his influences, his music styles, and the art of the music itself. The jacket reads, “Drawing from philosophy, critical theory and musicology, as well as Dilla’s own musical catalog, Jordan Ferguson shows that the contradictory, irascible and confrontational music found on Donuts is as much a result of an artist’s declining health as it is an example of what scholars call ‘late style,’ placing the album in a musical tradition that stretches back centuries.”

The book will arrive on April 24, and pre-orders are available now via Stones Throw.