Whether I am listening to or creating music, the piece’s aesthetic is one of the factors that manifests itself instinctively as apposed to always being a deliberate thought. For me, it is impossible to create any kind of music without some of my own personality leaking through into the music’s aesthetic. While listening to music however, it can be easier to analyse and deconstruct the aesthetic intentions of the artists despite the listener’s original response being dominantly instinctive towards how they experience the music.
I have chosen to speak on a very well documented album from the esteemed hip-hop producer J Dilla. His most well known album ‘Donuts’, was my first instinct when directed to talk about context and aesthetic as it is in my opinion, one of the most introspective, personal albums ever made within the genre. This is because as well as being an incredible producer, the context of how this album was made creates a much more mythical, almost religious following to J Dilla as an artist.
“I think the pain and suffering he dealt with off and on through his final years contributed to the album he created coming out the way it did” – Peanut Butter Wold, founder of stones throw records [1]
It will be difficult to analyses the context and aesthetics of this album separately due to the fact that the album was made in between stays at the hospital while Dilla struggled with an ongoing battle against lupus. To do the album’s wide aesthetics justice you would have to look at each and every track, for example the track titled ‘One for Ghost’ is a very solemn beat by J Dilla’s standards. After diving further into the backstory of the album and this time in Dilla’s life the reflective aesthetic is amplified to a new level. ‘Don’t Cry’ is another one of my favourite beats on the album, the seemingly apologetic intention behind his music is seen once again and feels almost foreboding to his upcoming passing only two days after the album’s release date.
For an album that was contextually finished on an artists deathbed, it always feels so full of life and personality. One of the tracks that reflects this very effectively is the second track on the album, ‘Workinonit‘. This track establishes the journey you will go on throughout listening to the album within the first few seconds with a car engine that sounds almost confrontational after the more mellow 12 second intro that came before it. If you consider both the introspective nature of this album and the context in which it was made, this could also be interpreted as the start of Dilla’s journey to other places – wherever that may be.
To conclude, the albums aesthetics feel like a very deliberate ‘farewell’, with several tracks dedicated to important people in his life. Furthermore, by applying contextual knowledge of his death, some people go as far as to say the album kept him alive long enough for him to say his goodbyes through a final album to close friends, family members and fans alike.
[1] Observer. (2016). A Decade Old, Still Fresh: How J Dilla Wrote the Future With ‘Donuts’. [online] Available at: https://observer.com/2016/02/a-decade-old-still-fresh-how-j-dilla-wrote-the-future-with-donuts/.