J Dilla - Donuts (2xLP)

Donuts began simply enough as an idea to turn a particularly good demo beat tape into a full-length release and has since become a classic hip-hop album, one of the defining works of the artist's life.

Completed during a year in which J Dilla spent mostly in a hospital bed at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Donuts would gain particular poignancy when, only three days after it's release, February 10, 2006, the artist passed away, losing his battle with a rare blood disease.