Kanye West Inspired J Dilla's "Donuts," Young RJ Claims

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BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 09: Kanye West attends the 2020 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on February 09, 2020 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Rich Fury/VF20/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
Young RJ says Kanye West's work on Slum Village's "Selfish" inspired J Dilla's "Donuts."

Young RJ of Slum Village says Kanye West inspired J Dilla's iconic record, Donuts. Speaking with Shirley Ju, RJ recalled the video shoot for his group's 2004 song “Selfish,” on which Kanye West and John Legend are featured. He says Dilla attended the shoot and was trolled for being up-staged by the then-up-and-coming Ye.

“He shows up to the video and we sitting back there. A guy named Scrap Dirty like, ‘Man, this your group and you gon’ let Kanye come through and do this? He killing the soul shit!’ Dilla’s sitting in the stands like, ‘Oh word? That’s what you think?’ He goes back… that’s when you get all the stuff that you heard on Donuts, all the soul stuff. He was making his point that, ‘I’m unf*ckwittable,'” RJ said.

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Ye has spoken about his admiration for Dilla in the past. Appearing in Stones Throw's Our Vinyl Weighs a Ton documentary in 2013 for an interview that surfaced years later, Ye recalled meeting the legendary producer. "I met J Dilla at Common’s crib just down the street here in L.A. They were staying together, and I just remember looking at that MPC. And those drums came out of that MPC, arguably the best drums in hip-hop history," he said. "I just remember vibing with him and having so much respect, and just wanting to work with him more.”

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Elsewhere in the interview, RJ recalls West charging the group $90,000 for his work on “Selfish.” He argued it was “payback” against a record label executive who passed over him. Be on the lookout for further updates on Kanye West on HotNewHipHop.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is a current staff writer at HotNewHipHop based out of New York City. He began writing for the site as an intern back in 2018 while finishing his B.A. in Journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s covered a number of breaking stories for HNHH. These include the ongoing YSL RICO trial, the allegations surrounding Diddy, and much more. His work also extends outside of hip-hop, having written extensively about a myriad of topics including politics, sports, and pop culture. He’s attended several music festivals to provide coverage for the site as well, such as Rolling Loud and Governors Ball.
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