Ever wonder where the cover for J Dilla‘s Donuts came from? Well, back in 2005, Stones Throw rapper M.E.D. was filming a music video for his song “Push.” The director for the video was Andrew Gura. Basically, what happened was, they were settin’ up to film when J Dilla arrived on the set. Now Jay Dee wasn’t the very outgoing, social type, especially around people he didn’t know, so this was a surprise, but also an honor to the likes of Peanut Butter Wolf, M.E.D. and others when Dilla showed up. Gura later admitted to keeping the film rolling even after the shot was over because Dilla and M.E.D. were havin’ fun with it, so he just kept it goin. A few months later, in 2006, when Jeff Jank, an art director for Stones Throw records, was working on the cover for J Dilla’s Donuts album, he realized that he had no unseen photos of J Dilla hand. Also, Dilla was very sick so taking a new picture was not an option. So Jank contacted Gura to ask if he had a still shot of Dilla in the video… he did, so he sent that his way and the rest is history. Below, you can check out the first clip which is where the Donuts smile is at, and the second clip is the whole music video. You can also check out the entire story directly from Andrew Gura himself on Stones Throw’s website HERE.
