by Joaquin Contreras
Records spun and donuts just as round were slung as an almost 15-year tradition was celebrated Thursday night at the Stood. Despite the efforts of a donut thief, students gathered as the Night of a Thousand Donuts tribute to late producer J Dilla came around again this year.
General Programming Coordinators Ryan Wu and Leo Frampton, reflected on this year and the past four years which they attended the event. This was their first year running it. “I always thought it was cool,” said Wu. “I knew the guys who used to run it and it was always a good time. I’m glad to be doing it now.”
Standing behind folding tables stacked chest-high with Dunkin’ Donuts delivery boxes, Wu and Frampton spoke to attendees while handing out pastries. A student at the turntables in the corner spun J Dilla songs and covers, along with other hip-hop classics from the Wu Tang Clan, Tupac Shakur and more. Donut eating contests were announced and repeated in quick succession: the winners were giving $20 for eating ten the quickest. After an encounter with a donut thief, a masked scofflaw who ran off with two boxes of pastries, Wu and other Stood employees were on high alert.
The event commemorates the life and career of hip hop pioneer and DJ James Yancey, known as J Dilla. Yancey was lauded as a master of the rap genre and collaborated with many famous MC’s (Common, A Tribe Called Quest and Busta Rhymes, to name a few) during his life, which was cut short at the age of 32 by Thrombotic Thrombocytopenic Purpura, a rare blood disease often linked to Lupus. The donuts are in reference to his third and final album released during his lifetime, titled “Donuts,” which has become a classic of the genre and widely sampled by various other artists. Purchase students sat greedily munching donuts and shouting song suggestions, while most spread about the Stood, pillaging pastry boxes and playing pool.