"donuts" is an instrumental hip hop album; the only lyrics on it are short phrases and gasps taken from various records. "donuts" contains 31 tracks, which was j dilla's age at the time of recording. most songs are quite short, running at lengths of 1–1.5 minutes each, and vary in style and tone. "clash" called the album "a conversation between two completely different producers". the original press release for the album compared it to scanning radio stations in an unfamiliar city.