in 2005, j dilla underwent treatment at cedars-sinai medical center for complications brought on by ttp and a form of lupus. while in the hospital, he worked on two albums: "donuts" and "the shining". 29 out of 31 tracks from "donuts" were recorded in hospital, using a boss sp-303 sampler and a small 45 record player his friends brought him. records his mother and friends would bring were used as the source of the samples for the album. she recalled it in the "crate diggers" documentary: "when i took the crate up, and he looked through it, i think out of a whole milk crate full of 45s, i think he might have taken a dozen out of there and set them aside. he said 'you can take that back to the house'. he said 'none of that's good'."