Uploaded August 2022 | Updated September 2026, 39 minutes ago
The long-unripped 1993 demotape of Bay Area hip-hop group Donut Productions, a group which, over the next 7 years would lose a member, gain another and become Lifeseeker!
I've been curious about this tape for a long time. I've been a fan of Lifeseeker for a while now, and for the longest time had this inkling that they used to be called Donut Productions with a slightly different lineup, but not much beyond that. Well, after some digging, I found a 1995 CD called... $19.95, which reuses half the songs from this tape, and includes another 7 new tracks to form a quasi-album. I heard, after that, that their original tape was called Shady Side of the Donut and it made a big enough splash to interest the likes of Mo' Wax and Grand Royal, but it was nowhere to be found. Lots of asking around, and lots of "Yeah, I'll find that tape and digitize it sometime" was had over the next two years to no avail.
A big breakthrough happened when, at the end of last year, Jimmy Gaunt interviewed Marc about Donut Productions for his Zine "The Shadow Knows" volume 2. Lots of great stuff in that interview, it covers the group's formation as Donut Posse before the name change, their linking up with Mo' Wax, their dissolution due to Marc and DJ Gunga Din's disagreements with J-Squash, and the formation of Lifeseeker. It was a great and gratifying read that also gave some more information on and pictures of this tape. A discogs page was made for it, obnoxiously labelling the tape as "Donut Posse" despite it LITERALLY SAYING DONUT PRODUCTIONS ON THE IMAGE GAAAAAAH! And it was in my wantlist forever. It was one of those things I never actually expected to get, you know? Well sure enough, this summer some guy listed it at $80 saying it was new old stock. I offered 50 and he accepted. I laughed really hard when the package came in a week later and the tape still had a $5.99 sticker on it.
Still, totally elated to have this tape! Aside from the seven never-before heard tracks (starred on this upload), some of the released tracks are different! Donut Pros has a whole extra verse cut off of the final, and Fly the Coop is missing some overdubs (I think???). I'm sure there's more, but I couldn't find them on first listen. Hope you enjoy, and if any Lifeseeker fans exist besides me, I hope this is as mindblowing to you as it was myself.
0:00 Donut Pros
4:44 Why I Laugh
6:55 Frankenstein for President
8:38 HOOKS
14:04 Solve All These God Damn Problems*
16:35 Out the Asylum*
22:10 A Matter of Grip
25:10 Kill Little Feeble Bunnies*
27:30 Bright Side of the Donut*
28:52 Fly the Coop
33:09 Hella Kitty*
34:18 More Music to Get Sick to*
40:49 Intro*
FLAC Download: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Gq7Rfd1vD1Di_cIOxdThyxNS5gcXgx7w?usp=sharing
The long-unripped 1993 demotape of Bay Area hip-hop group Donut Productions, a group which, over the next 7 years would lose a member, gain another and become Lifeseeker!
I've been curious about this tape for a long time. I've been a fan of Lifeseeker for a while now, and for the longest time had this inkling that they used to be called Donut Productions with a slightly different lineup, but not much beyond that. Well, after some digging, I found a 1995 CD called... $19.95, which reuses half the songs from this tape, and includes another 7 new tracks to form a quasi-album. I heard, after that, that their original tape was called Shady Side of the Donut and it made a big enough splash to interest the likes of Mo' Wax and Grand Royal, but it was nowhere to be found. Lots of asking around, and lots of "Yeah, I'll find that tape and digitize it sometime" was had over the next two years to no avail.
A big breakthrough happened when, at the end of last year, Jimmy Gaunt interviewed Marc about Donut Productions for his Zine "The Shadow Knows" volume 2. Lots of great stuff in that interview, it covers the group's formation as Donut Posse before the name change, their linking up with Mo' Wax, their dissolution due to Marc and DJ Gunga Din's disagreements with J-Squash, and the formation of Lifeseeker. It was a great and gratifying read that also gave some more information on and pictures of this tape. A discogs page was made for it, obnoxiously labelling the tape as "Donut Posse" despite it LITERALLY SAYING DONUT PRODUCTIONS ON THE IMAGE GAAAAAAH! And it was in my wantlist forever. It was one of those things I never actually expected to get, you know? Well sure enough, this summer some guy listed it at $80 saying it was new old stock. I offered 50 and he accepted. I laughed really hard when the package came in a week later and the tape still had a $5.99 sticker on it.
Still, totally elated to have this tape! Aside from the seven never-before heard tracks (starred on this upload), some of the released tracks are different! Donut Pros has a whole extra verse cut off of the final, and Fly the Coop is missing some overdubs (I think???). I'm sure there's more, but I couldn't find them on first listen. Hope you enjoy, and if any Lifeseeker fans exist besides me, I hope this is as mindblowing to you as it was myself.
0:00 Donut Pros
4:44 Why I Laugh
6:55 Frankenstein for President
8:38 HOOKS
14:04 Solve All These God Damn Problems*
16:35 Out the Asylum*
22:10 A Matter of Grip
25:10 Kill Little Feeble Bunnies*
27:30 Bright Side of the Donut*
28:52 Fly the Coop
33:09 Hella Kitty*
34:18 More Music to Get Sick to*
40:49 Intro*
FLAC Download: drive.google.com/drive/folders/1Gq7Rfd1vD1Di_cIOxdThyxNS5gcXgx7w?usp=sharing
