Diamond D: The Best Producer on the Mic

In the next couple of days, im gonna focus on some of the cats from D.I.T.C. Im gonna start with Diamond D, casue i got "Stunts, Blunts and Hip Hop" on my turntables as I write this. Diamond D was doing a lot of prodcution work in the 90's but really didnt get noticed till his verse on "Showbiz", on ATCQ's excellent record, "The Low End Theory". Diamond had the rugged laid back flow that let it be known that he was a smooth, bad, motherfucker.

Lets start with homes career. Diamond met Jazzy Jay, Afrika Bambaataa's DJ/right hand man, and a legend in his own right, in 1985. Jay took Diamond under his wing and had a studio where Diamond started getting his weight up. Diamond then met up with DJ Mark the 45 King. Mark was doing big things at that point, like working with Madonna and shit, and was approcahed by a women with RPM managent (Russell Simmons producer management company or RUSH). Mark said he would sign, but they would have to sign Diamond too. This was homies break. He did more production work then did the ATCQ joint. A year later (1992), he dropped his debut LP "Stunts, Blunts, And Hip Hop" as Diamond D and the Pscychotic Neurotics. The album didnt sell crazy copies, but was hailed as an underground classic. Diamond D did almost all the prodcution himself on the album and it complimented his smooth laid back flow. Just dope breakbeats layered with rich, fat, basslines with some loops sprinkled on top of it. The prodcution on this album was uniformly soild, and the rhymes-though not complex, matched them to a tee. A must have for any hip hop head. Diamond then moved on to bigger projects, such as work for, KRS-One, House of Pain, The Pharcyde and more. He worked on the Fugees album, "The Score" and was featured on the track, "The Score". Homes won a grammy for this, but he is still bitter about that album because he was dicked out of money by Wyclef's shady, scumbag ass. Diamond said that Wyclef's bitch ass begged him not to clear the sample, and promised that if it came up they would split it 50/50. Diamond was like, yo u got a big budget- why not clear it? But he decided to listen to 'Clefs whiny manipulitive ass. When the Fugees blew up, Diamond was locked into a contract that said that there were no samples in it and instead of making hundreds of thousands of dollars (that album sold like 20 millon copies) he got a mesaly 80 g's and a Grammy. (So dont buy no Wyclef joints casue dude is a prick) Anyways, Diamond released another album called, "Hatred, Passions, And Infidelity". This album was aight. It had a lot of bigger named artists on it, but on a few tracks he was trying to do the whole crossover RnB/Pop bullshit which came out booty in my opinon. But never the less, it was still a decent album. It had some guest apperences by Phife Dog, Pete Rock, and DITC. Diamond did the prodcution on like 13 outta the 16 tracks which were pretty tight. He dropped another album a few years ago, "Grown Man Talk". I aint heard it, but from reviews on it that i saw, they said it was mediocore. I heard one track off it and it was rocking a played out JB's loop. But never the less, son is a legend. The best kept secret.

Sally Got a One Track Mind
When It Rains It Pores
The Light - Pharoahe Monch prod. by Diamond D