DIPSET – Pretty Memories (Re-up)

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Happier Days ….*sigh*

First: Make sure “THIS” (click me) or “THIS” (click me) is playing in the background as you read this and get comfy because this is gonna be a long one.

As the saying goes, All good things come to an end. And it seems that the illustrious reign of the Harlem Diplomats is no exception.

 They have an illustrious discography, illustrious members, illustrious music videos and (illustrious* shooting survival stories…I see you Freakey)…

 …..but they just can’t seem to “keep it all together”

 Remember that period of time when everything the Diplomats touched turned to gold?

(LOL…oh you don’t?…..well, I do!)

 I’d say the golden era for them lasted from early 2003 to about late 2006 (pre “We Fly High” and Jim Jones’ ‘Dipset Byrd gang’ projects and sing song hooks by Max B)..but don’t quote me on that. No wiki before I wrote this. (this is straight off the dome!)

 I remember when Diplomatic Immunity first dropped. These dudes were the talk of the town. I don’t think G-unit was that hot yet…or perhaps they just weren’t on my radar. I was still stuck on Cam’Ron’s 3rd studio album,  ”Come Home with Me’..despite all my guy friends (I see you D Rob)  insisting he was wack and laughing at me for liking him. I wouldn’t listen. Killa Cam had me at “Horse and Carriage”…lol.

 I was finally able to tear myself away from track 5 (Daydreaming)  on “Come home with me”, long enough to become addicted to “I’m Ready” which was on the second disc of the Diplomatic Immunity double album. I slept on the first disk at first, in a MAJOR way because most of the radio friendly tracks like “We built this city” and “Purple Haze” were on the second disc.

 *SIDEBAR*

Remember the Saturday Night Live when Lebron James guest starred in a skit about the solid gold dancers? They danced to the original sample for “We built this city”. Hilarious! *END SIDEBAR*

  Maybe about a year later, I put the 1st disc into my cd player by accident and heard “Beautiful Noise” blaring out of the speakers (instead of “I’m ready”). It stopped me dead in my tracks. I’d never heard anything so powerful! I credit that song for making me a bonified fan of Jim Jones.

I was also deeply touched by “Who Am I”. Juelz Santana’s high level of introspectiveness really surprised me because I had always assumed that his subject matter repository only consisted of crack tales and soliloquies about how great he was.  That’s why you should never peg someone as one thing, because usually they show you a whole other side to them that makes you look at them differently. I think I started really digging Juelz after hearing that track too.

 After fully digesting both discs, I began to have really high hopes for the crew…but it became increasingly difficult for them to maintain the high level of excellence that they achieved with the first album. In the year following, they remained in the public view, but not in a good way. Freakey Zekey went to jail and they released a hot or cold shit storm (depending on how you look at it) of hot, ‘sub par’ and ‘ho hum’ tracks on mixtapes here and there. One of my favorite mixtapes conceived during this time was “The Title stays in Harlem”. I’m not sure if it’s official but I love the way it was arranged. It was mostly a teaser for Cam’s ‘Killa Season’ album. This mixtape renewed my love for Killa Cam because it had tracks like “Get em daddy”, “It’s Nothing”, “Do your thing” and “I love my Life” featuring Nicole Wray. It centered around the events of the Cam shooting in DC and has a couple hot freestyles by then new members JR Rider and 40 Cal.

 Diplomatic Immunity 2 was released but to little fanfare. I didn’t buy it. I’m not sure why really. Perhaps I had enough Diplomat mixtapes to tide me over for a while.

And then, without warning, the dissension started. I’m not sure what caused the snowball, but everything seemed to quickly fall apart. Cam started beefing with 50, and his Dipset cohorts stayed mum throughout the beef which lasted a mere week. That beef did yield some pretty hot tracks by both parties though. The jury’s out on who’s backyard video was better. (I’ma go with Cam….It was more fun to say “Cuuurrrttiiiss). Funny how Curtisss became the title of 50’s album and a hot catchprase to boot.Then Jim Jones, buoyed by the success of his hit single, “We fly high” started putting more and more time into making music with his Dipset Byrd gang crew. The first compilation was actually very good. And even though I would have preferred Juelz and Cam to Max B and Stack Bundles (RIP), I still enjoyed that album a great deal. The Byrdgang studio album is in the works. Here’s the listening session direct from the #1 crack spot.

  So today…I really don’t know where that leaves the original Dipset as a group.  

 Many say that’s that it’s a wrap, ..(and I’m trying really hard no to say something about Reynolds here..lol) I really don’t want to believe it. I think as a unit, these 5 emcees (I’m including Freakey and Hell Rell too…Sorry JR Writer) seem to work really well together. They do well individually, but I just love hearing them rap TOGETHER. And I’m not saying I don’t love Byrdgang. I do. I just want the original Diplomats to work it out. Can they sort out their differences? I’m not sure. I wrote about this in my myspace blog and received a few snide comments along the lines of “who cares?” I care, damn it! I want to hear more good music. More tracks like “Beautiful noise”. I guess I’ll just keep hope alive…

Who’s with me?

 *crickets chirping?*

Lol… 

-Miss Avon

‘09 Update: Well, nothing seems to be happening on the Dipset front. Byrdgang is alive and kicking but no original Dipset. To date, Cam’ron and Jim Jones have not been able to set aside their differences, which is really too bad. I miss the music. After all, It was more than just music. It was a movement.

Bring back the good old days guys…

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