The conclusion

As one of the oldest cats from Hip-Hop’s so called “Golden Era” and self proclaimed “best Producer on the Mic”, Diamond D. never really got much attention beyond the industry despite winning a Grammy and contributing to some really classic albums, a condition recently seen agin in the passing of J. Dilla. Like Jay, Diamond is considered a “producers producer”, an artist who’s work and influence on others outshines his commercial sucess.

After getting his start as a DJ way back with Ultimate Force and Jazzy Jay in 1985 (appearing with Master Rob on Cold Chillin’ In the Studio) Diamond D, (born Joseph Kirkland) was first really put on as a professional producer by legendary Mark the 45 King. So he said to AllHipHop in 2004…

I respect Mark [the 45 King] because back in ’92 when Mark was doing stuff for Madonna and all these big name people – back then Russell Simmons had a producers’ management and it was called RPM, Rush Producers Management. There was a lady over there named Fran, she works for Bad Boy now. Back then, Fran was trying to court 45 King so she could manage him. And Mark, she felt my sh*t so strongly back then that he actually told Fran, “You can manage me, but you gotta pick up this new guy named Diamond too.” Which she did. One of my first jobs I did under RUSH was, remember that song, “Tom’s Diner?” I did the remix for that – which was a pretty big deal because that was a hot song. At any rate, ever since Mark did that, we’ve been cool and I’ve always kept him close to me.

It was through these associations that D. began to seriously make moves as an both an artist and producer. With long time freinds and neighbours Showbiz, AG and Lord Finesse, they formed D.I.T.C (AKA Diggin’ in the Crates) as a DJ outlet originally, then production. Show and AG’s first 12″, Soulclap, was sold stright from D’s trunk on the streets of NY, solidifying it’s status as an underground classic and setting a precedent for the Southern Rap explosion to follow…no deal? sell it yourself. It lead to the classic “Partygroove/Soulclap” on Payday and help set off the third age of NYC Hip-Hop.

But, with an Ultimate Force deal on the table, things quickly went sour as the A&R’s were more interested in Diamond’s rapping than Master Rob’s and offered D a solo deal…

Rob WAS down with DITC but what happened was, right before the Chemistry deal….Ok there were two deals on the table, there was a Chemistry/PWL deal and also Capitol records wanted to do a deal with Ultimate Force. At this time I only had one solo demo which was “Best Kept Secret”.

This is a true story, the guy at Caitol heard Best Kept Secret and he said “Hey I want to put this on the Ultimate Force album, maybe you could make me some more tracks with you rhyming on the album”. And understandably, I guess Rob was offended, because don’t forget I’m just a DJ at this point. Rob already had 15 tracks of rhymes and for Capitol to then say that they wanted the DJ to rhyme! I’m just a DJ and producer and they’re worried about me.

Capitol actually offered us more money, and I told them that if they put it in writing that if the Ultimate Force LP doesn’t do well, then there would be a “Diamond D” album, and they wouldn’t put it in writing. So I told Rob that I was going to do the Chemistry album and said “You just come over for that deal and rhyme with me” but he didn’t want to do that and rhyme on my album.

With this, D began paving the way for other Producer/Rappers by self-producing his debut full length (with the Psychotic Neurotics) “Stunts Blunts and Hip-Hop”, a process still relatively rare at this time. It is here that the”Diamond D.” sound was truly born. That sound is simple: A loop or two, lifted from classic funk, soul and jazz records, paired with heavy breaks. The sound of his drums is what really turned heads. From his early work to his D.I.T.C. days, D. really knew how to make his drums pop, with a trademark heavy thud that stands out. Like contemporaries Premier and Pete Rock, Horns and flutes also played heavily in Diamond’s productions, giving them a distinctly “classic” sound. Diamond D had some “traditional” musical background, learning Drums and Flute in High school, but his sound has always been considred old-school…mainly because of it’s reliance on sometimes obvious sources (See Day 2, “Feel it”). But when it comes to the law, D. keeps it real:

I’ve been able to live comfortably for the last thirteen-fourteen years. There was a period when sampling was frowned upon at one time. Everybody was keyboard crazy. What goes around, comes around. Now you’ve got guys like Just Blaze, Kanye West, they always biggin’ me up in they articles, and you know, now sampling has come back full circle and that’s a plus.

The album was not a blockbuster, mainly due to Chemistry records insane decision not to release it on Vinyl, but solidified his reputation as a solid rapper and an even better producer. His work matured, somtimes leading away from his early Rock/Blues guitar chops into a more Jazz oriented style. It lead to more work, notably with A Tribe Called Quest on “Low End Theory”and Brand Nubian. (Sadly, not all his work gets platinum status; as a producer-for-hire he’s did some pretty awful work for House of Pain and some so/so remixes…but hey, even Dre did Funky Flute (look it up))

Around this time Diamond begain working on the debut full-length of his long time friend, a young Graff writer named “Crack TS” turned rapper named “Fat Joe” and further renfined his sound, helping to define NY’s dominance over production in the mid 90’s and launch the careers of Big L and O.C. Unfortunately, his reliance sampling would wind-up robbing Diamond of much of the success from his biggest commercial hit at this point, “The Score”…to hear him tell it:

The f*cked up thing is that Wyclef, I don’t respect him. To me, he’s not a man. What he did was, he begged me, he BEGGED ME, not to clear the sample. I said, “Yo, what are you talking about? You got a budget. Clear the sample.” [He said,] “D, we have no more money left for the sample. But I’ll tell you what Diamond – if the sample comes up, I’ll be a man and we’ll split the responsibility.” Then, when the album blew up, the motherf*cker turned his back on me. And that’s real. Me and Busta Rhymes did that one time. The sample issue did come up. But unlike Wyclef, Busta kept his word and he did the right thing. I think that was real f*cked. I might’ve only saw about eighty grand from that Fugees project.

AllHipHop.com: Before the sample?

Diamond D: Yeah. Once the sample came up, Clef acted like he ain’t even know me. I see Fat Joe dancing around with him in his f*ckin’ videos, and I’m like, “What the f*ck is going on, yo!” All I did to Wyclef was show him love. I don’t give a f*ck if you [print it] ‘cuz it is what it is. It’s the truth. It’s f*cked up, I got a Grammy for that record, but that album gives me to most headaches. I had a chance to make hundreds of thousands of dollars. They sold twenty million albums! And I’m basically locked out ‘cuz I signed a contract stating that there was no samples in it, which was my fault. We stood face to face and we shook hands. I trusted homeboy, straight up and down. Pras and Lauryn were like, “Damn D, what can we do? We know it’s f*cked up that ‘Clef did that, but you did sign the contract.” I don’t have no respect for dogs at all.

Even with the stentch of bullshit heavy, Diamond kept working, hammering out his follow up solo album “Hatred, Passions and Infidelity” in 97, securing guest spots from Q-Tip, Phife and Pete Rock and continuing to produce with the now legandary D.I.T.C. ( dropping their crew album in 2000, after the untimely passing of member Big L before an official follow up to his debut could be finished). Diamond laced an amzing “Soul on Ice” remix for Ras Kass, hit Mos Def with “Hip Hop” from Black on both sides and kept mostly to himself untill 2003’s “Grown Man Business”, his third solo studio album and his first on to be self released. Like his production, he keeps it simple on most of the album with some stright talk and none too flashy rhymes, but again, the album slipped under the radar without much notice.

Recently, D. dropped his own “Diamond D. Presents the Diamond Mine” mixtape featuring a whole mess of rappers on his beats and him on beats from Nottz, Mark the 45 King and the always ubiquitous Alchemist…again suprisingly low profile considering the calibre of talent involved….which brings questions on Diamond D’s future: will Diamond D. continue to bubble just below the mainstream in Hip-Hop for the remaining years of his career? Or will he just be forced into re-releasing old Ultimate Force B-Sides, Big L acapellas (though that’s more of a Lord Finesse thing) and unreleased beat tapes? I’d like to think that he’s proven himself a solid, go-to guy like Premier, for when you just need that classic break+hot loop crack music, keyboards be damned.

The Beats (and some treats)

Best Kept Secret [1991]

Diamond D. - Best Kept Secret (Instrumental) - Download

Sally…[1992]

Diamond D. - Sally Got a One Track Mind (Instrumental) - Download

Diamond D. - Sally Got a One Track Mind (Showbiz Remix) - Download

This One [1997]

(Promo B-Side to “Revenge of J.D.”)

Diamond - This One (Instrumental) - Download

Ras Kass - Soul on Ice Remix [1997]

Ras Kass - Soul on Ice (Diamond D. Remix)-(Instrumental) - Download

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 16th, 2006 at 9:21 am and is filed under 7 Days of Diamond D., Instrumentals. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.