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February 11, 2005
The Diplomats - Diplomatic Immunity 2: Album Review
[ED NOTE: MississippiBurning is a new kid who'll be handling album reviews for the site. I'll still be doing them as well, but not always because I'm lazy like that.]
Okay, giving y'all a new twist on the national hip-hop scene from a Southern view is me, Willie. Or Willie Fields. Or MississippiBurning. Whichever you’d like.
STOP-N-GO
Nothing spectacular here. Basic intro with Cam’ron givin' a speech about why the delay on this album. He also shouts "I'll holla" a few times in one of the most gayest of ways. J.R. spits OK, but even though I’m a Diplomat fan, I will be unbiased and let you know that Cam calls Jim the "Rider of Riders," and calls Juelz a "Human Crack." He doesn’t even give a no homo or anything. Just FYI.
S.A.N.T.A.N.A.
I just realized that by typing this song name that it implies his name is spelled out in the song, or his name actually stands for something important. Anyway, the first thing that gets your attention is the fact that there's a little chipmunk singing on the hooks. The song is OK and I would’ve definitely bumped it in my car, but with the little voice I don’t know anymore. Beat is OK, lyrics are normal by Juelz’s standards.
TAKE 'EM TO CHURCH
OK. I first heard this song on a mixtape and absolutely hated it. The beat sounded British or something at least that the British Bulldog or Lord Steven Regal would make their ring entrance to. Basically, its just a Ma$e diss that’s also featured on Purple Haze. Cam proceeds to tell Ma$e to "get ur Kirk Franklin on." I don’t really think Cam’s rapping style is really cool for dissing, as they are usually hard to decipher anyway. Juelz and some old guy try to get their two cents in at the beginning, but it all sounds like they were joining the latest craze of dissing, and were in a rush to make a diss song. He then says something like, "ask Cardan about him, or Nelly knows." Cam actually has a good reason for the beef, just not a good song.
GET USED TO THIS
This I like. Has a nice sample but only at the very beginning and the very end. Would’ve liked it better throughout the song. Beat is still good though, made by a producer called Stay Gettin', who also did Cam’ron’s song "Harlem," which was on the earlier Purple Haze Advance and also DJ Kay Slay’s Streetsweeper Volume 2 that was jammin'. J.R. shows pretty good skill and is an excellent writer, but this is by far the only bright spot for "Stay Gettin'." Also anybody else notice how good Juelz is at writing hooks?
FAMILY TIES
This is like a freestyle to Cam’ron’s current single off of his Purple Haze CD. 40 Cal comes off OK, Cam just took one of his verses from the actual song and glued it in, and Hell Rell drops a nice verse where he says, "you just another flunkie/haters wanna snub and pump me" and also "and ya own man don’t acknowledge yo G/Cuz you ain't wanna go to war like Mu hammad Ali." If you like the single, you’ll like this song. Its worth some play.
WOULDN'T YOU LIKE TO BE A GANGSTA TOO?
Once again, Hell Rell’s got skills, but he sounds like a congested old man. Has good multi’s though. You wouldn’t be missing anything if you skipped this one.
GET FROM ROUND ME
Another up north/Diplomat attempt to re-create crunk music. Another failure. The beat sucks and has random dog barking and what sounds like a plane taking off. That chick Jha Jha sucks. I guess she’s doing her best Gangsta Boo impersonation.
DUTTY CLAP
LMAO!! Are they serious? Sounds like a cross between B-Rich’s “Whoa now”, Mambo No. 5, and something from a 1920’s Harlem juke joint. Skip this one.
I WANNA BE YOUR LADY
Remake of an old song by I think they were called the Ghost Town DJ’s. Nicole Wray does the singing on this one. Song is poppy, but I gave it a few spins still. But personally, I can’t really bump it in my Accord (not that Honda Accord factory speakers actually bump anyway) because the rapping doesn’t really start until like a minute and a half into the song. Nicole Wray sings so long that someone might mistake me as listening to female R&B, which I can’t have.
40 CAL
OK, beat not really great. 40 actually has tight lyrics, but not enough of a presence or charisma to make you not want to go on to the next song. And OMG this piece of London Eurotrash S.A.S. really sucks.
MELALIN
This guy Bugs’ picture isn’t even in the little CD pamphlet, but he has a song on here. Song is wack.
SO FREE
You know how those flicks from the early 90’s started off with that weird music and told you to dial some 1-900 number? That’s how this song starts off, then it just goes into another world. Damn S.A.S. sucks. I’d rather listen to Dizee Rascal. Now that’s saying something.
DEAD MUTHAFUCKAS
This song has been on countless mixtapes also. Nothing really special about this one. You’ll just have to check it out for yourself to see if its your taste. It doesn’t really impress me.
PUSH IT
OK. I know this is going to stir up some debate, but when I saw the commercial for this CD, and I heard this beat, this is what actually made me want to get the CD. I guess Lil’ Wayne was supposed to be on here, and I heard his part on a DJ Smallz Southern Smoke mixtape. Well his part was replaced by J.R. Writer for some reason even though at the beginning of the track Cam yells, "We got Lil Weezy in the house tonight." Well neither J.R. or Lil Wayne really outdid each other, so it really didn’t matter. But I actually like it. Cam always does a good job on these types of songs. Its just kind of a fun song to me. Juelz says on here, "even moneys chiefin’ money/slow moneys no money/ and no moneys a beatin' honey." I really don’t even know what this songs about, but its cool to me. It’s the most interesting song on the CD.
AAYOO-IIGHT
Is this an ode to Scooby-Doo? Anyway, skip this one.
BIGGER PICTURE
This song has also been on countless mixtapes, and its my favorite song on the CD. Backpackers, no this has nothing to do with Big L (but who can blame you for wishing), but its very good, and like I said earlier, Juelz seems to kill hooks. Production on this one is done by the Heatmakerz, and I’m feelin' this one. Cam comes hard and serious on this one, and says, "I don’t care where you been, or what jail/go and tell Disney all ya fuck in' duck tales." Jammin'.
CRUNK MUSIC
You already know my thoughts on something like this. But it has a video and Bigger Picture doesn’t?? Bad decision making. In fact, as of late, all of the Dips choices of singles off of their albums are bad.
COMMENTS: First of all, I have just crushed your stereotypes about Southern music fans. Me being from Mississippi, I came to give all y'all South haters a new perspective other than your own self-promoting. That said, I think this album would’ve been better without the “New” members. I mean they are truly Garbage. S.A.S., and Jha Jha just suck, and even though 40 has skill, he wasn’t really necessary either. The Dips should stick to finding good Heatmakerz gems, and not venture too far out from home. When they do what they did on the first Diplomats CD, they were geniuses. But now they try to be crunk, do dancehall, and get a rapper from London, I mean, what the hell?? Cam, you haven’t sold enough records to be doing all this damn venturing out. Half of this album sucks. I always say if it ain't broke don’t fix it, and I doubt we’ll hear from these new Dips again (thank God).
SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT AND DISCUSS (By Bol Guevara, MD): Stevie Nicks found the name Rhiannon in an old book and thought it sounded nice. She sat down and had written the song of the same name within an hour (most likely coked out of her mind). Like most Fleetwood Mac songs (especially Stevie Nicks ones), it doesn't actually mean anything.
Posted by The Mindset Army at 12:17 PM | Permalink
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