One thing that's always racked my brain is the plight of rap veterans who have yet to truly 'get on'. Consequence has been a mainstay in the hip-hop community, hailing from the A Tribe Called Quest camp, and got with Kanye and his GOOD Music imprint in 2005. Cons still has yet to get the mainstream hip-hop success that his cousin Q-Tip has garnered, but that doesn't stop him from putting out music (kudos to his continued grind). He's set for a new mixtape, and this is the first single, drawing from Biggie's line in 'Big Poppa'. Diggy (want my opinion on his latest mixtape? Check here) and Mac Miller came along for the ride and provide some nice verses and punchlines. Hopefully Cons gets a little more exposure, but even if he doesn't, his music speaks for itself...
Okay, so I didn't have a Freestyle Friday last week. Sue me. This week we've got three dope freestyle verses to whet your palates with. The first one is by Diggy Simmons who's fresh off a mixtape release and a huge commercial deal with AT&T. He takes a stab at Mobb Deep's 'Shook Ones' with some impressive results. Diggy has a very unique flow and does a good job fitting a lot into one bar. Illiterate heads might have a problem. The second verse is by none other than Al-Quaeda Jada, who's got a new mixtape called 'I Love You' in the works and decided to release his verse on Mysonne's 'Tape Rock' as a solo freestyle. Jada always seems to do well on uptempo beats and this is no different. The Yonkers representer spits pure heat rocks and takes shots at some of the fakers out there. The third one is from XV over J. Cole's 'Blow Up'. Though I hate when rappers freestyle over tracks that aren't even a week old, Vizzy did his thing on it. The only caveat with him is that he doesn't have the easiest flow to follow. XV is notorious for having drawn out metaphors and the such, so proceed with caution. Check out all three freestyles and keep it locked to Dear Whoever...
Hey people, it's Friday which means Dear Whoever is posting freestyles for your listening pleasure. Today we've got Lupe Fiasco up first, dropping some freestyle bars while on Tony Touch's radio show. Lupe doesn't go too hard. He seems a little laid back, if not tired, but manages to piece together a half-decent verse. The second freestyle is by the homie Diggy Simmons over the beat "Rising to the Top". It's an interesting cipher for two reasons: 1) the random, but well-intentioned, Uncle Murda cosign, and 2) the instrumental, which is well before Diggy's time. Even in lieu of #2, Diggy does the beat justice. Check out both freestyles and keep it locked to Dear Whoever...
In April, Lupe Fiasco tweeted about a remix to his single 'I'm Beaming' featuring a group he called the All-City Chess Club. The accompanying blog post I put up talked about a lack of group cuts in hip-hop. Lupe's collective, featuring Asher Roth (PIFF), Charles Hamilton (cool, but weird), Diggy (killed it), The Cool Kids (mehhh), B.o.B. (decent), Blu (NICE) and Dosage (1st time hearing him; somewhat impressed), delivers on that call with a bunch of verses over the original beat. I think the best part about the song is the fact that no one recycles flows or tries to mimic the other on wax. Maybe it was just a coincidence, but for a fan of all of the rappers on this track, it's a welcome surprise. No word yet (maybe ever) on whether there'll be another cut by the All-City Chess Club, but at least we know Lupe's not shelved anymore. Check the track out...
As you can see, Diggy's back. The not-so-average middle child from the Simmons clan is set to drop a new mixtape, entitled 'Airborne', and blessed the Twitterverse with a new track from said mixtape. After 'The First Flight', I was anxious to see if there was a falling off of Dig's lyrics, whether the biographical raps about how he's trying to break away from the image of his father and uncle would still hit home. Newsflash: he's still got it. Diggy's mid-range rapid flow goes really well with the Drumline-esque beat and aside from his kinda-spastic music video moves, the visuals are just right too. Whatever the case, Diggy's got us on our toes again. Check out the music video and the d/l above...
It's funny how with one piece of news, hip-hop can look like it's reviving itself. Not that a hypothetical collab bringing the likes as (long breath) J. Cole, Asher Roth, The Cool Kids, B.o.B. Wale, Diggy, Charles Hamilton, Blue, and yourself, Lupe, would merit that kind of happiness. It's just that the last time I've seen a musical work in progress with so many dope names on it was.. never. Aside from Ski Beatz' tape (which still hasn't come out) and Young Money, no one's putting out good mixtapes or albums with a gang of MC's. It's all about the solo act, and pretty mediocres one at that. I remember when putting out a compilation meant everybody brought their A-game and not just their wallets. Then again, no one can really complain about that with you, or most of the artists slated to appear in the work, tentatively entitled "All City Chess Club." If there was ever a time for group and posse cuts a la 'Triumph,' 'Flava in Ya Ear,' '4,3,2,1', and 'Banned From TV,' it's definitely now. Hopefully your collective and Ski Beatz' situations work out. One thing though: What happened to Child Rebel Soldiers?? All this talk about collaborations and we're missing an epic one. Get to work on that after LASERS...
Was definitely tempted to post this up for Freestyle Friday, but the visuals for this were so good that the video had to be in its own post. Diggy, with some great music industry connects, got cleared to use the Nas sample 'Made You Look'. And much to my surprise (sarcasm), he RIPPED it.
'I don't rap for my age like Bow Wow.. The son of a king, so why would I ever bow down?'
By virtue of that line, I'm officially a fan. Any rapper that can destroy Bow Wow's career in one bar automatically gets my vote. Check out the real Young Simmons in what might be his first music video...
What's good people?? It's a Friday, and that means FREESTLYES, albeit late. This week we got Diggy Simmons going in over Drake's 'Over'. I figure there's going to be an assload of rappers trying to spit over this beat, so it's better that the good ones get their verses in now. Honestly, Diggy is BLOWING UP. If you don't know by now, please check him out. The second one is from Fred the Godson. Now, I don't know who's godson he is (guess that's not important), but he has BARS. If you're not familiar with him, he's a Cory Gunz affiliate, so you know he's a quality MC. Check out both videos and keep it locked to Dear Whoever....
PS: Happy Weekend to all you letter-readers out there...
Okay, so it's not a letter (sue me). I got a chance to talk to Diggy Simmons over the phone about two weeks ago. As you may or may not know, he dropped a mixtape a month ago entitled 'The First Flight' (didn't post it in December because I wanted it to coincide with the interview; check the post right under this). If you take a listen, you can definitely see the young man going places. Look what he's got to say about his intro to music, what's driving him, whether he loves music or fashion more, and more. Oh yeah, and check some audio of me talking Diggy and sounding really, really, REALLY corny...
DW: Okay, Diggy, I checked out 'The First Flight' mixtape and I have to say I didn't expect this from you. What made you want to get into music?
DS: A lot of people thought it was an 'all of a sudden' type thing. And it's funny that people say that because I'm young still. They're like 'Why is this kid from Run's House rapping?' At the same time, the only thing they think I'm capable of doing is running around my house on a camera.
DW: So you weren't dead set on music first? It was more fanhood than everything?
DS: I've been rapping since I was 5 years old. And when I was around 7 or 8, my brother (JoJo) and I had a group together. We had a deal on the table, but it fell through, even though there were a couple of labels interested. When you're young, and you don't have anybody to guide you, you just go on with your life. I continued writing, but didn't take it seriously. Then this summer, I started rapping again because I had a lot on my chest that I wanted to get off. I was recording on GarageBand and collabing with my boys who would do the same. I ended up doing a remix to Asher Roth and Keri Hilson's 'She Don't Want a Man' and it got crazy feedback; people saying 'this is better than the original!' That's the first song I've released as a rapper. So my boy said I should do a mixtape.
I didn't really know everything that came with it and set an early release date from my blog. I thought I was just gonna hit the studio and do track after track after track, but realized that it's a process and ended up pushing it back a few times.
DW: Who are you a fan of in music right now? What are you bumping in your iPod?
DS: Right now I'm listening to a lot of J. Cole and Jay Electronica. I'm into real hip-hop like Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Lupe Fiasco, Andre 3000. Those are my real influences; any real lyricists out there.
DW: On your mixtape, your lead track was called 'Point to Prove'. What's setting you apart from every other rapper out there.
DS: Basically I'm trying to prove my own worth as an artist. If you didn't know, I'm an independent artist. Everyone thinks I need my father or my uncle to pull strings for me in the industry, but no one sees that I'm doing this by myself. Even on 'Point to Prove' I mentioned that my dad was probably hearing the track at the same time as the rest of y'all.
DW: So do you find yourself encountering a lot of the 'industry politics' as an independent artist? Or has it been pretty smooth getting the mixtape out and promoting it?
DS: As an independent artist, it's a gift and a curse. The gift is that people want to hear me, but the curse is that they're skeptical and would love to hate (laughter). Like 'why is this little kid in this big house rapping? What does he have to rap about?' To that I say, that I live in the riches, but they aren't mine. God willing, I will have that. But I do have things to talk about. I do hip-hop for the love of it right now so it's easier to be creative. And as far as labels go, I can't really go into that (more laughter), but everything's going good...
DW: So you're 14 years old. Do you see yourself sticking with the fashion and rapping, or going the traditional high school and college route??
DS: It all depends. The fashion and rapping is what I really want to do. At a young age a lot of people don't have a vision. Looking at the way everything is happening with the world, yes, college is important and so is education. Those will always be there. But with time, I don't know what's going happen, and it's really too early to call it.
DW: Now that 2009's out of the way and you dropped the first mixtape, what's in store for 2010?
DS: More music definitely. A lot of people are asking for a sequel to 'The First Flight'. I'm just focused on getting better and going harder. You know, I'm still young so I'm really trying to do more lyrically and in terms of wordplay. Sometimes I suprise myself with what I do (laughter). I like knowing that people are finally listening, because you can hear me grow up and learn more about me from them listening.
These days you don't learn from who you're listening to. I was talking to someone pretty important in the industry about that. A lot of people just talk about what they wear and what they have. How are you really supposed to get into an artist when they just talk about that? You can't relate to what they have. In fact, that's what's missing in the game: real content. I want to bring that to the game, in my own way.
DW: Let's get on to the fashion aspect of your career. I've seen a few shots of your brand, Chivalrous Culture. I heard it used to be called Space Cadet. Why the change?
DS: The business aspect of the name started falling through. If I wasn't on the show, most people wouldn't even know about it. A lot of people don't see how many changes go into building a brand. Pharrell, I'm sure the first name he came up with wasn't Billionaire Boys Club.
DW: Is the brand going to be more on the basic side or more on the refined side?
DS: It's going to be a mix of the couture, and the streetwear and the preppy; something that no one's ever seen before, but everyone is going to like. I've gotten inspiration from Lanvin and Ralph Lauren and of course BBC, so there are a lot of different styles going into my brand. Everybody wants a brand that they can wear for everyday, but at the same time break out the Louis V for a nice occasion. Not every label can give you that honestly.
DW: If you could write a letter to anybody, who would it be??
DS: God. Definitely God. Just asking for whatever I stand in need of.
Alright folks, there's the interview. If you want to download Diggy's mixtape, 'The First Flight', check the post directly below this one. Make sure you also follow his Twitter, his blog, Life of the Jetsetter, and keep it locked to Dear Whoever for more interviews, music, news, and of course the letters. Big shoutout to Cathryn Marie for setting the interview up...
Yes, this is a month late (see above), so I'm gonna keep it short. Diggy Simmons is the middle child of Rev Run's clan. He's been rapping his entire life (with his brother JoJo) and has finally ventured out on his own in the hip-hop world. His mixtape, 'The First Flight' dropped on December 2nd and has immaculate production, lyrics far beyond Diggy's age, and a theme of freedom that most works can't even hold a light to. Honestly, Diggy has a bright future ahead of him, especially if he keeps putting out heat rocks like this. Check the link, tracklist & cover, #dopetracks, loosies and some videos...
#dopetracks
Laid Back
Point to Prove
The Truth of Me
We Have a Problem
Make You Mine
I meant to post this from a while back. If you watched Run's House, you should have seen this coming. Diggy was always the most well-adjusted out of Rev Run's sons. He wasn't as spoiled as Russy or aloof to everything like JoJo. Anyways, he's decided to go the route of rap, and I must say that the track is pretty good. The man is actually nice. He has a nice flow and has a good vocabulary. Plus he's not spitting inane shit like JoJo. He's prepping a mixtape entitled 'The First Flight', to be released this Wednesday. Make sure you keep it locked to Dear Whoever to get it first...
