The big day is finally here for fans of DMV triumvirate Diamond District. Their debut full-length album, “In The Ruff”, is out today via Mello Music Group. The album, which features two brand new tracks from the group as well as their hard to come by material from a limited release this spring, is available in stores and on iTunes. One of the just-released tracks is“Something For Y’all” produced by Kev Brown. While District member Oddisee produces the vast majority of Diamond District’s songs himself, working with Brown hardly involved leaving the group’s comfort zone. “Working with Kev is honestly keeping it in-house – he founded the Low Budget Crew and gave birth to everything that I’m doing right now. We wanted that signature Kev Brown sound- grimy soul.”
“Something For Y’all” showcases emcees Oddisee, X.O. and yU trading verses, rapping to their audience, and trying to upstage each other. The track has a distinctively old school vibe. This old school spirit is one of the attributes that has made Diamond District’s debut so hotly anticipated. “In The Ruff” is available now as digital download and on CD via Mello Music Group…(via Audible Treats)
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Detroit emcee Finale has drawn inspiration from another rust belt city for his newest video, “The Senator,” from his spring-released, highly acclaimed A Pipe Dream And A Promise. Both the song and video are based largely on David Simon and HBO’s Baltimore epic The Wire. The Senator in question is State Senator Clay Davis, not one of the show’s main characters but certainly one of its most fascinating and divisive. Davis is an exploitative figure that acts as an intermediary between drug dealers and real estate developers, pocketing cash from both sides all the while. Finale uses Davis as a means of getting the point of the song across: calling out liars who are fronting as something they aren’t. The song opens with the line “I heard a lot of y’all talkin’ / A lot of you not walkin’.” Finale even manages to make Davis’ trademark exclamation “sheeeeeiiiiittttt” a centerpiece of the song’s chorus. The video seamlessly blends Finale’s Detroit with The Wire’s Baltimore and employs key scenes and lines from the show to carry across Finale’s punchlines.
The video is directed by Roy Miles Jr., who developed the vide concept along with Interdependent Media General Manager/A&R, iD. On working together to create the video, Finale says, “I shot the footage of myself rapping while I was on the west coast doing interviews and press runs with Interdependent Media. When I left town I told iD and Roy what season’s clip I used from The Wire. Roy and his assistant took the time to go through episodes of the show and find clips that synced up with various lines in the song. It’s kind of dope that they were able to find specific scenes that matched up with what i was saying in the song.”
The track, from Finale’s debut A Pipe Dream And A Promise, features production by Waajeed. Finale pulls off an impressive tightrope walk in the song’s lyrics. “The Senator” serves as a powerful call-out to those fronting as something they’re not while incorporating the themes and action of the world of The Wire. “We climbin’ up ladders and goin’ through the suits / It ain’t a game where the rappers hug and make up in order to take your books Iif it ain’t truth I don’t want it.” Finale couples a smooth flow with impressively dense lyricism that will have the listener appreciating a new line with each progressive listen. (via Audible Treats)
