Thanks to Cam?ron Giles and his Dip Set crew, Harlem gains a major foothold in the East Coast battle of the boroughs sparked by Jay-Z and Nas. Layering raw rhymes over street beats that frequently incorporate speeded-up an... more »d dragged-out R&B samples (courtesy of the Heatmakerz), Diplomatic Immunity extends the massive heat generated by Killa Cam?s platinum Come Home With Me. Some tracks on this double CD should have been relegated to the "filler" pile (the perfunctory "Hey Ma" remix, for example) but the songs that work spit fire. Diplomatic Immunity is laden with imagery of uptown drug-game drama (the Bone Thugs-inspired "The First") and downtown terrorist destruction ("I Love You")--painting post-9/11 New York in appropriately somber colors--but love of home and family is the top-level vibe. Harlem should be proud. --Rebecca Levine« less
Thanks to Cam?ron Giles and his Dip Set crew, Harlem gains a major foothold in the East Coast battle of the boroughs sparked by Jay-Z and Nas. Layering raw rhymes over street beats that frequently incorporate speeded-up and dragged-out R&B samples (courtesy of the Heatmakerz), Diplomatic Immunity extends the massive heat generated by Killa Cam?s platinum Come Home With Me. Some tracks on this double CD should have been relegated to the "filler" pile (the perfunctory "Hey Ma" remix, for example) but the songs that work spit fire. Diplomatic Immunity is laden with imagery of uptown drug-game drama (the Bone Thugs-inspired "The First") and downtown terrorist destruction ("I Love You")--painting post-9/11 New York in appropriately somber colors--but love of home and family is the top-level vibe. Harlem should be proud. --Rebecca Levine
"the diplomats first offcial(after the 4 diplomats mixtapes) debut album is reasonably good. juelz santana, cam'ron and jimmy jones dont really make a big impact with their lyrics, which are sometimes boring and repetitive (see the track "juelz santana the great", i dont see whats so great about him to be honest). it is quite a consistant album throughout tho, it being a double cd also, which was abit of a gamble on the fact that roc-a-fellas other double cd, jay-z's "blueprint 2", didnt do so well. the best thing about this album though is the production. its consistant throughout the whole album, with the typical speeded up samples that have been heard of cam'rons last album. just blaze produces the best tracks on here ("dipset anthem", "built this city") but heatmakerz also bring some good production to it. standout tracks would be "ground zero", "beautiful noise", "dipset anthem", "i really mean it", "purple haze", "the first" and "built this city". if they released this album on maybe one disc it would be alot better, and even a instrumental version maybe a good idea. if u liked cam'rons last album "come home with me" then you would definatly like this, but also if u like nice production this would also be a good buy. id give this album 3.5."
The Diplomats- Diplomatic Immunity
Constant | Vancouver, BC Canada | 04/09/2003
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The Diplomats (Cam'ron, Juelz Santana,Jimmy Jones, Freeky Zeeky) first group album "Diplomatic Immunity" has some banging tunes. Exectuive Produced by Cameron, and Jimmy Jones, guest appearances come from Un Casa, Toya, Hell Rell, Freeway, DMX, and Master P. Two discs, first has ten tracks with five interludes, second has twelve tracks. Find lots of sampling of old school recordings throughout, and album is laced with really sick beats courtesy of Roccafella. First standout track for me is "Who Am I" which uses a O'Jays sample, Juelz drops some nice and memorable verses on this one, a reflective track. Followed up by "Ground Zero" a banging track, where diplomats rep. "More Than Music" and "Dipset Anthem" are two more tracks that follow both are good. Then there is the "Hey Ma (Remix)" feat. Toya, at first I thought this was just going to be a filler track, but its actually a hot track, remix as good if not better then the original. Disc Two has some hot tracks, ones that stood out for me are: "I Love You" a track about the hood, 9/11, and showing love to lost friends. "Purple Haze" and the "The First" follow, both are ill, Killa Cam going solo on the first one. "Whats Really Good" feat. DMX is disappointing, as you expect X to drop more then one line. Fortunately "Im Ready" picks things up again, and is followed by "Bout it, Bout it" feat. Master P, this was the first track I saw come out on video, and though I havnt felt P in a long long time, actually like this track, it has got a distinct sound to it. "We Built This City" is a blazing hot fast paced, adrenaline laced track, loving it right now. Album finishes with "Let's Go" which samples Marvin Gaye, a nice closer, for a solid album. Where does this album fall short, too many interludes, and a few average tracks, could have easily been one album. All the same, I am happy to have "Diplomatic Immunity" in the collection, nice first release from one of hiphops foremost up and coming groups."
ONE BIG DISSAPOINTMENT
MICHAEL TAYLOR | RICHMOND, VA USA | 09/14/2003
(2 out of 5 stars)
"FIRST OF ALL, 2 CDS IS WAY TOO MUCH FOR A DEBUT ALBUM. MUCH OF THIS ALBUM IS JUST AVERAGE EVERYDAY NEW YORK RAP. AS ALWAYS, CAM'RON IS FUN TO LISTEN TO, BUT THE REST OF THE DIPLOMATS[EXCEPT FOR MAYBE JUELZ SANTANA] IS WACK. THE HIGH POINTS OF THIS ALBUM IS ''UN CASA'', WHICH IS THE 1ST SONG ON THE ALBUM. IT INTRODUCES ROC-A-FELLA'S NEWEST RAPPER, AND I MUST SAY, UN CASA RIPPED IT ON THAT TRACK. THEN THERE'S ''GROUND ZERO'', WHICH IS UNDOUBTEDLY THE BEST SONG ON THE WHOLE ALBUM. THEN THERE'S OF COURSE ''DIPSET ANTHEM'' WHICH HAS A HOT BEAT AND SOME NICE FLOWS FROM THE DIPLOMATS. THEN THERE'S THE 3RD ''BOUT IT BOUT IT'', WHICH IS SLOW, BUT INTERESTING. AND THEN THERE'S ''BUILT THIS CITY'', WHICH RIGHT NEXT TO ''GROUND ZERO'', ONE OF THE BEST SONGS ON THE ENTIRE ALBUM. BUT WHAT HURTS THIS ALBUM IS THE FACT THAT IT'S 2 DISCS. IT'S SIMPLY JUST TOO LONG AND HAS TOO MUCH UNESSECARY MATERIAL. THIS MIGHT HAVE WORKED OUT A LOT BETTER HAD IT BEEN JUST 1 DISC. MAYBE ON THEIR NEXT ALBUM, THE DIPLOMATS'LL LEARN FROM THE MISTAKES THEY MADE WITH THIS ALBUM."
What's Really Good....Definitely Not This Album (2 Stars)
Norfeest | Washington DC USA | 05/18/2004
(2 out of 5 stars)
"If you just want beats, then this CD might do the job if you're into sped up soul samples and sped up 80's hits. Really, even the beats get boring after a while because they are so predictable. This would've been a pretty hot album if 80% of it wasn't filler. There's a reason why this double disc was the same price as one CD. There are a few hot joints. On "Bout It Bout It Part III", Master P outshines Cam and Jimmy Jones. Even though the verse was classic P (damn, I miss the old P), the fact that he had the hottest verse speaks volumes. The hot joints are few and far in between and I'm not even gonna get into the lyrics. I'll just say that my 6 year old nephew could write better rhymes than most of these cats. On "Beautiful Music, Cam'ron spits: "I bring hammers to to the gun fight / one night stand / I'm only standin' for one night...." That's just wack......period. It's sad that their hottest rapper is locked up (Hell Rell). And does Freaky Zeeky even rap? And the interludes are predictable and just plain ol' corny. A lot of this could have been chopped down to one album to save us all the exercise our fingers got from skipping songs. Out of 27 songs, there are only about 7 hot joints on the two discs put together. The only reason I rated this album as high as I did is because of the beats. Like I said, the beats are hot, but even those get boring after a while. Download this album instead of buying it. It's not worth the money no matter how little you pay for it."