Diamond D has had quite the journey in this musical genre we call hip-hop. From getting his start as a deejay with Jazzy Jay and the Zulu Nation in the eighties, to forming the group Ultimate Force with MC Master Rob. From co-founding the legendary Diggin’ In The Crates crew to dropping his unheralded classic debut solo album, Stunts, Blunts, & Hip-Hop, in 1992, and producing a slew of other artists’ records along the way. Things would continue to blossom for Diamond, as he’d win his first and only Grammy for producing and rapping on the title track for the Fugees’ album, The Score, which won for Best Rap Album in 1997. After winning a Grammy, what better time to return from a five-year break? Diamond would release Hatred, Passions And Infidelity in August of 1997.

As assumed, Diamond would produce the majority of HPAI (which sounds more like the title for a daytime soap opera than a hip-hop album), with a few assists from guest producers along the way. The album produced two singles that made little noise on the charts and would peak at 40 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album Charts. The Source gave it an average 3.5 mic rating (compared to SB&H, which received 4), and despite his Grammy win with the Fugees earlier in the year, HPAI would bring little commercial success for the Bronx-born producer/rapper.

I was far removed from the secular hip-hop scene when HPAI came out. This review marks my first time listening to it. I loved Stunts, so I’m pretty excited to hear what Diamond would do next. Let’s get into it.

Intro – The album begins with a grand musical loop, accompanied by the legendary Kid Capri, introducing Diamond D and the album. Then, Diamond drops a snippet from his verse off Fugees’ “The Score,” followed by some aggressively encouraging words from Busta Rhymes (that make me chuckle every time I hear them) over plain drums and a mysterious xylophone loop.

Flowin’ – Diamond loops up an airy, lite jazz sample, setting a calm mood as he and his crony, John Dough, do just as the song title suggests. The soft melody and soothing harmony make for a great way to begin your day.

MC Iz My Ambition – The track opens with a clip from the ’70s blaxploitation flick, Foxy Brown. Then a murky bassline, along with the dancehall stylings of Don Baron (whose voice sounds very similar to Heavy D’s), greet the listener. Diamond proceeds to demonstrate his ambitions as an emcee over a dark David Axelrod-sampled track with a dope Sister Nancy vocal snippet (“Bam Bam”) on the hook. This was hard.

No Wonduh (The Projects) – This one begins with a clip of a comedian telling a joke about the good times he had in the projects. Then Diamond uses a simple but funky guitar loop to discuss some of the criminal happenings that go on in the projects (I chuckle every time I hear Diamond mention how a now deceased drug dealer named Stan used to “brag on how he pulls chickens (aka girls) with quotes from Charles Dickens.” Spittin’ lines from Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol to get cheeks is hi-larious). The hook gets a little wordy, but the inclusion of the Posdnuos snippet atones for some of its long-winded iniquity.

The Hiatus – This was the lead single. The song title made me think Diamond was going to address his five-year break between albums. He does refer to it during the second verse (though he says it was three years instead of five), but he spends most of his rhymes in battle mode, looking to crush emcees while proving his lyrical greatness. He fares well doing it over a jazzy loop that’s cooler than Arthur Fonzarelli. The ladies and gentlemen harmonizing on the hook only add to the track’s freshness.

J.D.’s Revenge – This was the second and final single. It begins with a snippet of Juanita from Dead Presidents (played by Rose Jackson). John Dough (the “J.D.” referenced in the song title) uses the lead verse to play the loyal simp of a lady who’s used and abused him and has now turned a cold shoulder towards their relationship. Diamond tries to lift the spirits of his heartbroken homie with a line any true male friend would appreciate: “Yo, Johnny, you and me get the punani, don’t sweat that, cause true players don’t respect that.” Diamond keeps the same energy on the second verse, playing the stone-cold player who tricks on women in exchange for what he wants, and it isn’t true love (side note: the opening bars of Diamond’s verse sound super suspect: “Now my affinity, for masculinity, led me to steal virginities, on rooftops in the vicinity of Trinity.” Sounds more like confessions of a gay rapist than a player of ladies). John never gets his revenge during the song, but Gina Thompson puts a gold digger’s twist on a Stephanie Mills hit record for the hook that sounds great over Sha-Eaze’s smooth instrumental.

Painz & Strife – Diamond invites Phife Dawg and Pete Rock to join him in rapping over what may be the driest instrumental in Diamond D’s extensive catalog. The song title and unnecessarily wordy hook have nothing to do with the threesome’s boastful rhymes. Speaking of rhymes, God bless the dead, but Phife’s godawful verse felt completely uninspired, and Pete Rock’s was even worse (would that make it devilawful?). Diamond sounds decent, but not decent enough to save this shipwreck of a record. He should have titled it “Pain And Agony,” cause that’s what I felt every time I listened to this bullshit, hoping it would grow on me. Phife’s cameo qualifies for a Tribe Degrees of Separation, bringing some semblance of a silver lining to the track, I guess.

Can’t Keep My Grands to Myself – 1997 was still the early stages of hip-hop’s “bling era.” The success that extravagant and expensive styles of rhyming brought to labels like Bad Boy would even make underground artists like Diamond D stick their toes in the budding trend. With the help of Mark Lo on the hook and vocals, Diamond creates a materialistic remake of T.S. Monk’s “Can’t Keep My Hands To Myself.” I didn’t necessarily need to hear Diamond rhyming about Bugattis, Maseratis, Dolce & Gabbana, and Fendi, but it’s still a decent record.

5 Fingas Of Death – Diamond takes a rare break from behind the boards on HPAI, allowing Kid Capri an opportunity to produce this D.I.T.C. cipher session. Big L, Lord Finesse, A.G., Fat Joe, and Diamond all take swings at KC’s dark and gully boom-bap (it sounds like something Premo would have made). They all make contact with varying degrees of success (Diamond sounds like he’s trying to match Joe’s energy, who rhymes before him, raising his voice and output above his usual relaxed monotone octave). This was dope. My only question is where the hell is O.C.?

This One – This is a fly love song. Our host hooks up a tender musical canvas and raps about a wonderful lady that’s got him rollerskating, eating rice cakes, listening to Monica and Case, and ready to say I do: “After thirty days I’m diggin’ on your steez, by next year I’ll be down on my knees.” Busta re-emerges, providing a rambunctious and vulgar hook that works, and its repetitiveness will surely make it stick in your head.

Never – Diamond, Sadat X, and K.Terroribul each spit a verse about their undying love for cannabis. Diamond and KT give adequate testimonies about their relationships with weed, but Sadat steals the show, recalling his mother’s contradicting warning about smoking weed (“My old moms said that the smoke would harm, I’d be a crackhead or die with a needle in my arm,” meanwhile his pops was “smoking that good lye” the whole time). He also hi-lariously proclaims, “When cats was anti-drugs, there was weed seeds in my rugs,” before bragging about all the actresses and athletes he’s helped get high through the years. The soulful Jerry Butler flip in the instrumental complements Sadat’s conversational style very well.

Cream N Sunshine – Let’s address the elephant in the room. Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis (Minneapolis!) sampled Rick James’ “Moonchild” for the backdrop to the lead single, “Love Is All We Need,” from Mary J. Blige’s 1997, triple platinum selling third album, Share My World. The single was released in March of ‘97. Diamond uses the same sample to soundtrack the underworld deeds and his love affair with a certified (or should I say convicted) scammer/booster while a female vocalist, simply credited as Veronica, sings from the perspective of the burglarizing baddie. More than likely, it’s a coincidence that both Jam & Lewis and Diamond sampled the same record around the same time (it’s not like Rick James’ catalog would be an obscure source to sample from), but I didn’t care for Diamond’s Bonnie and Clyde story. This record could disappear from the tracklist like the wallets Diamond’s thieving girlfriend used to snatch at Sears, and I wouldn’t miss it.

Gather Round – This may be the crown jewel of HPAI. Diamond hooks up a nasty bass guitar riff to rhyme over and sounds more comfortable and lyrically agile than usual, spitting some of his strongest bars of the album: “To all my foes, you can just keep hushin’/ the stage ain’t the place you wanna be rushin’/‘cause there’ll take place a spontaneous combustion/life’s a game of chess and I play like a Russian”….”I’m off to the bank and/I roll with a crew that passes out the most spankings/this side of the Mason Dixon/I bought your tape and I erased it like Nixon.” The posse chant, the soul clap, and the sampled whistling only add more energy to an already lively track.

K.T. – Diamond is gracious enough to give his homeboy K. Terroribul (aka, K.T.) his own solo joint. He spits one mid-size verse over a decent backdrop with medium results.

On Stage – Speaking of K. Terroribul, he and John Dough join Diamond on this late-in-the-sequencing cipher session. Diamond delivers a solid performance. KT sounds alright, but not strong enough to back up his ridiculous claim of lyricist of the year. John Dough closes things out and refreshed my memory that the whole Lorena and John Bobbitt fiasco happened in the nineties (1993 to be exact). The hook is a word salad mess, but the electrifying guitar loop and jazzy backing music in Buckwild’s instrumental sounds amazing.

Epilogue – In closing, Diamond says the hell with a hook, and slowly but surely raps for nearly four minutes straight, over clumsy drums, a pensive piano riff, and one of the darkest xylophone loops I’ve ever heard. And that concludes HPAI.

During the album’s Intro, Diamond includes a clip from his cameo verse off the title track from the Fugees’ classic sophomore effort, The Score; a record he also produced: “By far I’m the best producer on the mic.” Its inclusion during the intro almost feels like Diamond’s thesis statement for the album. His way of telling the listener that what follows is evidence that he’s equally dangerous on the mic as he is behind the boards. Hatred, Passions And Infidelity makes a strong case for his claim.

HPAI does have a few flaws. There’s one horrid record (“Painz & Stife”), a handful of mind-numbing hooks (“No Wonduh,” “Painz & Strife,” “Cream N Sunshine,” and “On Stage”), and a couple of mediocre moments (“Can’t Keep My Grands” and “Cream N Sunshine”), but the good far outweighs the bad. Like Steph Curry at the free throw line, you can count on Diamond to deliver dope production. Diamond builds most of his instrumentals around untampered and seldom-used jazz, soul, funk, and rock samples, which bear the musical load while his drumbeats play a complementary background role to his chosen loops’ scrumptiousness.

Diamond doesn’t have a dynamic voice like KRS-One or Big Daddy Kane. He doesn’t possess the lyrical prowess of Rakim or Nas. He doesn’t have an impeccable flow like Treach or Biggie. Nor does he have the charisma of a Jay-Z or a Busta Rhymes. What Diamond does have is an uncanny ability to connect words with his deceptively dense vocabulary, extending rhyme patterns when you think there’s no way he could find another word to keep it going. His sturdy bars are delivered at a pace a few gears faster than a snail, but it all works well with his more than adequate production.

With there being other dual threat artists like Q-Tip, Large Professor, RZA, and MF Doom, (I purposely omitted Kanye from the previous list, and it has nothing to do with his wild rants, but everything to do with him knowingly relying on ghostwriters and his production by committee approach to producing, which applies to Dr. Dre as well), I can’t definitively proclaim Diamond the “best producer on the mic.” But I can proclaim HPAI another dope solo project from the self-proclaimed best-kept secret, which also makes for a strong candidate for sleeper album of 1997.

-Deedub
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