Diamond District #12 On DJ Premier's Top 20 Albums. A Tribe Called Quest We Got It From HereThank You 4 Your Service 555.

Diamond District's 'In The Ruff' selected as popma.

Diamond District, Trek Life, Euro Tour Updates.

The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2009.

Buy Oddisee's New Instrumental Album: 'Traveling Man'.

'A Song For That' being used in a Shen Bench Video.

Download: DTMD- 'The Basics EP' [taken from putmeo.

These guys make the ‘90s sound a heck of a lot better than I remember it.

Diamond District offers intricate rhymes delivered with the ease that characterized the Native Tongue posse of the ‘90s, coupled with smart loops and bass-heavy beats in the mode of DJ Premier and Pete Rock. Rhymes about goals, struggles, and love are delivered in interesting ways and can serve as a self-help guide for any listener. Listening to In the Ruff, I can’t help but wonder if maybe the politics and the not-so-great stuff are related. This album is filled with phenomenal songs written and produced by Oddisee. Washington, D.C., in particular, lends a peculiar atmosphere in that it sits at the center of United States politics while also sporting crime rates and income disparities that are out of this world. The album began a relationship between Oddisee and Mello Music Group that has spanned a decade so far and has seen three official studio albums, four instrumental albums, and a total of 18. By “origins”, I’m referring to the fact that Diamond District’s members were raised in Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia. The original cover art was a 3’ x 3’ canvas painting by HVW8 artist Gene Pendon who was best known at the time for his And1 Mixtape artwork. Diamond District (emcee and producer Oddisee joined by artists XO and YU) gets the nod because, with In the Ruff, this group made the rather bold decision to create an album that recalls the boom-bap sound of the 1990s, yet remains relevant to the contemporary landscape and also stays true to the group’s origins. So could Fashawn’s Boy Meets World, Skyzoo’s The Salvation, or UGK’s UGK 4 Life. Royce Da 5’9's Street Hop, jumpstarted by Royce’s spotlight-stealing moments on the Slaughterhouse (Royce, Joell Ortiz, Joe Budden, and Crooked I) album, could have made the cut. Love ‘em or hate ‘em, Eminem’s Relapse and Jay-Z’s The Blueprint 3reminded us of what it feels like when an album’s release date is treated like an event.

A bunch of albums could have received an “Honorable Mention” this year, for various reasons.

Oddisee best albums