It was an east coast equivalent to Dr. Dre’s The Chronic. Released just three months prior, Diamond D’s Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop too was an amazing symphony of samples helmed by another talented producer/rapper and introducing future stars to be (Fat Joe and Big L - briefly).

But where The Chronic helped to solidify Dr. Dre’s legacy as one of the most skilled sound providers of his generation as the album soared to sales in the stratosphere, Stunts, Blunts & Hip Hop proved to be Diamond D’s career peak as an artist and sold less than a tenth of what Dre’s solo debut did.

While arguably more proficient behind the MPC than the M-I-C, Diamond subsequently solidified his rep in the game not as a solo artist but behind the boards for a litany of his peers Hip Hop classics in the ‘90s (Brand Nubian’s “Punks Jump Up To Get Beat Down,” The Fugees’ “The Score,” Mos Def’s “Hip Hop,” etc). As along with Pete Rock, Large Professor and RZA, Diamond set the standard for soul sample driven Hip Hop, becoming a forefather to Kanye West and Just Blaze.

But as the ‘90s turned into the 21st century, the high cost of doing business as a sample-based beatmaker began to take its toll and Diamond’s “in-demand” status as a producer-for-hire began to wane. So at the dawn of the new century he turned his attention towards the debut full-length from his then nearly 10-year-old crew of mostly Bronx-based producers and emcees, D.I.T.C. (Diggin’ In The Crates), which included fellow Forrest Projects natives Lord Finesse and Fat Joe, expanding to include Showbiz, A.G., Buckwild, O.C., and legendary Finesse find Big L.

Diamond kept busy in the 2000s adding mostly underground production credits to his resume (for Freddie Foxxx, Sadat X, Edo G, Akrobatik and others) while reigniting his solo career. And now he’s finally set to release his first nationally-distributed full-length since his sophomore effort, 1997’s Hatred, Passions and Infidelity (2003’s Grown Man Talk and a 2005 mixtape, The Diamond Mine, were both handicapped by limited, primarily online, distribution). Rumored to be signing with Duck Down, but instead inking a two-project deal with fellow indie powerhouse Babygrande Records, Diamond recently spoke to HipHopDX regarding his new 11-track long player, The Huge Hefner Chronicles. And maybe of equal importance, the legendary producer revealed why he may never again make an album as stellar as his now 16-year-old classic debut.

HipHopDX: Before we get to the core interview, I have a very important loose question I need to ask you: Which album jackets make for better softcore porn, Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass’ Whipped Cream & Other Delights or every Ohio Players album? [Laughs]
Diamond D: [Laughs] I have to go with The Ohio Players.

DX: Hey, pre-Internet it was either those or National Geographics. [Laughs]
Diamond D: [Laughs]

DX: Now, I wanna take a little trip down memory lane, if that’s cool with you. Is it true that you started digging in the crates when you were only 10-years-old?
Diamond D: That’s false. [Laughs] That’s false, nah. Diggin’ In The Crates was started…

DX: No, no, when you started digging, not the crew, when you personally started…
Diamond D: Oh, when I started digging? Um…[I was] maybe like 12 [years old].

DX: Do you remember some of the first breaks you caught?
Diamond D: Of course. Um…The [La Pregunta] “Shangri La” 12”, [The J.B.’s] “Blow Your Head,” [Samba Soul’s] “Mambo 5,” just like the easy stuff that was…I mean, the stuff that was pretty much you was able to just like walk into any store and just pick it out.

DX: How was you getting the loot at 12 to get the records?
Diamond D: My moms. She would look out for me.

DX: I understood though, or at least I read this somewhere, that you started out more as a B-Boy than a deejay, correct?
Diamond D: Um, slightly. I mean, like just doing it locally. I wasn’t really like going hardbody at the breakdancing thing. I would just more or less go to the jams [and breakdance]. [But] I just wanted to be a deejay. So finally [at] about 12-years-old my moms bought me a little bit of equipment or whatever, and then I just started practicing.

DX: But you were at least better on the cardboard than Showbiz, right? [Laughs]
Diamond D: Nah, I didn’t do that. I don’t think he did either.

DX: Oh okay, I read somewhere that he used to get down too.
Diamond D: Nah, we was pop lockin’ together, not breakdancing.

DX: So you’re deejaying up until the mid-80’s when you met Afrika Bambaata’s right-hand man Jazzy Jay, correct?
Diamond D: Right. And Jazzy Jay, he was messing with a female in my projects – Forrest Projects in the South Bronx – [and] he would come through and check her and me and Master Rob bumped into him that way.

DX: So he didn’t have like any involvement in the first album you and Rob did together, the first Ultimate Force?
Diamond D: Yeah, that was recorded for [the label he co-ran], Strong City Records. We recorded it in his studio. So he had a lot to do with that album. Continued on page 2 »