The Diplomats Diplomatic Immunity

Posted on 03.25.2003

The Diplomats
Album: Diplomatic Immunity
Release Date: March 25, 2003
Label: Roc-a-Fella

Review:
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.

Tracklisting:
Disc: 1

1. Un Casa
2. Juelz Santana (Interlude)
3. Who I Am
4. Ground Zero
5. Real N***s (Interlude)
6. Real N***s
7. Have You Seen Juelz Santana (Interlude)
8. More Than Music
9. Beautiful Noise
10. Dipset Anthem
11. Hey Ma (Remix)
12. Hell Rell (Interlude)
13. This Is What I Do
14. Gangsta
15. Hell Rell Freestyle

Disc: 2

1. I Really Mean It
2. My Love
3. I Love You
4. Purple Haze
5. The First
6. Juelz Santana The Great
7. DJ Enuff Freestyle
8. What’s Really Good
9. I’m Ready
10. Bout It Bout It... Part III
11. Built This City
12. Let’s Go