by Andrew Sacher

Dipset at Best Buy Theater in 2011 (more by Brook Bobbins)

Harlem rap crew The Diplomats aka Dipset aka Jim Jones, Cam'ron, and Juelz Santana released their debut album, Diplomatic Immunity, back in 2003 and returned in 2011 to perform it in its entirety in NYC (though despite what was advertised, they didn't actually perform all of it). Now for the album's tenth anniversary, they're celebrating with an In Flex We Trust-presented NYC show on March 25 at BB King's with Funkmaster Flex. It's not clear if they're giving any promises on what they'll be performing this time, but maybe they'll do the whole thing. Tickets for the show are on sale now. Show flyer below.

In related news, Juelz Santana just released a mixtape, God Will'n, which you can download at LiveMixTapes and stream in its entirety below. Mind you, we're still waiting for the promised new full length, Born to Lose, Built to Win which was supposed to be out December, 2012 and may or may not see the light of day. Juelz was also recently interviewed by Fuse (video below), where he called a new Diplomats album "possible" and also said a new song is on the way. I wouldn't hold my breath, but it seems more likely than getting a copy of Detox.

Interview video, mixtape stream, and show flyer below...

Continue reading "Dipset celebrating 10th anniversary of 'Diplomatic Immunity' in NYC; Juelz Santana says a new album is "possible""

photos by Tim Griffin

Talib Kweli @ Mohawk Friday night

As previously mentioned, Black Star will return for a pair of dates at Best Buy Theater, and on the same night. Saturday December 3rd will see Yasiin and Talib Kweli perform their only LP in its entirety at an 8:00 show and an 11:30 show. Tickets are on sale for both. Talib Kweli joined Res and band to form Idle Warship, at the BrooklynVegan Day Party on Saturday (10/22) before heading to the Duck Down vs Blacksmith showcase at Music Hall of Williamsburg next door. Pictures from the BV party are on the way, but we have a set of pictures in this post from the show Talib Kweli played at the Mohawk one night earlier (yes he was in Texas playing a show after midnight the night before he headlined our show at 5pm in Brooklyn!).

In related news, Wu-Tang Clan (billed as with Method Man, RZA, GZA, Raekwon, Ghostface Killah, U-God, Inspectah Deck, and Masta Killa) will also head to Best Buy Theater in the coming months, hitting the venue on December 18th as part of a string of live dates that will also include Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, NJ on 12/15 and Northern Lights in Clifton Park, NY on 12/17. Tickets are on sale for all dates.

Inspektah Deck will also HEADLINE his own show at 285 Kent on 11/4, joining Ava Luna, DJ Dog Dick, and a DJ set from WFMU'S Marty McSorley. Tickets are on sale. The show is meant to wave goodbye to Babycastles, a collective of independent gaming designers that built an arcade inside Silent Barn.

In other "hip hop at Best Buy Theater" news, Jadakiss, Lloyd Banks, Juelz Santana, Fabolous, Meek Mills, French Montana, and Red Cafe will team for a Funkmaster Flex Presents event at the venue on 11/24. Tickets are on sale.

J Cole plays there tonight (10/25).

Talib Kweli's show Friday night at the Mohawk in Austin, TX was with G-Eazy and Franchize. More pictures from that 10/21 performance, and Wu Tang dates, below...

Continue reading "Wu-Tang Clan tour dates, Talib Kweli live pics & stuff"

photos by Brook Bobbins, words by BBG

Before the Diplomats hit the stage, the DJ treated the highly energized crowd to a mix of current hits and classics - shouting out the late, great Harlem emcee Big L while mixing it up with hits by Rick Ross and Meek Mill. Once the Diplomats hit the stage, the crowd's energy level soared, chants of "Dipset!" accompanying the Diplomats as they performed songs like "Bout It Bout It Pt. 3," "Ground Zero" and "I'm Ready" . Instead of performing Diplomatic Immunity in its entirely as a group, the Diplomats split up and every member performed a solo set, revealing one of the deepest catalog of hits hip-hop has to offer. -[Stupid Dope]

During those non-Diplomats sets at Best Buy Theater on 9/30, Jim Jones, Juelz and Cam all performed their solo material, bringing guests like Vado and ASAP Rocky to perform tracks from Gunz & Butta and the forthcoming Live.Love.A$AP respectively. Despite the billing as "Diplomatic Immunity in its entirety" the show seemed to be laid out more like a conventional Dipset show between the individual sets and the performance of only part of the advertised LP.

More pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "The Diplomats & friends played Best Buy Theater again (pics)"

by BBG

Cam'ron (Dipset) @ Best Buy Theater (more by Brook Bobbins)

The Diplomats will once again return to the live stage as a crew, for a third round at Best Buy Theater on September 30th. Tickets are on sale. The show takes place just a few days before Dipset member Juelz Santana plays SOB's on October 4th. Tickets are on sale.

In other news, the crew's (endlessly?) forthcoming Diplomatic Immunity 3 LP may serve as a soundtrack for a film...

"We're gonna do a real feature film, not like a documentary. Like a real movie of the start of Cam...and to the start of The Diplomats. Similar to like [what] the Notorious B.I.G. movie was," said Santana. "And we're thinking about making the album the soundtrack to the movie. You know what I'm saying? Just to make it bigger, a better platform."

You can watch the interview that is taken from, below...

Continue reading "The Diplomats schedule NYC show, might make a film..."

photos by Brook Bobbins

Cam'ron

The Diplomats, aka Dipset, played their 2nd NYC reunion show on Saturday 3/26. Last time it was at Hammerstein. This time it was at Best Buy Theater in Times Square where the Harlem crew of Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zeekey were joined by the MPC monster Araabmuzik, Maino, Vado and Lloyd Banks. Yodon reports that "After killing the stage as a group, they all did their solo sets. Cam'ron brought out Vado, Jim Jones brought out Maino and Juelz Santana brought out Lloyd Banks." Pictures from the show adorn this post. The group was also supposed to play a show one night earlier at Northern Lights in Clifton Park but that one was cancelled due to "contractual issues."

Next up, Kill Cam, the Capo, and Santana, head down to Texas next week for a pair of Dipset dates and then out to the West Coast to wrap up the reunion celebration... and hopefully put the finishing touches on their new Diplomatic Immunity LP soon thereafter. All dates and more pictures and some videos from the NYC show, below...

Continue reading "The Diplomats played Best Buy Theater in NYC (pics & video) "

by BBG

After rocking a star-studded show to a packed post-Thanksgiving house at Hammerstein, The Diplomats are back at it and will play Best Buy Theater on March 26, two days after they play the Trocadero in Philly. Tickets for the NYC show are currently on AmEx presale and go on regular sale at noon Friday (2/11). The Dipset is currently working on Diplomatic Immunity 3 which, according to the Boston Herald, is tentatively due on July 4th this year.

Meanwhile, the individual Diplomats have kept busy. Jim Jones will release CAPO on April 5th via E1 which will feature appearances from Raekwon (who plays MHoW soon), Snoop Dogg, Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, and others. Check out the director's cut of the first video from the LP, "Blow Your Smoke", available below.

Other recent news about Juelz Santana hasn't been quite as jovial:

[Juelz Santana] was hauled into jail Wednesday for weapons and drug charges following a raid on his New Jersey studio, Santana's World...

"It's about money. They don't care about the criminals, they want that money. They said, 'We gon' get him, he can get high bail.' Whether the charges stick or not, they gon' get their money," said Juelz, who was released on Thursday after posting $125,000 bail.

A January 20 raid on his studio turned up two loaded handguns, drug paraphernalia and 17 Ziploc bags of "a greenish brown vegetation, consistent with the appearance of Marijuana." The Dipset star has been charged with possession of a firearm and a controlled dangerous substance, possession of a handgun without having a permit, possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance and possession with intent to distribute a controlled dangerous substance within 1,000 feet of a school zone after police executed a 10-month-long investigation that led to the raid. (Juelz protégé and Skull Gang MC Hynief was arrested at the time of the bust). Despite the charges, Santana is adamant he wasn't involved in any illegal activity. -[MTV News]

--

According to Ticketmaster, the NYC show is billed as "The Diplomats Reunion Tour," so stay tuned for more dates. That Jim Jones video and some others are below.

Continue reading "the Diplomats schedule more shows, Jim Jones releasing "CAPO", Juelz Santana is out on bail"

by BBG

Cam, Jimmy, and Julez of Dipset at Hammerstein (via)

[For] ...the Diplomats -- Cam'ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, Freekey Zekey -- ...this was the reunion show [for a crew]... torn asunder a few years ago by petty animus and financial accusations back and forth, survivors of arrests and family struggles, but now brought back together for another chance at harmony, if not quite world domination.

For the last decade, the Diplomats have been synonymous with Harlem -- even if some of its members have moved elsewhere. In an era in which New York is decreasingly central to hip-hop's landscape, as a group and as solo acts they have been regionalist holdouts, sticking close to the stylistically flamboyant street rap pioneered by Cam'ron and tweaked by the rest.

At almost three hours this rapturously received concert, sponsored by the hip-hop radio station Hot 97 (WQHT-FM), was a tribute to the persistent power of geographic mythology. Every summer Hot 97 hosts the giant Summer Jam concert, in which the Diplomats, local heroes infiltrating what is effectively a national stage, tend to get short shrift. This raucous night was the group's own Summer Jam, full of hits and obscurities and split into five parts: first, an opening group set; then three solo sets, by Jim Jones, then Juelz Santana, then Cam'ron; then everyone reunited to close the show. -[New York Times]

Yes, the New York Times was in attendance when The Diplomats staged their triumphant reunion at Hammerstein Ballroom on Friday, 11/26, the day after Thanksgiving. In addition to the core quartet of Jones, Santana, Zekey, and Killa Cam, Hammerstein's stage was blessed by the requisite surprise appearances from Dipset crew members Hell Rell, 40 Cal, and JR Writer in addition to an appearance from Black Rob (he of "Whoa" fame, who also appeared at the Duck Down Anniversary). The Dipset crew reportedly covered upwards of 50 songs over the evening (snippet or otherwise).

If you missed Juelz at Hammerstein on 11/26, maybe you caught him at Hammerstein.... on 11/25. Santana made a surprise appearance at the Fabolous/Nicki Minaj show alongside another not-so-surprise performer, Kanye West who "played" the Thanksgiving Parade earlier that day and a show with the help pf Nicki at Bowery Ballroom a few days earlier. Santana appeared with Fab for "Beamer, Benz, or Bentley" while West again appeared with Minaj for "Monster" from his new album.

Videos from both Hammerstein shows below...

Continue reading "Dipset reunited at Hammerstein Ballroom (one night after Juelz & Kanye played w/ Nicki Minaj at the NYC venue)"

by BBG

Brother Ali with Rakim in 2009

Brother Ali is going back on tour this spring and he hits NYC again, this time with Fashawn and BK One for a show at Knitting Factory on April 15th. Tickets are on sale. All tour dates are below.

The NYC show comes one month after Fashawn makes an appearance at the Nah Right/The Smoking Section Day Party at Rumbler Lounge at Peckerheads in Austin on 3/20 during SXSW. There Fashawn will intersect with Freeway & Jake One (who just played Highline with Brother Ali), J.Cole, Pac Div, Wiz Khalifa, Freddie Gibbs (who is playing the Pitchfork Festival), Pill, Diz Gibran, and many others. Nah Right has more details.

One of those performers, Wiz Khalifa, will headline Irving Plaza on March 26th as part of a larger tour for Deal or No Deal, his album that dropped late last year. Tickets are on sale, full dates are below.

Another performer from the Nah Right/Smoking Section party, J Cole, is the current cover boy of The Source and one of XXL's "Top 10 Freshmen". J will also play NYC as part of Hot 97's Who'w Next Live at SOB's on March 30. Tickets are still available.

One man who is no stranger to the covers of XXL and The Source, Juelz Santana, is scheduled to play NYC on March 22nd with Maino. Tickets are on sale.

Full Brother Ali & Wiz Khalifa dates and some videos are below...

Continue reading "Brother Ali tour dates & other hip shows in NYC & Austin"

by BBG

Styles P at Brooklyn Hip Hop Fest (more here)

Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Styles P will team up for a Benefit for Haiti hosted by comedian Mike Epps on 2/9 at The Studio @ Webster Hall. Tickets are $15.

The show comes seven days after Styles dropped his collabo with Green Lantern, The Green Ghost Project, out now via Invasion Music Group. Stream that LP in full. Styles P also recently played a benefit for Haiti at SOBs.

Check out the flyer and some live videos below, including one of Styles P with Juelz Santana...

Continue reading "Styles P released, streaming Green Ghost (w/ Green Lantern) - playing Haiti benefit w/ Jim Jones & Juelz Santana"