I'm currently a writer
for my school's newspaper The Greyhound
focusing mainly on hip-hop.
I write bi-weekly.
I first recapped the hip hop of the summer.
For my second article,
I will now share with you the article
in paragraph form instead of my usual poem style.
Also, you can look forward to new episodes
every other week after it premieres in the Tuesday paper.
Enjoy.
When Rev Run agreed to have his family filmed for MTV’s Run’s House, we all pictured a reality TV version of the Cosby Show. In some senses it was: five kids to start off with, high moral values, and a heart-warming after effect.
Like Rev Run, his kids had ambition. His two daughters started their own shoe and clothing line, and his oldest son Jojo pursued a rap career with two of his closest friends, calling themselves Team Blackout. Little was it known that Rev’s second oldest son, Daniel, also had the same passion for rhyming.
Originally Daniel, better known as Diggy, wished to start his own clothing line. With family connections and mentoring from Pharrell Williams, he seemed on his way. However, in the December of 2009, Diggy released his first mixtape The First Flight; this solo effort caught many record labels attention, eventually landing him a record deal with Atlantic Records.
Diggy’s style is laid back, smooth. There’s syncopation to his flow. On September 10, 2010, the now 15 year old rapper dropped his second mixtape Airborne, which has lived up to its hyped. The mixtape is laced with guest appearances, none completely overshadowing the young emcee.
He opens with the title track determined to make his presence known and everlasting. “With darkness all around me/elevating through the atmosphere/notions and doubts surround me/but not impact no fear/ya’ll want the celebration/I want the constellations/Aligning them all in my favor/shining through all the nation.”
R&B artist Colin Monroe assists Diggy on Big Bad World, in which the two portray the struggles of just trying to get by. In his second verse, Diggy shows us the rise and fall of a young couple with child. Monroe sings in his verse, “They say you should have whatever you like/but does that mean you get what you need?/or maybe the world could be yours in time/but does happiness grow on trees.”
On Super Hero Music, Diggy raps, “Wonder I’m the drum spitting thunder til I’m numb/a meteor hit the earth the day I came out of my mum/so I’m immaculate/who’s matching this?/ya’ll can’t win/cause the match is fixed.” Raekwon of the legendary Wu-Tang Clan also graces the track with a verse. You don’t gain such a high caliber cosign without serious skills.
On the next track, both Lupe Fiasco and Diggy’s mentor Pharrell lend their talents to create the epic Oh Yeah. As the beat pounds and a chorus repeats the title phrase, Lupe spits first, “Yeah we got nine lives/but they got nine knives/we only get one chance and they get 9 tries/tell you that dime’s fly/baby girl’s a fine price/all I see is money when I look inside this dime’s eye/life’s a b****, I’ll be rich if I make her cry/tears of tissue turns to money if you let it dry.”
Pharrell lays down an equally hot second verse, yet it is Diggy who still manages to shine as he closes the song. “Uh, ahead of time, sometime like a pre-me/and I got the co-sign from the two n****s pre-me/I don’t see none of y’all, you see me/y’all can’t see me, you Stevie/blow up and I make it look easy/yeah I’m so wack cause I’m on TV/if I am such an amateur, when I come around what you panic for?/cause you know I’m hotter than a planet’s core.”
This Feeling is Diggy self-assurance track in which he promises to himself that he will make it as an emcee. His talent and ability to accomplish such is apparent within the opening bars of the song. “Little n****, unstoppable/so astronomical/phenomenal/so I’mma take over this game, I promise you/the destined to do this, superstar like Wasalu/prodigy and passing you, conquering ever avenue.”
Diggy closes out with Great Expectations where he addresses the pressure he is under to perform well, even wondering if he really wants it. But as the song wraps up he proclaims, “I ain’t gon’ give up the game!” With so much talent and years to prefect his craft, we can look forward to the young lyricist becoming a fixture in the rap game.
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