Detroit, Michigan lyricist & one of the finest in the underground currently Mickey Diamond returning for his 14th LP. Emerging at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 13 albums alongside 7 EPs & a mixtape. But for the past year, Mickey has been consistent putting out some of the best material of his career thus far. This includes the Gucci Ghost album & it’s sequel produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Ral Duke-produced Oroku Saki EP, the Sadhugold-produced Death Threat$ album, the Camoflauge Monk-produced Capital Gains album or more recently the 3rd & 4th installments to the Gucci Ghost saga this past winter. Diamond & Ral Duke got back together for the outstanding Oroku Saki sequel Super Shredder & only 3 months after It’s 5:00 Somewhere, he & Big Ghost are linking back up for Gucci Gambinos.

“Fruits of Wisdom” featuring Pro Dillinger perfectly opens things up by hopping over an orchestrally drumless instrumental referencing former オール・アジア・タッグ王座, 世界ジュニアヘビー級王座, KO-Dタッグ王座, FMWインディペンデントワールド世界ジュニアヘビー級王座, 2-time IWGPジュニアタッグ王座, GHCジュニアヘビー級タッグ王座 & current 新日本プロレス Jr. Heavyweight タカ みちのく of the ジャスト・フォー・ガイズ unit whereas “Word Bond” works in a sample-driven boom bap beat responding to everyone saying he ain’t outside.

Pro Dillinger returns on the soulful rock crossover “Green Paper” promising that the money will come if you keep pacing leading into “Truth or Dare” featuring Method Man taking it back to the basement instrumentally so they can talk about getting killed in the 313 & the 718 respectively advising to use y’all heads. “Speedknot” hooks the sampling back up for only a minute to make way for Diamond to shrug off these funny muhfuckas, but then the classy “Ice Cubes” talks about weatherin’ the storm & whippin’ out the pyrex.

“The Untouchables” featuring Pro Dillinger aggressively reaches the halfway point calling out those believing in their favorite rappers saying they finessed bricks when they were legitimately bullshittin’ just before the duo stick around for “A Man with a Dream” bringing the soul samples back cookin’ the dope up & baggin’ it in less than 80 minutes. “Cold Summer” gives off more of a solemn vibe to the beat reflecting on having the whole block in a submission chokehold prior to Pro Dillinger returning on “Rusty Blades”, promising to shoot back if they shoot 1st.

Getting the final leg of Gucci Gambinos going, “The Last Gangster” mixes a vocal sample with kicks & snares to talk about it being another day & another dollar while the song “Rockin’ a Gold Tooth” pays homage to the iconic Wu-Tang Clan single “C.R.E.A.M. (Cash Rules Everything Around Me)”. The title track featuring Pro Dillinger gets together for an orchestral boom bap joint kin to “Wu-Gambinos” & finally, “Crime Paradise” also featuring Pro Dillinger finishes the LP with both of them rawly breaking down their exquisite lifestyles.

Ghost & Diamond achieve their mission of restoring a feeling by taking equal inspiration from Raekwon’s solo debut Only Built 4 Cuban Linx…, early Hong Kong action movies, Martin Scorsese & Francis Ford Coppola films, the Avirex & Pelle Pelle fashion brands & finally the 90s dopeboy money gettin’ era. Pro Dillinger’s verses feel reminiscent to Ghostface Killah’s on OB4CL & it feels like the listeners are reliving or experiencing for the first time what it was like at the peak of the golden era of hip hop culture.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

This is the 11th full-length studio album from one of the illest Detroit emcees in the underground currently: Mickey Diamond. Emerging at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 10 albums alongside 7 EPs & & a mixtape. But for the past year, Mickey has been consistent putting out some of the best material of his career thus far. This includes the Gucci Ghost album & it’s sequel produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Ral Duke-produced Oroku Saki EP, the Sadhugold-produced Death Threat$ album, the Camoflauge Monk-produced Capital Gains album & more recently Gucci Ghost 3 only last weekend. But as we approach Christmas weekend, Diamond & Big Ghost are keeping the series going by unleashing a 4th installment to the Gucci Ghost saga with only a few days’ notice.

After the “Cut the Check” intro, the first song “Gucci North Face” is a sample-based opener cautioning to keep his name out your mouth or else he’ll pull up to your crib whereas “Ice Caps” gives off a somber boom bap edge talking about being in the last days. “Maurizio’s Funeral” has this drumless soul flip declaring himself as a hitman for hire rocking luxurious attire prior to “Giverny Frames” bringing back the kicks & snares so he can get on his mobster shit to round out the first half of the album.

After the “Gucci Boycott” interlude, “Yachts n Boycotts” starts the 2nd leg of the LP by jumping over a suspensefully dark boom bap instrumental asking to be forgiven for his sins along with reminding that there’s a thin line between family & friends just before “Godzilla Mac 10s” keeps it raw talking about being a certified killa. “Murder for Hire” morbidly gets in his outlaw bag leading into “The Last Supper” featuring Big Trip, Bori Rock, Shaykh Hanif, Snotty & Ty Farris closing out Gucci Ghost 4 in the form of an 8-minute posse cut with my favorite verses going to Diamond as well as Snotty & T-Flame.

You know since the first Gucci Ghost came out at the beginning of December last year & then 2 followed only 3 weeks later, I should’ve figured that a 4th installment was on the horizon at some point & I actually happen to love it as much as the predecessor that we got only the previous weekend. Big Ghost Ltd.‘s production is predominantly in that boom bap style with more drumless undertones, Mickey still remains as one of the sharpest lyricists in the Umbrella collective & I love how there’s more features except they all pop up in the backend of it.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

Detroit emcee Mickey Diamond is back with his 10th full-length LP. Emerging at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 9 albums alongside 7 EPs & & couple mixtapes. But for the past year, Mickey has been consistent putting out some of the best material of his career thus far. This includes the Gucci Ghost album & it’s sequel produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Ral Duke-produced Oroku Saki EP, the Sadhugold-produced Death Threat$ album & the Camoflauge Monk-produced Capital Gains album. However to come off Gone in 60 Seconds & Bangkok Dangerous 4, he’s surprise-dropping a 3rd installment of Gucci Ghost.

The first song “Live Fast” after the “Maurizio’s Dead, Somebody Shot Em” intro sets off the LP with a piano-driven boom bap instrumental living in the fast lane & looking to die free whereas “Nauti by Nature” works in more pianos, kicks & snares talking about shooting ya. “Gucci Underwear” weaves another piano-boom bap hybrid into the fold firing shots at everyone who’s been lamed out up to this point prior to “Icebergs” shifting into more lavish turf reminding that there’s dark matter scattered over everything.

“Patrizia’s” starts the 2nd leg of the LP by returning to the boom bap assuring that he could do this shit forever if he wanted to just before “Reggiani’s Revenge” ruggedly encourages you to check his bank account & see all the dead people a.k.a. dead presidents that he’s stacked up for himself by now. After the “Murder for Hire” interlude, “Designer Caskets” dustily compares his flow to hot lava & “Aldo’s Ghost” ties up the Gucci Ghost trilogy by eerily disappearing into the vapors.

Oroku Saki is the best EP that we’ve gotten from Mickey in 2023, but I firmly believe that Gucci Ghost 3 has now taken over Death Threat$’ spot for the best full-length he’s dropped this year & most certainly a late AOTY contender with only a couple weeks left until 2024 begins. Unlike the predecessor being more feature-heavy & the original Gucci Ghost only having a couple, it’s just Diamond & Big Ghost here continuing to elevate one another like they’ve been doing for the past year.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com

Mickey Diamond is an up-&-coming MC from Detroit, Michigan who first emerged at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous. He has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with 5 full-lengths alongside 5 EPs & & a mixtape. He literally just dropped his last album Gucci Ghost produced by Big Ghost Ltd. at the beginning of the month & have now decided to drop a sequel 3 weeks later out of nowhere.

After the “Tax Evasion” intro, the first song “Paolo’s Ghost” kicks off the album with some sample-based boom bap production & Mickey declaring himself to be a troublemaker prior to Hus Kingpin & Mondo Slade both assisting him on “Vanity Fair” taking a more dejecting tone instrumentally as the trio leave the scene bloody lyrically. Especially with the hilarious thumbdrive line during the first verse. The electric guitar throughout “Gucci Godzilla” is absolutely badass confessing that he feels like an iced-out version of the King of Monsters just before “Gold Grill Villains” featuring Eddie Kaine & Mooch has a more rawer approach in sound as the 3 spit some ruthless battle bars. 

“Aldo’s Interlude” is a self-described brief intermission with some down-tuned synths & a bass guitar layered on top of some kicks & snares discussing how no one can fuck with him leading into “Nowhere to Run” explains that the hood’s the only life he knows over a desolate boom bap beat. The song “Dapper Dan War Suits” brings back the rap rock vibes with some minimal drums talking about being dressed to kill while the penultimate track “Blood on the Runway” is a symphonic boom bap posse cut showcasing the Umbrella collective with each member standing out in their own way. “Death By Designer” ends things by reminding us that our demises are always 1-step away with a climatic instrumental. 

When we initially got Gucci Ghost at the beginning of the month, I had stated that it was Mickey’s most well crafted body of work to date. Fast forward literally weeks later & here we are with a sequel that’s on par with if not superior to that of the predecessor. Dude’s continuing to reveal himself to be amongst my favorite lyricists within the Umbrella by continuing to sharpen up his pen-game & Big Ghost Ltd.‘s production is more versatile than it was on the last album.

Score: 9/10

Source: UndergroundHipHopBlog.com