Mickey Diamond has been on an impressive grind for many years now. Like Canibus or Curren$y, he’s polarizing: heads either collect him or dismiss him. He keeps his fanbase fed with his sheer volume of releases and duly limited merch, too. It’s been a long winning streak for Umbrella Collective lately, and that’s beautiful to see.
Big Ghost Ltd is one of the most categorically vindicated music critics in internet history. He also turned out to be an ace producer, both as beat-maker and Quincy Jones style Executive, sculpting songs into albums. In the past decade he’s dropped an inexplicable run of filthy classics, my favorites being with ANKHLEJOHN, Al.Divino, Vic Spencer, and of course, Aguardiente, the decade-defining LP that introduced me to CRIMEAPPLE.
Granted, “decade-defining” only spans what I’ve been listening to and influenced by over the past decade. But I do believe that LP became a template for a lot of crews & cliques since 2018, an audible imprint. Furthermore, I am proposing that the recent run Cocaine Biceps has had with Mickey Diamond should be studied the same way by students of the game.
Bear in mind, I’m not saying this as a fan. I don’t like Mickey Diamond. His voice is grating, his persona is Andrew Dice Clay, and his aesthetics just don’t match my living room. But I would be a hater to deny his bar game, his work ethic, his ear for beats, his quality control, or his consistency.
Those last three attributes are rare indeed, at any level of our multiplicitious, internet-driven Underground Scenes These Days. As Bloodmoney Perez famously observed, “time is a motherfucker.” The more pressure there is to drop product, the more tempting it gets to cut corners, and almost everyone breaks down eventually.
I haven’t heard many albums from Diamond, especially compared to his catalog, but: I’ve never heard him cut any corners yet. I may not like the blueprint, but this is an exacting technician who takes pride in his skills.
Black Sheep is no exception, both lean and packed. Every track is sequenced out into a fully realized song, and those songs are shaped into a completely consistent ride. The 90’s TV motif never gets annoying because it’s spaced out unpredictably and applied judiciously. Every touch works.
That same attention to thematic detail is woven into every verse. While I think his brags are boring and rote, I still respect his pen because the craftsmanship is undeniable. His storytelling is visual and he can pivot to concept tracks with the same solemn authority he brings to fucking your bitch.
So I remain impressed with Black Sheep as an exemplary specimen. This is not some obsessive labor of love, these two just have a classic recipe down to perfection. Any further seasoning or effort would have been diminishing gains. This is wu-wei in action. Five Dickies.
