Dipset – “On God” (Feat. Belly)
Harlem rap greats Dipset — Cam’ron, Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, and Freekey Zekey — are back together and getting ready to release their first group album in 14 years this week. They’ve been on a turbulent ride since releasing Diplomatic Immunity 2 in 2014, but it’s still fun to hear the back together, pledging one-for-all fealty once again. And today, they’ve shared a new slow-crawl track.
The new single “On God” follows “Sauce Boyz,” and it’s built on a foreboding glimmer of a beat. “On God” has a hook from Belly, a younger contemporary for the group. This is the Toronto rapper Belly, not the early-’90s Boston alt-pop band Belly, though the latter might honestly be more interesting. And the beat comes from Murda Beatz, another Canadian rising star who wasn’t making music when the Diplomats were operating at full strength.
As with so many Dipset-reunion tracks, Cam’ron is the clear star, and I may never get sick of hearing him shout out his Ohio dope-dealing connects. But Jones and Santana also sound sharp and confident, and it’s the song serves as a welcome indication that Dipset can function in today’s rap economy as something other than a nostalgia act. Check it out below.
The new album Diplomatic Ties is out 11/22. Dipset will play a record-release show 11/23 at Harlem’s Apollo Theater, which is the kind of thing that makes me wish I still lived in New York. For website-tagging purposes, it would be helpful if they decided whether they’re “Dipset” or “the Diplomats” now.