With Diamond District member Oddisee proving the most prolific and celebrated by far of the group's three members since their head-turning debut six years back, the fact that co-conspirators X.O. and Y.U. sound so equally crisp and dominant on their full-length return is one of the new record's most impressive attributes. March On Washington pours from the speakers with a heady mix of knowledge, maturity and no-B.S. bravado as the three D.C. representatives dice it up over a wealth of topics ranging from career adversity and come and go love affairs to consumerist evils and the state of the nation's capital, past and present.
A deep catalogue of robust drum breaks form the roots from which each of the album's heavy hitting, heavily musical, sample-based compositions grow, and the impression they leave has a similarly positive effect on the wordplay tapestry they weave. Flows are worked from every angle in a inventive show of vocal dexterity on cuts like "A Part Of It All" and "Erything," while the militant approach to adversity fired off on "Lost Cause" feels provoked by the dissected '70s soul snippet at the track's heart. Diamond District's return to the booth defies what you might expect from such a long layoff, with the group delivering a followup the makes good on their initial praise while demonstrating, more importantly, that they're a lot more as a unit than they are separately.
(Mello Music Group)A deep catalogue of robust drum breaks form the roots from which each of the album's heavy hitting, heavily musical, sample-based compositions grow, and the impression they leave has a similarly positive effect on the wordplay tapestry they weave. Flows are worked from every angle in a inventive show of vocal dexterity on cuts like "A Part Of It All" and "Erything," while the militant approach to adversity fired off on "Lost Cause" feels provoked by the dissected '70s soul snippet at the track's heart. Diamond District's return to the booth defies what you might expect from such a long layoff, with the group delivering a followup the makes good on their initial praise while demonstrating, more importantly, that they're a lot more as a unit than they are separately.