Holy fuck Jordan Pedersen misses Breaking Bad.  The term “classicist” gives the entire movement an unfair advantage. It opts for the word “classic” when, if it were being honest, “old head” might be more appropriate. Or, thinking pessimistically, “stale.” As Mike Ehrmantraut told Walter White, “Just because you shot Jesse James don’t make you Jesse […]

Jonah Bromwich wrote his first draft of this on a smoked banana peel. It’s hard to avoid self-deprecation when you’re standing right beside incredible talent. While yU is probably the best rapper in Diamond District (and maybe even on Mello Music) the producing wizardry is usually situated in Oddisee, whose Rock Creek Park is the […]

Rapper/producer yU is probably best known as one third of D.C. rap supergroup Diamond District with X.O. and Oddisee, but he’s been toiling for years in Washington’s underground scene. He also stakes membership in the Remainz Crew and the 1978ers, a production team formed with fellow beatmaker Slimkat78. Last year saw the free release of […]

Jay Electronica may have been the obvious choice as 2009’s “rapper that everyone could agree on,” but the only other outfit as unanimously lauded was Washington D.C.’s Diamond District, a super-group of sorts formed from two of the DMV’s best rappers (X.O. and yU) and arguably its best producer (Oddisee.) While In the Ruff may […]