Saturday, June 26, 2010

New Artist Spotlight: Diggy Simmons

So remember that kid on Run's House? No not, the older one JoJo, the sorta soft spoken one that was only like 10 years old when the show debuted in 2005? The one whose father was the good Reverend of Hip Hop who helped pave the way for Hip Hop in the 1980s with Run D.M.C..

Well it seems that kid, Daniel Dwayne Simmons, better known as Diggy is taking after his father in more than one way, going from an innocent kid in a reality show to a kid now who has 150,000+ twitter followers. Let's run off a list of recent accomplishments, the first being a full length mixtape titled The First Flight, which dropped back in December (2009) and led to a bidding war over his skills before he landed at Atlantic Records in March. Check out the mixtape here...
Wasting absolutely no time in getting on his grind, he also announced in December that he was releasing his own clothing line in fall 2010 called Chivalrous Culture. Check out a few sneak peaks from his new line.Trying to follow in the footsteps of his idol Pharrell Williams, he's aspiring to be more than just a Hip Hop act, he strives to be an icon. I just hope the line he develops is just as fresh as BBC, Pharrell's line, but less pricey...damn tees $90, thats harsh, it's expensive bein' cool.

Amidst the bidding war, he hit the gas pedal on a few freestyles, the most notable being over Nas's - Made You Look beat where he absolutely kills the beat...so much that Nas felt inclined to offer his endorsement by telling Vibe magazine:
“I couldn’t believe it,” and “I don’t think we’ve seen that in hip-hop yet—he’s nice and his father’s the king? That’s historic, bro. That shit is incredible. That little dude is nice.”
Damn, must be nice to kill a Rap legend on his own beat and have him endorse you afterward. You be the judge..

That freestyle had the internet buzzing for quite a while, but Diggy has stayed on his grizzly by releasing his first single this month off his new mixtape Airborne called Great Expectations, featuring one of my favorite producers/artists Bei Maejor (still haven't gotten sick of Drunk in the Club by the way). Hands down his best track to date, he exhibits a polished skill in his verses that only a son of a legend could pull off. The track fits perfectly with his whole "about to take off" vibe he's got going with his music, so much so the song takes on a real inspirational undertone. Despite Em and Drake's albums dropping in the past month, this song was in my Top 5 tracks of May. Give it a listen...

Diggy Simmons feat Bei Maejor - Great Expectations
| Download

Furthermore, he dropped an absolute heat rock on us with the marching band feel on his new track What They Been Waiting For. You wanna talk about a head nodding, uptempo track to vibe to, this one hits the spot. Anybody else think this is kind of amazing the skill he's bringing to these tracks at the age of 15? The flow is stoopid...on every track with energy to spare on every verse. Kinda nuts, check the video out and hit the drop to cop it..


Diggy Simmons - What They Been Waiting For
| Download

Oh yea I forgot to mention, he's also a member of the All City Chess Club with the likes of Asher Roth, B.O.B., The Cool Kids, Charles Hamilton, Wale Lupe Fiasco, Blu, and J. Cole. Seems like we're only beginning to fully realize the potential that he's already fulfilling with each track he puts out. Stay tuned for Airborne...

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