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Diamond D Talks His Production Heroes: "Those Were the Legends I Looked Up To"

Diamond D Talks His Production Heroes: "Those Were the Legends I Looked Up To"

Published Tue, October 25, 2022 at 2:06 PM EDT

Legendary producer Diamond D recently sat down with Rock The Bells and broke down his early production influences.

The Bronx rapper/producer established himself as one of rap’s best double threats as part of the Diggin’ in the Crates Crew — and his influence on Hip-Hop is wide, touching everyone from Fat Joe and Brand Nubian to The Fugees and Talib Kweli. Listen to his latest album, The Rearview, to get a full reminder from Fat Joe via an impactful interlude about just how influential Diamond D really truly is: "You guys wouldn't've heard of Fat Joe, Big Pun, Remy Ma, DJ Khaled, Scott Storch, Pit Bull, Cool & Dre ..." Joe says in part.

D talked about his early influences when he was first realizing that Hip-Hop was an art form he not only loved and respected, but wanted to contribute to as well.

"My influences on production were Marley Marl, of course, the great—[and] the 45 King," he said. "Jazzy Jay—he's the one who put me on and taught me production; and Prince Paul—those were my heroes. I was a DJ, but I listened to all of their productions. At the time, I didn't own a sampler. But those were the legends I looked up to."

D dropped his latest album, The Rear View, earlier this year, which features Posdnous of De La Soul, Westside Gunn of Griselda, Ashtin Martin, Stacy Epps and KP. The project took about two months to record between New York, L.A., and Atlanta.


Watch his interview above.

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