At the turn of the 21st century, as hip-hop was continuing it's downward spiral and making it's final transformation into the mainstream obsessed, cookie-cutter, ringtone era of today, there was a new movement born in the Harlem streets by a crew of three rappers: Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, and Jimmy Jones collectively known as the Diplomats. In just a few short years, the group created their own lane in the game driven by their unique sound, style, and most importantly...insanely high levels of swagger.

By 2003, The Dipset movement was in full swing and the crew represented a style of hip-hop that was unlike anything else going on in the game. Lead by their signature sound of sped-up soul samples, hectic rock riffs, and dark, dramatic, orchestra laced production, the crew gained a devoted cult-like following worldwide and influenced everything from music to fashion, and much of their success can be attributed to their unparalleled mixtape hustle.

Over the years, the crew released dozens of mixtapes and street albums largely made up of tracks and freestyles over original beats crafted by their in-house production team lead by The Heatmakerz. In fact, most of their best joints never made it onto retail albums because of the costs and inability to clear all the samples used. This left dozens of classic Dipset cuts available strictly on mixtapes. Many times these tracks were shitty quality and had DJs yelling all over them. However, last week Dipset's resident DJ/A&R Duke Da God quietly released a retail album "Harlem Classics", which features a compilation of joints from the Diplomat's archives in full CD quality...and luckily for us, almost all of these joints were the aforementioned tracks, previously unreleased and only found in shitty quality on old Dipset mixtapes.

You can check out the full album below, which is a must-have for any fan of the Dipset as it's packed from beginning to end with classic posse cuts from Cam, Jimmy, Juelz, JR Writer, Hell Rell + more.


Duke Da God presents: Harlem Classics
01. What's Really Good (OG Version) (feat. Cam'ron, Jim Jones)
02. Halftime Show (feat. Cam'ron)
03. You're Gonna Love Me (feat. Juelz Santana)
04. Shut The Fuck Up (feat. Cam'ron)
05. Questions (feat. Jim Jones)
06. Royalty (Crown Me) (feat. Juelz Santana, Cam'ron, T.I.)
07. Your Way (feat. J.R. Writer & Cam'ron)
08. The Answer (feat. Juelz Santana)
09. New Season (feat. Cam'ron)
10. Did U Miss Me? (feat. Juelz Santana)
11. Don't Fool With The Dips (feat. J.R. Writer, Hell Rell)
12. 145th & Broadway (feat. Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, S.A.S.)
13. Cali Love (feat. Cam'ron)
14. Hold The Fuck Up (feat. Juelz Santana & DJ Clue)
15. The Slaughter (feat. Cam'ron)
16. Uhh Ahh (feat. Hell Rell)
17. You Oughta Know (feat. Juelz Santana, Cam'ron)
18. Magic (feat. J.R. Writer)
19. From Bottom To Top (feat. Juelz Santana, Celph Titled)
20. Dreamer (feat. Dipset)
21. Around My Way (feat. Jim Jones)
22. Long Time Coming (feat. Cam'ron & Juelz Santana)