Mickey Diamond has been on one hell of a run over the last three or four years, and is back with his second album of 2024 with his latest hip hop offering ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere‘. Unlike some of his other collaborations – such as the Gucci Ghost series, this album features a range of different producers delivering the sonic landscape for Diamond to deliver his rugged, gruff, baritone bars. Similarly building upon the 2022 release ‘No Liquor Before 12‘ this album brings a range of different flavours as he floods the streets with his unique brew of bars and beats.
The alcohol-infused tracklist is potent, we’ve got 15 tracks (intro and outro included) delivering almost an hour of pure, high octane hip hop. Mickey navigates his way across all tracks with an air of well-deserved confidence, ensuring that the listener is locked in through his commanding delivery and flow. His production choices on this one, are also quite attractive, moving in and out of the boom bap pocket, with some delicate notes of soul, funk, blaxploitation infused in the audio flavours. Even with varied producers, this album blends together seamlessly for a flawless listening experience.
What can be lost in the sheer volume of work that Mickey Diamond puts out, is the growth as an emcee and artist that is prevalent when he drops new music. Revisiting the ‘No Liquor’ project before writing this review, there is certainly a case to be made that his pen has been sharpened, and his ability to evoke emotions, paint vivid pictures with his vernacular while continuing to engage and entertain has grown significantly. Where his previous projects sitting comfortably with Big Ghost on the boards, ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere’ continues to push that envelope and give the hip hop fans something else – this time it’s the chemistry he finds in the various scores.
When you have such an iconic delivery and rugged, gruff flow, it can be hard to engage a varied audience, however Mickey Diamond is able to put a velvet glove over his ‘iron fist’ bars, to allow the listener to really unpack the stories being told and to feel the emotion and authenticity in the tracks, as opposed to just being ‘rapped at’. It’s a skill that Mickey has perfected, and other hardbody hip hop artists could learn from and develop.
All in all, this is another fantastic project from The Umbrella Collective emcee. Make sure you sit back, grab a beverage of choice and just be entertained by the well-crafted street commentary and bully bars.
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