Diggy – The First Flight [Review]
I’m not going to lie; when I saw a link to a Diggy Simons freestyle on VladTv.com, I clicked on it thinking it’d be good for a laugh. But I must say, the lil man sure can rap and apparently I had missed the boat on the release of his first mixtape, The First Flight, which was released on December 2, 2009.
If you’ve ever seen Run’s House on MTV, then you know who Diggy is. If not, all you need to know is he’s the 14-year-old son of Run DMC member Rev Run. He actually spit a song on the show, but he’s improved much since then.
I had two major doubts about Diggy: 1.) While he undoubtedly has rap and hip hop in his blood, his older brother JoJo is less than impressive on the mic and 2.) Adolescent rappers just aren’t always impressive. They still have that whiny pre-puberty voice. See Lil Twist, who actually appears on the “Make You Mine” track. Diggy’s voice sounds pretty mature and his rhymes are actually pretty slick.
Diggy’s also got a nice taste in beats. All of the tracks are originals – no remixes on this mixtape – and he’s working with two of the best up and coming rap and hip hop producers on the majority of the songs, “Black The Beast” and “Young Jerz”.
But probably the most impressive thing about The First Flight is that Diggy’s rapping about real issues (at least for a teenager) and he makes it clear that he doesn’t want to coast through the rap game just because of his family connections (which seems to be the complete opposite for his older brother, JoJo).
As he says on “Point To Prove”: “You know they said I was born with a gold spoon in my mouth, right? Well actually, it was platinum. But the real point is, I didn’t plan on this type of life, I didn’t ask for this, honestly. But something I can plan on is wanting to be myself,” before he raps Yeah, and I already know what you expect / Ugh, now let me tell you what gon get / You probably seen me in the fast lane, flash frame / Now let me guess, you already know my last name / You probably seen me on TV, life’s so easy, but what is it even like to be me? / People jumping to conclusions, my own name is what I’m proving, my independent movement, no allusion.
The First Flight is surprisingly good, so give it a listen and keep an eye out for Diggy in the future as he continues to grow up.
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