Artist: Smitty
Album: Diamonds On His Neck (single)
Record label: J Records
Rating:
Reviewer: Bear Frazer

Kanye West may have diamonds from Sierra Leone, but Miami MC, Smitty, has “Diamonds on his Neck.” Smitty may be a fresh name to the game, but’s he been here for a minute, working with the likes of P. Diddy, The Game, and Scarface. Now, he gets to stand on his own and Swizz Beatz provides a hot beat for Smitty’s single “Diamonds on my Neck.”

Here’s the slight problem with this hot beat…you’ve pretty much already heard it. What do I mean, you may wonder? Well, Swizz Beatz most likely crafted several instrumentals around the same time, not realizing that they would all become fairly large. If you listen closely, T.I.’s “Bring ‘Em Out”, Cassidy’s “I’ma Hustla”, Memphis Bleek’s “Like That”, Mashonda’s new track featuring Nas, “Blackout”, and this Smitty cut all use very similar drums, sonics, or song structure. In fact, the intro to this song, “Diamonds On My Neck” uses the exact same intro and structure at the beginning of the cut, sampling a Biggie phrase in a repetitive format like Swizzy did with Jay Z’s “…I’m A Huslta…” bit. The beat is comprised of a deep bass line courtesy of a heavy drum, some snares and hi-hats to keep the tempo, and a variety of bells and whistles for a little flair. A guitar riff completes the cut.

Throughout the entire song, Smitty seems like a very happy guy and he has every right to be in high spirits although he doesn’t seem to do much rapping. The hook is omnipresent while his lyrics are few and far between. It’ll work in the club, due to its hotness, but won’t provide lyrics with very much outside of that. Nonetheless, Smitty is rich, he has a nice car, he has diamonds on his necklace, and a whole lot of Mary Jane.