Mickey Diamond’s Latest Album “Gucci Ghost” is His Greatest Yet (Album Review)
This is the 5th full-length album from up-&-coming Detroit emcee Mickey Diamond. Emerging at the beginning of 2020 off the strength of his debut EP Bangkok Dangerous, the dude has since gone on to turn quite a few heads in the underground by building up the impressive discography for himself with his previous 4 albums alongside 5 EPs & & a mixtape. But when it was announced that Big Ghost Ltd. would be jumping behind the boards to lace Gucci Ghost in it’s entirety, I had to check it out considering the fact that the revered underground producer tends to bring the best out of the MC that he links up with.
After the “Crimes of Fashion” intro, the first song “The Invisible Man” sets off the album with Mickey hopping on top of a synth/boom bap instrumental dropping some gruff yet hardcore bars whereas “Vineyards in France” has a more sinister atmosphere to it advising wack rappers to tear up the contracts that they just signed. “Icicles” has a more symphonic flare to it whilst keeping it dusty showing off his ice just before Pro Dillinger & Snotty tag along for the forlorn “Stone Island Shooters” to insult their opposition.
However with “Maurizio’s Ghost”, we have Mickey over some dramatic boom bap production delivering some wig-splitting rhyme schemes for nearly 5 minutes asking what you’d expect while the song “Deluxe Flux” following the “Answer to a Dream” interlude keeps it in the basement as far as sound talking about being more than just an emcee. The penultimate track “GG Buckets” has a more grimier aesthetic to it with it’s blaring beat & Mickey’s lyrics discussing closing the function than opening prior to “Chain Gretzky” is such a perfectly gully finish to the instrumental to the war-ready pen-game.
I’ve already covered a few of the Umbrella collective’s members in the past like Substance810 & Jay Royale, so it was really overdue for me to be to get to one of Mickey’s project & I’m sure as Hell happy that I did because Gucci Ghost just so happens to be is the crown jewel of his discography thus far in my eyes. Lyrically, dude’s the best he’s ever sounded & Big Ghost’s signature boom bap production compliments his gruff style in an impressive fashion.
Score: 9/10
