Mickey Diamond & Big Ghost Ltd. Continue to Elevate Each Other With “Gucci Ghost 3” (Album Review)

Detroit emcee Mickey Diamond is back with his 10th full-length LP. 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 9 albums alongside 7 EPs & & couple mixtapes. But for the past year, Mickey has been consistent putting out some of the best material of his career thus far. This includes the Gucci Ghost album & it’s sequel produced by Big Ghost Ltd., the Ral Duke-produced Oroku Saki EP, the Sadhugold-produced Death Threat$ album & the Camoflauge Monk-produced Capital Gains album. However to come off Gone in 60 Seconds & Bangkok Dangerous 4, he’s surprise-dropping a 3rd installment of Gucci Ghost.

The first song “Live Fast” after the “Maurizio’s Dead, Somebody Shot Em” intro sets off the LP with a piano-driven boom bap instrumental living in the fast lane & looking to die free whereas “Nauti by Nature” works in more pianos, kicks & snares talking about shooting ya. “Gucci Underwear” weaves another piano-boom bap hybrid into the fold firing shots at everyone who’s been lamed out up to this point prior to “Icebergs” shifting into more lavish turf reminding that there’s dark matter scattered over everything.

“Patrizia’s” starts the 2nd leg of the LP by returning to the boom bap assuring that he could do this shit forever if he wanted to just before “Reggiani’s Revenge” ruggedly encourages you to check his bank account & see all the dead people a.k.a. dead presidents that he’s stacked up for himself by now. After the “Murder for Hire” interlude, “Designer Caskets” dustily compares his flow to hot lava & “Aldo’s Ghost” ties up the Gucci Ghost trilogy by eerily disappearing into the vapors.

Oroku Saki is the best EP that we’ve gotten from Mickey in 2023, but I firmly believe that Gucci Ghost 3 has now taken over Death Threat$’ spot for the best full-length he’s dropped this year & most certainly a late AOTY contender with only a couple weeks left until 2024 begins. Unlike the predecessor being more feature-heavy & the original Gucci Ghost only having a couple, it’s just Diamond & Big Ghost here continuing to elevate one another like they’ve been doing for the past year.

Score: 9/10