Getty Julius Randle #30 of the New Orleans Pelicans shoots the ball against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse on February 22, 2019 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
If you’re paying attention to the NBA’s Summer League, you may have noticed New York Knicks big man, Julius Randle wearing a t-shirt that said, Dipset.
Smart move by Randle, who opted out of his contract with the Pelicans and signed a three-year, $63 million deal with the Knicks.
For those tardy to the party: Juelz Santana, Jim Jones, Freekey Zekey, Duke Da God, Hell Rell, Jim Jones and Cam’ron make up the Harlem-based Diplomats group.
Affectionately known as Dipset, they are forever engrained into hip hop culture.
They were fashionably different, hand their own slang, their own swag and cult following. Some consider them the modern day Wu Tang Clan.
Collaboratively, Dipset released Diplomatic Immunity and Diplomatice Immunity 2.
They also released solo albums.
Jim Jones’ biggest hit was Ballin.
One of Juelz Santana’s biggest hit is Oh Yes
One of Cam’ron’s biggest hits was Hey Ma.
Back in November, The Diplomats released their Diplomatic Ties album, their first full length studio album in 14 years.
Breaking into the music game, being noticed and being consistent can be tough. Jim Jones began as Cam’ron’s hype man.
Appearing on a Mother’s Day edition of the Scoop B Radio Podcast, Nancy Jones, mother of Jim Jones, weighed discussed what she remembered about the early days of Dipset.
She also recalled Jim Jones getting his first big check from making music.
“One day I was laying in bed then he came home with this record saying, “I’m On My Way To Church” and showed me a $175,000 check,” she told me on Scoop B Radio.
“And I said: ‘what the hell?’”
Nancy Jones recalled when Jim Jones began his solo career:
“It’s nothing like you having your own because when you’re underneath somebody it’s a problem. You know I have a problem with it, I tell you like this I never really held on to a job I always made my own jobs because I can’t take a boss that’s over me telling me what to do, how to do it and the whole nine I’m not good at following directions like that so instead I have to go out and do my own and that’s what I did and that’s what I wanted him to do.”
Meanwhile back at the ranch: Julius Randle’s tribute to Dipset was pretty timely particularly as he begans the next chapter of his life as a member of the New York Knicks.
As a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, this season, Randle averaged averaged 21.4 points and 8.7 rebounds on a struggling Anthony Davis-less team.