abnervaught: Diplomats Reunion Album Coming 'Slowly But Surely'

Monday, September 19, 2011

Diplomats Reunion Album Coming 'Slowly But Surely'

Diplomatic Immunity 3 being stalled by 'contractual obligations,' Jim Jones tells 'RapFix Live.'
By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway

Jim Jones and Sway Calloway
Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News

It's been a year since the Diplomats reunited, and though they haven't yet turned around their long-awaited Diplomatic Immunity 3 album, the crew's Capo tells fans to be patient.

"Everybody's been working," Jim Jones said Wednesday on the "RapFix Live" one-year anniversary show. "We took a brief hiatus; we came back together. When we came back together, there were still things that we had to figure out.

"And everybody's on the same page, but above all we all still have contractual obligations, so it kinda makes it a little difficult to get what we want to do done because we want to put total efforts and total concentration on the new things."

In 2007, Jones began speaking publicly about a rift between himself and Dipset head Cam'ron. A number of interviews revealed that both Jones and Juelz Santana had been estranged from the Harlem hitmaker.

By 2010, the childhood friends had put their differences aside and reunited, performing together in concert. In January 2011, Dipset (minus Juelz, who was dealing with a legal issue) appeared on but aside from their 2010 single "Salute" and a few street tracks here and there, the group doesn't seem any closer to releasing its album.

"We been recording slowly but surely," Jones explained. "Me and Cam been going back and forth. Juelz been trying finish his obligation up with Def Jam — he got a lot of pressure on his back.

"But, above all, we here. Me and Cam gonna put out a Fly Boys album, because we got a little bit more leeway right now than Juelz, per se, because he's caught up with a hell of a workload."

Much of the delay is due to the solo contracts each group member signed, but Jones said he's ready. "I'm done, I'm a free agent, so I'm just waiting for everybody else to join," he explained. "But it's definitely coming: Diplomatic Immunity 3. The camaraderie is there; the brotherhood is back. It feels good."

Are you awaiting the Diplomats' reunion album? Tell us in the comments below!

Related Videos