Dillon is an artist originally from Jacksonville, but now based in Atlanta, and he is one of the co-founders of Full Plate Records. His last project came just a little over a year ago, when he dropped an instrumental album, Gardenstrumentals 2. Now he is back with a full-length album done in collaboration with producer Diamond D, Uncut Gems.

Dillon first teamed up with D.I.T.C. member Diamond D back in 2017, when they released an EP called Black Tie Affair. The idea behind that EP was that it was sophisticated hip hop that was celebrating the finer things in life. Now, they’ve gone the other direction with Uncut Gems, giving you that raw, gritty, soulful hip hop, where you have to maybe look just a little harder to see the beauty within. Listening to this album, it was easy to see the initial idea behind the project, where two veteran artists were kicking back and having fun with some great East Coast boom bap and talking some mad trash. And if that’s all there was to Uncut Gems, it still would have been plenty of fun. Diamond D knows how to throw down some beats that bump, and Dillon is charismatic on the mic. However, if you stay with the album and peel away the layers track by track, you get to some really personal and introspective rhymes, some creative narratives, and some philosophical raps that will get the wheels in your head turning. This is all to say that this is exactly the album you want from Dillon and Diamond D. The beats knock, but they also have this grit to them, and Dillon weaves his way around the pockets D is cooking up with some fun and intelligent rhymes and great hooks, all delivered with a lot of style and substance. It’s one of those albums that feels familiar the first time you listen to it, and then you want to run it back as soon as it is over.

Uncut Gems is a great step forward for Dillon and Diamond D as a duo. Their first EP was good, but there’s so much more to this album, with a lot more space for them to develop their sound together and push each other in different directions. It’s an incredibly well-rounded and fun album to listen to.