In the new book Do Remember! The Golden Era of NYC Hip-Hop Mixtapes, DJ Kay Slay looked back on his beloved mixtape series with The Diplomats. The book explores the cassette era of mixtapes in NYC from the late ‘80 and ‘90s, but it also covers the switch to the CD format that occurred near the turn of the century and the early 2000s classics like of G-Unit, D-Block, and Dipset towards the end of the book.
In what ended up being one of his last interviews, Kay Slay reflected on the pivotal period in the early 2000s during which the series with The Diplomats, a.k.a. Dipset, was born.
Looking back to the track "Oh Boy," specifically, Kay Slay recalled encouraging Cam'ron to finish what was initially merely a brief freestyle.
"A lot of people don't even know that 'Oh Boy' was just a short one-minute freestyle at first, it wasn't even a whole record," he said, as seen in Evan Auerbach and Daniel Isenberg's new book. "I remember hearing it and telling Cam that him and Juelz had to finish that. I told him it was outta here. I remember them finishing it and from there, we just had a nice movement going on. I helped them push the music and build the brand."
Read more from Kay Slay in an extended Do Remember! excerpt below:
"At that point, I was on fire on the streets, winning mixtape awards and so on and so forth. Cam’ron came to me and said he wanted to start a movement called Dipset—Harlem Diplomats. And he wanted me to be a part of it, and be the one to push the records and help filter the buzz on the streets. He said he was going to grab Juelz Santana, who was a part of a group called Draft Pick. And Jim Jones wasn't even rapping yet. He started rhyming once we put the movement together and everything. So, he came to me with this idea, and I agreed.
We just started bombing the streets with heat, on the radio killing them with the new records and everything. And then once he said he was ready to do the mixtape, all the songs were done. We went and put the mixtape together and man. Some of the records that he had were so crazy. A lot of people don't even know that 'Oh Boy' was just a short one-minute freestyle at first. It wasn't even a whole record. I remember hearing it and telling Cam that him and Juelz had to finish that. I told him it was outta here. I remember them finishing it and from there, we just had a nice movement going on. I helped them push the music and build the brand. It was a smart move, and I'm from Harlem as well so he came to me.
Cam'ron had the ideas, he had the records already. But what he would do, though, is ask me what I thought about the records. I can't take credit for anything else. He pretty much knew what he wanted, but he would play a snippet, a verse or hook, to see what the buzz was lIke.
At that point, I was at about three or four a month, so I'm doing my own shit at the same time. I'm giving them beats. There were plenty of beats that were on my tapes and everything that I gave to them that they spit on. Jim Jones, the first joint he rhymed on was a freestyle called 'Motherless Child' with Juelz. So I was doing my thing at the same time they were."
DJ Kay Slay died in April 2022 at the age of 55. In a statement shared at the time, his family said he would be "remembered for his passion and excellence with a legacy that will transcend generations."
Do Remember! is available now via Rizzoli and also features exclusive discussions with Kid Capri, Green Lantern, Havoc of Mobb Deep, and much more. For the 240-page book's special foreword, the authors enlisted none other than Fab 5 Freddy.
