Diamond D and Sadat X has an absolutely terrific track record dating back to their early beginnings at Jazzy Jay Studios that has lasted until to today. These guys many collaborations is definitely something I should make one of my Lost Tapes compilation on, but until then I thought I'd dig up this quite interesting demo project for a group called The Omen that was recorded in the early '00s. The trio consisted of Sadat X, female emcee Kamari and Diamond D on beats and rhymes. I remember hearing this some years ago and wasn't all that impressed by the majority of the tracks, but as time has passed I came to realize there's without a doubt some proper heat as well.
The Omen was a very short lived group; in 2002 they released two double-A side singles on Fat Beats and Up Above Records; "Do It Now" / "Get On Up" and "It's Our World" / "Half Steppin'". "It's Our World" also appeared as an exclusive joint on DJ Rhettmatic's 2004 compilation album "Exclusive Collection". While neither Sadat X or Diamond has been outspoken about the project in interviews, my guess is that they were working on a full-length album that was close to being wrapped but when the 12" singles failed to make any noice, they put the project on the shelf where it has stayed. Luckily, at least this close to 30 minutes long demo tape leaked to the internet, giving fans a taste of what we could have expected from this LP if it had ever materialized. Of course, it's a far cry from the stronger material by the main artists and producer but it's an interesting listen for D.I.T.C. and Brand Nubian conniseours nontheless. At least half the songs bang pretty hard, and the final Godzilla sampling hardthumping banger of a monster really will get heads nodding with its on point lyrics and dark, beautiful production. Same goes for "Put It Down", the funky old school flirt "Just Can't Fuck With It Us", and so on. All songs from the 12":s are included beside the "It's Our World" joint, despite it being one of their strongest collabos if you ask me,
Who Kamari is I have absolutely no clue, since she seemed to completely dissapeared from the recording scene after The Omen failure. Most of the tracks appear in full, while some of the songs cuts off after about three minutes. There's also no track titles given for anything, but interestingly enough the first song (which might very well be the tapes strongest) is an extended version of "Put It Down" that also made it to Diamond's mixtape-type album "Grown Man Talk" in 2003 (that version cuts out Kamari's verse though).Like I said these demo never came with track titles but based that at least three of the single songs appear here, plus the "Put it Down" joint I tried to put down a tracklist below, using the hook for the titles on the remaining songs. Last but not least, thanks to YouTube's Classic Hip-Hop Visuals HD for the upload. Enjoy!
02. "Get On Up"
03. *unknown*
04. "What's The Fuss?"
05. "What The Fuck You Want?"
06. "Do It Now"
07, "Half Steppin'"
08. "You Don't Want It"
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