When Volume 4 of The Diplomats acclaimed self-titled mixtape series was released the group was perhaps the strongest force in hip-hop. Undoubtedly they were the most likely to work with artists from all over the world. Of the various and disparate emcees the ‘Set collabed with at this time, the one with Ali of the St. Lunatics was always one of my favorites. As well seemingly the most unlikely.

Of how it came about Ali says “I was with the St.Lunatics somewhere in LA. We were staying at The W Hotel in Hollywood. Jim Jones, Cam, Juelz & Kanye were there also. Jimmy & I are good friends, so when I saw him, he said come up to our room. They had a studio set up. They said let’s record something. I had brought up a CD with tracks on it with me. We listened while we sat, talked, and smoked. Soon enough we started recording and the rest was history. At the same time, Murphy Lee and Kanye West were across the hall doing the same thing. “

I ask him if it was Jones’s infamous laptop and M-box (he was notoriously innovative by being the first in rap to record this way.) Ali responded “Yes it was a laptop with ProTools. The song came out really dope, in my opinion. I came up with the track and the concept. Yet most importantly that night I first watched them record and their process. They didn’t write anything down, they just punched each line in. Basically I started writing that way from that day forward