Legz Diamond
cocks and loads
9 Pistolas album
Set To Drop 03/19      Insane Clown Posse’s longtime guitarist/vocalist/homie discusses his fresh new debut album!
Legz Diamond is as much a part of the Insane Clown Posse universe as facepaint and Faygo. For most of the Clowns’ 20+ year career, Legz has been a major part of their scene, usually laying down awesome vocals and blistering guitar work on such classic songs as “Evil Eye” and “Super Balls.” In the mid-‘90s, Legz was even scheduled to release a solo album but it never came to fruition. But that was then, this is now and Legz Diamond has finally claimed the spotlight for himself with his debut album 9 Pistolas, a devastating concept album about a Prohibition era Detroit gangster’s rise to criminal power.

Backed by Psychopathic artists Jumpsteady and Sugar Slam, who are credited as the Purple Gang, Legz Diamond takes the listener through a dangerous time in American history when organized crime ruled the streets and where just having a bottle of bathtub gin stashed away in your cupboard could find you looking down the business end of a Tommy gun.

Produced entirely by ICP and scheduled to drop on March 19, 2013, 9 Pistolas is a vice-laden musical journey that is certain to entertain and provoke. We caught up with Legz Diamond himself to discuss this exciting new album.

Hatchet Herald: You’ve worked with ICP and Psychopathic just about from the very beginning of their career. How did you get hooked up with them?

Legz Diamond: I was working with Mike E. Clark doing some recording at his basement studio, The Fun House. He was working on the Riddle Box album with ICP at the time and they asked me if I would be interested in contributing something to that project. I jumped all over it because I was a huge ICP fan.

HH: What was the first thing you worked on with ICP?

Legz Diamond: I did the spoken word part on “Evil Eye.” From there, my working relationship with ICP just blossomed. Before I knew it I was singing hooks, performing skits. They did a show at the State Theater in Detroit for the Riddle Box album called The Joker’sGallery Show and I introduced them onstage. And it’s continued from there ever since.

HH: How long have you been playing music? Are you self taught or did you take lessons?

Legz Diamond: I’m totally self-taught. I actually got kicked out of band class in grade school. I wanted to play the drums because that was the only instrument I could think of that I knew could be played in an actual band

somewhere, but they said someone else was already on the drums. So I got stuck with saxophone. But since that wasn’t what I wanted to play, I didn’t practice it or anything so two weeks later I got thrown out of the class. Boy, I’d like to see that teacher now. I never learned how to read music or sight read but I have a really good ear. Almost perfect pitch. I can learn to play just about anything just by listening to it a few times and I think as a musician that gives me a strong advantage.

HH: So what led you to record the 9 Pistolas album?

Legz Diamond: Well, every time you finish a studio project there’s a big period of withdrawal. It took us two years to complete The Mighty Death Pop! It was the biggest, most ambitious project we had done up to that point. It’s pretty incredible when you’re recording a project of that scale. You’re there in the studio every day with your boys creating magic together and when that’s suddenly gone, it can be devastating. I was just really depressed from studio withdrawal. So the idea just came to us “We should do a Legz Diamond record.” It was perfect. We just stepped in the studio and hit a home run. It didn’t feel forced or anything. The timing was right, the energy was right. Amazing.

HH: 9 Pistolas is interesting because your character is a Prohibition era gangster. Where did the idea for that character come from?

Legz Diamond: Well, growing up in Detroit I knew the history of the Purple Gang. In fact, my grandfather used to work with them back in the day—he had a hearse business. And growing up I knew where a lot of the houses they had occupied were at. It’s such a big part of Detroit culture but it’s a shame that everyone knows Al Capone but not nearly as many people know the Purple Gang.

HH: Musically, what do you think sets this album apart from any other Psychopathic release?

Legz Diamond: Well, I have a different musical approach than any other artist on Psychopathic Records because I have different musical tastes. I’m not quite as pigeonholed into hardcore rap, even though there’s plenty of it on the record. This album sounds very versatile. Just like an ICP record, it’s full of surprises.

HH: You perform with Psychopathic artists Jumpsteady and Sugar Slam on the album. What was it like working with them on this project?

Legz Diamond: Absolutely fantastic. I couldn’t be luckier. Jumpsteady and I go way back. We’re great friends and we used to promote together back in the day. He is so talented—a great writer, great delivery, great swagger. Sugar Slam is absolutely incredible. She just has such a beautiful voice. To bring all the love together in the studio was just phenomenal.

HH: Anything else you want to say to the Juggalos?

Legz Diamond: This is what’s hot, man. Pick it up. Sorry it took so long but when you pick up 9 Pistolas, you’ll find it’s worth the wait.

 

A Q&A with 9 Pistolas
co-producer Violent JHatchet Herald: What was it like working with your homie Legz Diamond on this project?
Violent J: It was the most fun I’ve had in the studio in years because we just created something we thought was fresh with no pressure at all. No expectations, no preconceptions of what to expect and we love what we made. We fucking love this record.

HH: What do you think sets 9 Pistolas apart from anything else put out by Psychopathic?

Violent J: It clearly doesn’t sound like anything else Psychopathic has ever released. I don’t even know what to call the style of music it is. It’s like nothing I’ve ever worked on before. It’s a very musical record with a lot of singing. We don’t know shit about singing so we just did things our way and it turned out dope as fuck in our opinion. Legz Diamond is a singer not a rapper but this isn’t a rock album and its not an R&B album. There’s definitely nothing pop about it but it’s not a rap album either. It has attitude and aggression like most Psychopathic releases but it’s almost like a brand new style of music for us.

HH: What’s your personal favorite song on the 9 Pistolas album?

Violent J: “Made Man.” It’s just Legz and his acoustic guitar with some backing vocals by the Purple Gang. Very simple and fresh.

HH: What do you want Juggalos to really know about this project?

Violent J: Legz has been down with us for 20 solid serious years and he’s never asked for shit. It just naturally happens to be that this is his time to shine. This is his album. I sat down with him from start to finish and produced it with him and despite how anybody else feels about the record the truth is we feel hella proud how it came out.

HH: Tell me about the Purple Gang. Where did that idea come from?

Violent J: The Purple Gang is Jumpsteady and Sugar Slam and this record was recorded at my studio at my house called The Cabin In the Woods. Jumpsteady and Sugar Slam were in the studio every day and the group just formed as the record came along. Jumpsteady and Sugar Slam provide background vocals and have features all throughout the album. The only thing I can guarantee about this album is that it’s pure Juggalo and it was created by Legz Diamond, Sugar Slam, Jumpsteady and ICP being together in the studio every day for two months. It’s an incredibly fresh piece of pure Juggalo art.