The Diplomats Return on ‘Salute’

The Diplomats returned from a three/four year hiatus last week with a mysterious construction site video that we premiered on Tuesday. At that moment, no new music had been released for public consumption, but Cam'ron, Juelz Santana, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey know that you can't leave the fans hanging for too long. On Friday evening, the reunited group's first musical taste premiered on Funkmaster Flex's Hot 97 show and then hit the Internet via Miss Info soon after. Entitled 'Salute,' the song is dramatic reintroduction to the beloved Harlem movement.

The song's beat is provided by frequent Cam'ron collaborator AraabMusik -- a crunchy mixture of stuttering drums, boomy rapidfire bass and some techno-infused synthesizer lines. Every member seems to step up to the plate with what they do best. Jones goes for equal doses of ignorance and unwavering style. Killa Cam seems totally disinterested, works a disgusting series of metaphors that flip ATM and MTA to humorous results and then breaks into a blistering doubletime flow. Juelz continues his recent streak of nearly unparalleled attitude. Freekey closes out the track by talking as much trash as possible.

"Sirens/ high beams/ But I'm Kobe tonight/ got on 5 rings," goes the chorus. "I salute, N----/ hundred karat, hundred K, right up inside the coup, N----."

The timing couldn't be more perfect. New York has been looking for a summer anthem and now they've received one from the ever-reliable Diplomats. Welcome back, Harlem.