Artist description Dutch Diamond is Brooklyn's next hiphop superstar bringing melodious vocal tones and ragga spit to solid hiphop tracks.

Music Style The Best Independent Rap Artist on the internet- Period

Musical Influences Notorious B.I.G., Bob Marley,DMX, JaRule, Buju Banton

Similar Artists Biggie, Dmx, Buju

Artist History Lauren Hill is the epitome of the multifaceted artist: she possesses the vocal skills to compare with the best of today’s r&b crooners, and arguably the best female rapper in the biz. Then comes Dutch Diamond; Brooklyn’s own by way of Kingston, Jamaica, has similar versatility, featuring exquisite ragga skills and solid rhymability. Born in Brooklyn, New York of Jamaican Parents, Karl Wilkins, more affectionately known as Karlito, and his mother left home when he was three and moved to Kingston, Jamaica where he grew up till the age of 17. After completing high school, he came back to the States, this time relocating in Miami, Fla. It was there he got involved in the rap game accompanying his boys to the recording studio.. ‘ I just felt the music callin..’, he says . In 1992, Karlito recorded his first demo, a song called ‘Lushous’ which was licensed for a compilation on an independent label out of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. This song gave him credibility in his city and surroundings, so that served as a catalyst for a career in the music industry. He toured the clubs and schools in South Florida opening up for many acts including Garnett Silk, Sanchez, Heavy Dee and the The Fugees before they were ‘The Fugees’, making a favorable impression on Wyclef Jean who invited Dutch to come to‘The Bugga Basement’ so in the spring of 1993 Karlito moved to East Orange, New Jersey with his new wife and daughter. In NJ, feeling right at home, Dutch started to learn to do his own production, watching Wyclef at work, he began putting together tracks for his first album. Then tragedy hit home hard; Karlito lost his father to a heart attack in the summer of 1993, so he decided to go back to Jamaica to help out the rest of the family and ended up staying there for three years. By the time he got back to NJ, the Fugees had gotten their break and moved to New York. So Diamond decided to move back to Brooklyn. Then he started his own label,Streetrunnuz Records and released a slew of singles including the hits ‘Healthy and Strong’ and ‘Dream Lover’, a song which features Beeni Man. These sold well on the streets and he continued to do clubs all over New York. Then in 1999 he recorded ‘That little Boy’ which has received acclaim in the hip hop circles and is the lead single on his latest album entitled The Tune Raiduz Presents... which comes out this fall on Smoketown Media Group,a record label in Northern Va., Produced by the TuneRaiduz, this 14 song compi- lation album features the absolute best the metro has to offer, a definite must hear. Check out their websites @ www.mp3.com/dutchdiamond, and cdbaby.com and listen to some samples to hear for yourself what all the industry hoopla is about. E.Z.Writer

Group Members Karl 'Dutch Diamond' Wilkins... President Ehab Abbasaid ... Music Director Ricky 'Black' Holmes ... A/R director

Instruments mpc2000, Triton Korg, SP12

Albums The HIP-HOP Alliance;Diamond In The Ruff; Street Runnuz Conekshun, Tuneraiduz Presents...

Press Reviews Check out review section on this site as well as cdbaby.com/dutchdiamond

Location Brooklyn, NY - USA

Copyright notice. All material on MP3.com is protected by copyright law and by international treaties. You may download this material and make reasonable number of copies of this material only for your own personal use. You may not otherwise reproduce, distribute, publicly perform, publicly display, or create derivative works of this material, unless authorized by the appropriate copyright owner(s).