To find the beauty of a diamond you have to dig deep through darkness and grime for a glimmer of light. Diamond, formerly a member of Atlanta’s crunk hip-hop outfit, Crime Mob, has had to dig just as deeply to find the light of confidence she needed to go solo.
“Coming in the game I was 14 and still a baby and used to not standing on my own. I never thought I would be solo and never wanted to be solo. I get disappointed a lot. The way I tend to think is if I get excited about this, then it’s not gonna happen. So I never imagined me by myself ‘cause what I was going through already made me feel so alone,” she says.
In hindsight, Diamond realizes she wasn’t entirely alone thanks to the sacrifices her mother made, including defying her husband to help Diamond pursue her dreams.
“My mom is more of the real submissive type to her husband like how the Bible says husband first and then the kids. My stepdad wasn’t cool with what I was doing in music but whatever I wanted to do she would be there. So there were times where if I didn’t come in the house by a certain time, my stepdad would say don’t come home. My mom would sneak me in the house. I love my mom and I am blessed to have a mom like that,” she says.
With the support of her mother and growing fan base, the Diamond of today accepts the ups and downs of her chosen path with a newfound sense of confidence and will to survive.
“I’ve matured in so many ways and I am excited to showcase my talent to the world. The downfall is if things don’t go the way they are supposed to go, maybe it’s something within myself that I need to change and I can’t blame anyone else. I know that going solo is now a movement of survival,” she says.
With her appearance on Ludacris’ remix to his hit “My Chick Bad,” and with the buzz humming around her upcoming untitled Battery/Jive debut, Diamond’s survivals skills are slowly but surely taking her to new heights. –souleo
