With hip-hop continuing to thrive in today’s digital music industry, Black Diamond has emerged onto the scene as one of the producers to look out for. Unlike many producers who are mirroring the sounds of popular production styles, Black Diamond (stylized Black DMND) is inspired by the classic sounds of the past bringing nostalgia to modern beats.
This could have much to do with Black Diamond’s deep musical roots. The son of urban radio legend BK Kirkland and the brother of Portia Kirkland, former B-girl and marketing guru for French Montana, Nicki Minaj, and Ludacris, it should come as no surprise that Black Diamond was raised to love music and become a production heavyweight. “I’ve always loved music. I’d say I knew it was something I wanted to pursue seriously by the time I was 14 or 15. Growing up with Hip-Hop and R&B classics playing, it was second nature for me to draw from those sounds.” Born Jeffrey Kirkland on January 16, 1990, in Greenbrae, CA, Black Diamond grew up in Gaithersburg, Maryland, right outside of Washington D.C. It was here that Black Diamond began Dj’ing at high school events and eventually college parties at the University of Pittsburgh where he attended college before entering a music program at Towson University in Baltimore. It was at PITT that Black Diamond met Mac Miller around the time of the release of Mac’s High Life mixtape. “We met at a house party. I was actually playing some of my beats when he came in and started freestyling. I was impressed so I sent him some beats soon after that” recalls Diamond. A few months later he would go on to produce the hit single “Nikes On My Feet" for Mac’s K.I.D.S. mixtape now with over 60 million views on Youtube.
Black Diamond has continued to build a reputation not only for knowing the music business, but also working with a wide range of artists. Def Jam artist Logic, also from Diamond’s hometown, says he enjoyed working with Diamond on his breakout single “All I Do”. “He’s the homie! Great work ethic, not only open-minded but open to suggestion while creating.” With all of this, Black Diamond is determined to maintain his own identity as a producer with classic beats reminiscent of the golden era, while still sounding fresh and progressive. To date, Black Diamond has released his own street album Fxck The Hype with Uno Hype and landed production on numerous projects including Mac Miller’s Macadelic, Best Day Ever, and I Love Life Thank You, Logic’s Young Sinatra, Phil Ade’s R.O.S.E, Ace Cosgrove’s You Don’t Derserve That and most recently Stalley’s Honest Cowboy, Ohio, Saving Yusuf and The Laughing Introvert.
You can follow Black Diamond on Twitter @BlackDMNDBeats, Instagram @BlackDiamondBeats, and Facebook facebook.com/blackdiamondbeats.