The five most iconic Dipset songs
The Diplomats left their mark, not only on their native Harlem, but also on the wider 2000s hip-hop scene. Founded by childhood friends Cam’ron and Jim Jones, the collective did much more than fashion a distinct sound for themselves—they shaped a whole movement within street culture.
Dipset’s influence extended into fashion and the general usage of slang, but, obviously, the music was core to their success. The collective released three studio albums during its time, but that just scratches at the surface of its broader musical output. Through Diplomat Records, the label that Cam’ron and Jones founded in 1999, a lot more music has been released, be it solo works by the Dipset members or those of their affiliates.
But for all the music that has been released, and for all the successes that have been achieved, the relationships within Dipset have always been difficult. The group’s main men, Cam’ron and Jim Jones, have been prone to quarrelling through the years, and, even though they’re both middle-aged men now, they still haven’t managed to get along for too long. They’ve been feuding again since at least January 2025, so, as things stand, the group is inactive.
Given how often Cam and Jones have fought and made up again, it’s difficult to predict if this, truly, is the end. But if it is, Dipset and its members have left a healthy collection of songs and records for their fans to pour over into the future. Here’s a look at five of the most iconic songs.
The five most iconic Dipset songs:
5. ‘Dipset (Santana’s Town)’
To the uninitiated, it can be a bit of a rough listen. ‘Dipset (Santana’s Town)’ is loud, brash and scary, an intense number courtesy of long-term Dipset member Juelz Santana. Released as the first single from his 2003 solo debut album, From Me to U, both the track and the album it was featured on received mixed reviews, which, if anything, veered towards the negative. But fans loved Juelz’s sound and helped to drive the album into relative mainstream success. ‘Dipset (Santana’s Town)’ wasn’t the friendliest of singles, but it somehow worked to popularise its maker’s sound.
Reflecting on the track’s creation, Santana has admitted that it was specifically created to appeal to the masses. “I was finishing up my album and when you finish up an album, you make sure you have singles,” he told Revolt in 2022. “We weren’t sure if we were single-ready… Cam and I were just in the studio working on different shit at the time, and we came up with that. It was a good night in the studio. That was one of the last songs I made for my album. A lot of people’s singles are usually the last records they do for their albums.”
4. ‘Welcome to New York City’
Before they fell out and started beefing, Cam’ron and Jay-Z got on just fine. They were even a perfectly good team when it came to making music together, although they didn’t get to do that very often. Both New Yorkers, albeit from different boroughs, the pair once shared a similar sensibility when it came to music, and they were both keen to shout out their shared home city when they could. ‘Welcome to New York City,’ featured on Cam’ron’s third album, Come Home with Me, did just that, and it marks the only collaboration they ever released.
The song was produced by Just Blaze, who once reflected on the experience of putting it together for a feature in Complex. “They’d been wanting to get Jay on a record, because up until that point, Jay hadn’t done anything… Cam came into the room like, ‘Yo, yo, I got ’em, I got ’em, I got ’em. I think he’s going to do it.’ He was going around saying it. Obviously, it’s funny because of how the history ended up between them. Cam was genuinely excited that Jay was [going to be on that record].”
3. ‘We Fly High (Ballin’)’
‘We Fly High’ was a big achievement for its creator, Jim Jones. Used as the lead single for his third solo album, 2006’s Hustler’s POME (Product of My Environment), the track reached number five on the Billboard Hot 100, which was the best-performing track of his solo career at that point. It was a big club hit, too, and the New York Giants started playing it during their games. It could arguably be considered to have been a bit of a cultural phenomenon for the time.
“It got way bigger than I ever thought it would be,” Jones admitted to Complex in early 2025. “It was just another record. If it hit, it hit. If it didn’t, it didn’t. I had more records to choose from on the album, so I was more concerned about turning it in than premeditating a record about ‘Ballin’.’ I don’t think you can do that that easy.”
2. ‘Oh Boy’
‘Oh Boy’ secured Cam’ron with a Grammy nomination following its 2002 release, plus it reached number one on the American rap charts and stayed there for five weeks. The track, in other words, was a major triumph for the Dipset man, who selected it as a single from his Come Home with Me album. ‘Oh Boy’ was also a big success for Juelz Santana, who featured on it, and Just Blaze, who produced it. Blaze, however, had initially intended to let some else use it.
Blaze made the beat for Memphis Bleek, and, in actual fact, he never actually made the decision to give it to Cam instead. To the contrary, Cam and Juelz took it upon themselves to steal it. At least, that’s what Blaze once claimed in an interview with Nardwuar. The Dipset duo had rapped on the track without permission, which Blaze wasn’t at all comfortable with—despite the song’s major success.
1. ‘Dipset Anthem’
Originally called ‘Gangsta Music’ upon its initial release on 2003’s Purple City Matrix Vol. 3 mixtape, this track was revived as the ‘Dipset Anthem’ following a second release as a single from the group’s debut album Diplomatic Immunity. It didn’t exactly set the world alight upon release, reaching only number 64 on Billboard’s hip-hop and R&B chart, but it went on to become something of a cult classic. In terms of Dipset’s releases as a band, it is certainly one of their most popular.
Appearing on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast in 2023, Cam’ron claimed that the track came about after he forced a young Juelz Santana to knuckle down and do some writing. “We used to have to lock Juelz in the house straight up and down when he was 15, 16,” Cam asserted. “All them [Juelz] songs that you hear, the bangers, was forced. ‘Yo, write this song, my n—, write this song.’”