You’d think they’d want to get in fighting shape in front of a friendly crowd of head-nodders, backpackers, and open-mic-ers.

In Diamond District’s case, the members have solo careers, and Oddisee spends most of his time performing on the road and living in New York, so they don’t link too often these days. Even on a rainy day, the crowd at homegrown Trillectro Musical Festival on the RFK Stadium grounds wants to turn up, not listen to brainy rap lyrics.Įvery group needs its warm-up gigs. Now, a month out from the release date of March on Washington, its second album, Diamond District is playing its biggest show ever, and the waterlogged audience is shrugging. supergroup before it was a city that could produce superstars. Back in 2009, Diamond District had given the whole notion of the “DMV”-of a city and a region that rappers could be proud to rep-its best local argument to date. It’s been five years since Diamond District, XO’s trio with fellow locals yU and Oddisee, put out In the Ruff, their local-landmark debut, and nearly a year since they last performed together, when Oddisee pulled his bandmates onstage during a cozy nightclub gig last September. “Louder!” XO shouts, trying to hype up the festival crowd, even though they probably wish they could be bouncing to “Versace.” Even when you’re one of the hardest working rappers in the District, you’re not supposed to be working this hard.

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