The Diplomats (popularly known as Dipset) is an American hip hop group founded in 1997 by Cam'ron and Jim Jones, in Harlem, New York City. The group was originally composed of members Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Freekey Zekey, all of whom grew up together in Harlem. In 1999, fellow Harlem-based rapper Juelz Santana was added to the group.
In the year 2001, following Cam'ron's signing, the group secured a recording contract with Def Jam and Brooklyn-bred rapper Jay Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. They subsequently began recording their debut album, Diplomatic Immunity, and released it under the aforementioned labels in March 2003. Following tensions and controversy between Cam'ron and Jay-Z, the group severed ties with the labels and signed to indie record label Koch Records. The group released their second album Diplomatic Immunity 2, in November 2004 under Koch. After a hiatus because of artistic differences, in 2010 the original members began recording music together again and announced a reunion album. In February 2011, it was announced they had signed with Interscope Records. However in May 2013, Freekey Zekey revealed they were no longer signed to Interscope. Freekey Zekey stated, "I don't know. had...I guess...had personal problems that was negating him from hittin' the studio hard. I don't know what they are or what they was, but his mind was with it. 'Cause every time we talked to him or spoke to him, he . But whatever was lurkin' in his personal life or whatever the case may be, would basically stop him from getting into that studio."