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Diplomats Talk Kanye West's 'Christmas In Harlem'

Dipset's Jim Jones tells MTV News carol collabo with Chicago MC makes sense given the title: 'If I was Kanye I would've called us too.'

On Thursday, Kanye West released the festive song "Christmas In Harlem" featuring CyHi The Prynce and Teyana Taylor with a local twist.

Harlemites and [article id="1648705"]Diplomat members Cam'ron, Jim Jones and Vado[/article] joined in on the carol along with Musiq and G.O.O.D. Music MCs Pusha T and Big Sean. (Taylor also hails from Uptown.)

"I didn't know nothing about it, I'm just getting hip to that right now but it's simple though," Jim Jones told MTV News when asked how the track came together. "Sh--, if I was Kanye I would've called us too. It don't make sense if they from Chicago, they would've made 'Christmas in Chicago' then right?"

The Dips began releasing Yuletide tracks like "Ballin' on Christmas" in 2006 off their A Dipset X-Mas LP. As for collaborating with West on the Hit-Boy-produced holiday track, Jones said fans can thank Cam'ron.

"Cam called me, sent me the beat, I did my part, sent it back to Cam and he took care of the rest of the business," Jimmy said.

And while the collaboration is a treat for rap fans' digital Christmas stockings, it does bring up the most recent rift between Cam'ron and Kanye. In September, [article id="1648060"]Cam'ron and Jones remixed West's "Runaway"[/article] and Cam spit the following lyrics: "And Kanye, you a sucka n---a, dissed Dame so my attitude is f--- the n---a/ Sucked off Jigga, how you gonna live with that?/ Took the beat, now come get it back."

"I couldn't tell you what that was about but I know Cam and Don C are like best friends," Jimmy said of the Dipset leader's relationship with one of Kanye's managers. "We've actually known Kanye and them for over 10 years from some of our earlier shows when we first got into the music industry so we have a great rapport with them more than anything else.

"I don't think people took what we did so serious more than it was [just the] art of the music that we do," he continued. "I guess Cam had something on his mind but it wasn't really a life-or-death situation. And I know Kanye's a very smart person, he's got a great spirit, so it's great that he chose to look past anything that was going on. I appreciate it."

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