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No one is really sure how or where it happened, but sometime in the early 2000s, Washington, D.C.-area rappers and hip-hop artists reached an agreement: No more tearing each other down.

This unofficial but lasting peace is one of the phenomena explored in "Diamonds in the Raw," a book written by Upper Marlboro resident Sidney Thomas, who documented D.C.'s evolving musical culture — from the days of go-go to today's hip-hop — and bemoans the loss of local radio stations playing local artists, not international hits.

Thomas details the unwritten pact among D.C.-area hip-hop performers and rappers to support each other — or at least not work against one another — as they tried to get noticed on the national scene.

"It used to be where as soon as someone got famous, they'd get brought down," said Thomas, 39, a frequenter of the local rap, go-go and hip-hop scene since the 1980s. "It wasn't a powwow or an official kind of truce, but it was people supporting each other."

That agreement spawned what is known today as the DMV (D.C./Maryland/Virginia) movement: A network of metro-area artists looking to prop up the region's reputation in the national hip-hop community. Thomas, a paralegal at the Department of Justice who moved to Upper Marlboro nine years ago, said he researched "Diamonds" during stops to nearby clubs, hangouts and open mic nights, where the sense of camaraderie was usually on full display.

"It's good to see," he said, "because now, even if someone does bad, nobody boos. ... And that's not the way it used to be."

In "Diamonds," Thomas also details the rise and fall of local radio stations. Aspiring hip-hop artists used to be able to approach a station with their demo tape and have a chance to hear themselves on the D.C. airwaves. That idea, Thomas said, is as antiquated as the cassette tape itself.

"Deejays have very little flexibility in terms of what they play, since they're given very strict [song] lists," he said. "And that's why you hear the same 15 songs over and over again on the radio."

Thomas said small-time performers are instead breaking through with help from the Internet and social media, such as Facebook and Twitter. He mentions a slew of up-and-coming DMV artists in "Diamonds," including Kingpen Slim, Pro'Verb and Oy Boyz, all looking to follow the path of acclaimed hit-makers like Atlanta rapper Soulja Boy, who gained national recognition by putting his first song on the Internet in 2007. The song, "Crank That (Soulja Boy)," eventually reached No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

If the DMV movement produces a new set of rap and hip-hop artists, Thomas said the evolution might call for a sequel to "Diamonds in the Raw."

"I'll have more to write about if we keep seeing local artists signed to big [record] deals," he said.

Correction: The name of the photographer who took the picture accompanying this story is Danny Harris.