He had to release 2006’s Press Play as P. Diddy changed his middle name to Love and announced the album with the slogan Welcome to. Press Play received mixed to positive reviews from critics, and was certified Gold. Diddy, the performer noticed fans weren’t chanting his name in unison, so he wanted to make their lives easier. Diddy whose name has morphed from Puffy to Puff Daddy to P. His singing on the latter leads me to believe that someone's taking the rise at the listener's expense - the monotonous off-beat vocal delivery sounds like it was sung by a Little Britain character and ruins, well. Combs changed his stage name from Puff Daddy to P. Puffy trys something new by doing an 80's Prince sound on "Special Feeling" and "Last Night" (with Keyshia Cole). The album's highlight, "Everything I Love", is produced by Kanye West, with Gnarls Barkley's Cee Lo's instantly recognizable vocals, and the always impressive Nas flowing like only he can.
The militant "The Future" and eerie "Hold Up" are both excellent, mainly because there're written by Pharoahe Monch - who by the sounds of it also gave Diddy a step-by-step on how to impersonate a real rapper. Even Mr Diddy himself boasts that he cares more about writing cheques than rhymes, so we shouldn't be surprised that the results are so mediocre.īut, given the fact that he's bought in the best talent money can buy, there are still a few stand out tracks.
And it would be, if Diddy wasn't 'rapping' on any of the tracks. With an array of fabulous artists and hot producers(including Christina Aguilera, Kanye West, Timbaland, Jamie Foxx, The Black Eyed Peas' Wil.i.am, OutKast's Big Boi, and Mary J Blige) 'Press Play' should be magnificent. He is the entrepreneur mogul of the Hip-Hop era goddamnit! And still he wants to give us more. Sean Combs is CEO of Bad Boy, he has the Sean John Clothing line, his own reality show, owns a restaurant and even has his own fragrance.