ARTIST: Diddy Dirty Money
ALBUM: Last Train To Paris
LABEL: Bad Boy Records / Interscope
RELEASE DATE: December 13, 2010
All Aboard!!!
Photo by Brooke Nipar
Written by Katie J. Norris
If you’ve been to a club recently, or listened to a hip hop radio station in the last eight months, I’m sure you’ve rocked out to “Hello Good Morning” featuring T.I. (among others). Or, maybe you’ve been as ecstatic as my friend who can’t help but squeal, “I love this song,” every time she hears the first three notes of “I’m Coming Home (feat. Skylar Grey).” P. Diddy shows us again how good a producer he is and why he makes as much money as he does. He’s got enough hits on this album to prove it again.
This is P. Diddy’s first album with his new “band” formulated in 2009: Diddy Dirty Money. This new group consists of himself, Dawn Richards (formerly associated with Danity Kane) and singer-songwriter, Kalenna Harper. Their hooks are catchy, the voices fit well together, and they seem to have great synergy in audio and visual form. The vocals get really soulful and display a great R&B sound in “Someone To Love Me,” and they find their passion in lyrics of heartbreak in the sing-able dance song, “Ass On The Floor.” P. Diddy is smart to feature the European club sounds of Swizz Beatz on this track, as he takes it to its hit status. Honestly though, I wasn’t exactly sure what “Finding my way back to your heart…” has to do with “When you’re in the club get your ass on the floor.” But then I watched the music video and realized it must be because, “Them haters can’t tell you nothing.” Okay, I still don’t get it, but I want to hear the song again. It’s catchy and the lyrics about the heart thing are relatable.
The storyline for Last Train To Paris is based on a past lost-love from P. Diddy’s experience while touring in Europe. P. Diddy meets the girl of his dreams and hears she is in Paris. He is in London and the snow and bad weather makes visibility too poor to fly. The roads are closing and the only way to get there is on the last train to Paris. This romantic journey through the heart (and the dance floor) is the inspiration for this album.
The videos on the Diddy Dirty Money website and the site’s clean appearance make for a perfect marketing campaign for all things Diddy (and affiliates). In the remix version of the “Hello Good Morning” video, there is a very blatant request at the bar for a few bottles of Ciroc. Not that the girl making the order has a choice; it seems to be the only option lined across the bar. Okay, P. Diddy, I get it… The video also includes a colorful, theatrical guest appearance by Nicki Minaj in a bright blue wig, who keeps the energy of the song going. Some critics find this album mediocre as a whole, providing nothing really new or “real,” but the strong hooks remain its saving grace.
P. Diddy does a little rapping here and there on Last Train To Paris and he even sings a bit. I suppose that’s so he can call it his album. But much like his last album, Press Play, released in 2006, he collects every artist you would want to hear on one album and gives him or her all a chance to shine. With a grand total of sixteen guest vocalists, he makes this a compilation worth buying.