P.Diddy - Press Play

For a man who presides over a global empire of music, clothes, movie production, restaurants and perfumes - collectively worth a generous $384 million dollars - the marketing steps appear deceptively simple. Release mediocre albums every two or three years and through the viral marketing offered by radio play instil each song with numerous shout outs to the company you own (Bad Boy) until through merciless repetition bovine like listeners are convinced that Bad Boy must be introduced into lives with immediate effect.

You would think that such diligent self-aggrandising is intrinsic in the bravado led hip hop game but because P.Diddy is a shit rapper and his rhymes are only concerned with listing material possessions like he was flicking through a Harrods catalogue, the music can be grating. Fortunately he has a crack team of co-stars in this bloated rap extravaganza who even though most are flying on a continuous loop around the world promoting their own miniscule (in comparison) careers are equally willing to drop tools and contribute vocals to the latest project. A man whose power and influence is so well established in the hip hop game that despite recently manufacturing a band called Diddy’s Girls by way of a satellite reality show still manages to hold on to his towering credibility.

Hence the Nas collaboration ('Everything I Love') is a weighty number that nicely contrasts the languorous P.Diddy speak/rap with the polished street talk of his Brooklyn contemporary. ‘Wanna Move’ with Big Boi from Outkast is another immaculately produced number and it comes as no surprise that the indefatigable Timbaland pops up on the staccato beats of ‘P.Diddy Rock’, casting his precise production eye over the album’s considerable running time. Where it works best for the global impresario is when he sings with the ladies perhaps because his voice has no chance to compare unfavourably with the razor-sharp rhyme delivery of his hip hop brothers.

’Come To Me’ featuring Nicole Scherzinger from Pussycat Dolls is a deceptively catchy single and both ‘Thought You Said’ (featuring Brandy) and ‘Making Hard’ (with Mary J Blige) are good platforms on which Diddy can perform the legerdemain required to trick the listener into heralding this album a masterpiece, even though the duet with Christina Aguilera is unlistenable. Oh and - he wants to be called Diddy now (although he lost the lawsuit that would have allowed him to do it in the UK) because the P is becoming between him and the fans.

There are some rueful conclusions to pull up from this overlong fourth album although they avert your ears from the restless multi-media promotion - and there are a scattering of memorable songs. Perhaps more interestingly is an unreleased gospel album in the coffers (called 'Thank You') which would shed more useful light on the Puffy (or whoever) phenomenon. May we see it soon.