— This is the way Diddy rolls: After a one-hour postponement, his
publicist called five separate times to say “Puff” (that’s what his
people call him) will be phoning in five minutes.
In the interim, Puff’s two female partners in Diddy
Dirty Money actually called for a five-minute chat. But no Diddy. Just
another five-minute warning. Which wasn’t accurate, of course.
Finally, a couple hours after this drama began, came
a one-minute warning. I sensed that Puff would really be calling. And,
five minutes later, he did.
“Hey. How are you? Hold on a second,” he greeted.
Ah, only a 50-second delay as the hip-hop mogul returned to the phone, apologizing profusely for the tardiness.
“It’s been one of those days trying to finish up for
this tour and making sure that some stuff was ordered,” he said,
referring to the Diddy Dirty Money tour.
But he still had time to tweet at least four times while I was awaiting his call.
“I’ve got my assistant next to me so as I’m on the
phone taking care of stuff with the tour, I’m telling her what to say
(on Twitter),” explained Diddy, aka Puff Daddy, P. Diddy,
For the past several days, Diddy, a Twitter-holic, has been tweeting in overdrive, especially about his tour.
“I’ve never done a club tour,” he said. “Those are
the concerts I go to because I like the up-close-and-personal vibe. But
I’ve never been on the other side. It’s a new area for me. That’s why
I’m so excited. When you do arenas and stadiums, there’s like a glass
wall between you and the audience. This right here has you fully
exposed to them and they’re fully exposed to you.”
Moreover, he is honored that his first exposure will be in the downtown
club formerly owned by Prince. The Purple One was a major inspiration
for Diddy Dirty Money’s current “Last Train To Paris” album, Diddy
explained.
“He’s such a genius. You’ll see so much
inspiration in the tour and in the music. One of the other motivations
to do an up-close-and-personal tour was all those times that I saw
Prince in up-close-and-personal venues. I just can’t wait.”
What can club-goers expect from Diddy Dirty Money?
“Something refreshing,” said the tireless hypeman
with an even-toned voice. “You’re not going to see the same show you
see from everyone else. You’re going to see lots of lights, cameras,
action, soul and hit records. It’s going to be like a party. A lot of
upbeat music and some emotional music and some incredible vocals.”
In a separate interview,
Money — promised a catalog of Puff Daddy hits, including “I’ll Be
Missing You” and “Last Night.”
“You can’t go any place with Diddy in the building
without doing some of the hits because those are classics that need to
be brought up to get the crowd moving,” said Richards, a former member
of Danity Kane, which Diddy put together on
the Band 3.” “It’s a ‘Last Train To Paris’ concert but we have to give
you a Bad Boy (Records) taste throughout the years.”
“Last Train To Paris” is probably the most
critically acclaimed album of Diddy’s long career in hip-hop. It’s an
arresting mashup of ’80s R&B European dance music, old-school
hip-hop, electro-pop and movie music.
The album yielded the current hit “Coming Home,” a smooth pop/soul song featuring red-hot vocalist
Diddy use Grey when he already has two top-notch vocalists in Diddy
Dirty Money?
“
great artists. We don’t have a problem with sharing the spotlight.
That’s what makes it better when you play with great people.”
Diddy’s mind never stops. Just read his barrage of tweets at
What percentage of his income comes from music-related stuff?
“To be honest, I’d say 100 percent. The music is my
foundation. You can’t go to higher floors and diversify if your first
floor isn’t intact. It doesn’t hurt this week having the No. 8 single
on the charts, it doesn’t hurt doing ‘American Idol,’ it doesn’t hurt
signing
Born
41-year-old calls himself a “very complex individual.” Or, as he raps
in “Coming Home”: “It’s easy to be Puff but it’s harder to be Sean.” He
has been looking at the man in the mirror a lot lately.
“Everyone expects me to be the personna I created
but that’s not how I am at home,” said the father of five. “Sometimes
you get stuck in that and you get lost as a person; I didn’t turn it
off in personal situations. The record is very honest and vulnerable
and talking about things that I’ve worked on changing about myself and
getting control over. We all have our struggles personally. I’m going
through a metamorphosis and evolution on the personal side. Change
hurts. Evolution hurts. Sacrifice and discipline, it’s not easy. My
focus is becoming the best person I can be.”
What makes him Diddy?
“The swag, Diddy is swag.”
What makes him giddy?
“Probably reruns of ‘Martin’ (
a little bit of sex in between that with my woman. That’s a great day
for me.”
A publicist jumps on the line and warns: Two more questions.
What’s the smartest thing he’s ever done?
“Believe in myself all the time. I don’t think my
belief has ever wavered because of the way anybody feels about me or
perceives me. I don’t get caught up in the naysayers or the negativity
or perceptions, that doesn’t slow my grind down.”
The dumbest thing?
“I probably should have found a way to invest in Twitter before I started tweeting and before I went on ‘
———
(c) 2011, Star Tribune (Minneapolis)
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