Make no mistake about it – Puffy’s had a pretty shitty run over the past few days. The whole UCLA fight and subsequent arrest sullied the rap entrepreneur’s public persona and threatens to hurt key investments in the liquor world where he’s thrived in recent years. Sunday night’s dramatic fall into a portal on the nationally televised BET Awards didn’t help either. What should’ve been a triumphant return to a musical safe haven for Diddy and The Family’s reunion ended up leaving him the butt of more jokes.
Lost in all the commotion was the fact that MMM, his first since 2010’s Last Train To Paris, was supposed to release today, June 29. Realistically, I already knew that date wasn’t sticking since he’d already pushed the project back once and hadn’t done anything to create momentum in the interim. And that world tour? Yeah, exactly.
Looking to change his lot, Puff Daddy – he’s using his old name for the purpose of releasing music – debuted his new song “Finna Get Loose” during last night’s awards show and follows it up by releasing the audio.
The Pharrell-produced number never really manages to catch on unfortunately. The production’s…from another realm. The intent seems to be that they want to create a club-friendly track, except it shares no semblance to anything I’ve willfully listened to in the past five or so years. That’s not a bad thing except Puffy doesn’t sound like his normal self on the track. Instead, he tries his best to impersonate Skateboard P’s delivery and he doesn’t do bad in that regard. It’s just that his rhymes fall completely flat.
“Chop it like sumo, N*gga hungry like Cujo, smokin’ that Pluto”*
Even for Diddy’s usual level of LCD rap, those uninspired quips are low-grade. He should definitely get a refund from his ghostwriters.
Puffy – I’ll always call him Puffy, no matter the number of name changes, exactly like how I still call the late great Christopher “Biggie” – I’m not suggesting that you exit the recording booth. Last year, he did give us “I Want The Love” and “Big Homie,” both of which good. Except they sounded like Maybach songs, not the type of Harlem swagged out affair Diddy usually dabbles in.
With everything going on and the gap between releases, maybe right now isn’t the best time do the rap thing. Put the album idea on the shelf and come back focused. It’s obviously not a priority and it shouldn’t be. Focusing on the positive, the guy’s worth $700 million and he lays down with Cassie each night. His and Bad Boy’s legacies are both still on firm ground so let’s leave them undisturbed and unmoved.
Stream “Finna Get Lose” below before buying it on iTunes if you find yourself into it.
* — They sound so similar, this could very well be Pharrell. I asked someone smarter than me to see if they could tell which was which and the reply was “On the ‘Pluto’ line, you can hear the alcoholic husk in his voice come through. Skateboard P is almost always pitch perfect.