producers: yogi, the neptunes, sean combs, mario 'yellow man' winans, bink, bristal, mark curry, coptic, others.

guests: bad boy family (black rob, g.dep, mark curry, loon, kain, etc.), kokane, the neptunes, faith evans, marsha, others.

This is now the third album we are getting from Pu..., I mean P. Diddy. Damn, who am I kidding: Puff Daddy. Sue me. And if I'm not mistaken, I once read in a Source article (or some other mag), that he himself said, that he can't rhyme, and hence doesn't plan to start. Then again he's right, he doesn't even have to rhyme, he just has to recite. Quite a difference there. However, we shouldn't go for some easy targets, as that's not worthy for an urban smartaleck. Especially as with the first track on here, P once more accomplishes to give us one of those epic and imperial song, with an according beat, that are impossible to dismiss. Here the song is called like the album: "The Sage Continues...". Produced is the cut by Yogi (is this the Cru guy?), P and Mario 'Yellow Man' Winans, with the lyrical duties handled by P, Black Rob, Loon and G.Dep, who is usually responsible for the best verses when he's on a track, but not here, where P's ghostwriter shows his skills, having P go: "y'all niggas still talking? / oh you got a little name little fame little fortune? / what you have is a portion / 'bout the size of the hats in the back of my Porsche and / so you better use caution, knowing I'm the boss and / I'm sitting on pyramids, flossing / I don't really gotta talk son / I can get lost and sit back living off endorsements".

The "Bad Boy For Life" track shall be left behind as quickly as possible, as that chorus just doesn't work and the video is so much better too, hence we are rushing into "Toe Game (Interlude)", that gives us a funny tale by Black Rob, and is opening up for the equally humorous "That's Crazy", that runs through some more tales, as told by Rob, P and G.Dep. However, the beat by Ayinde is rather weak and so it's Yogi again that has to provide something that's more happening for "Let's Get It", with the same three people dropping the rhymes. And here we have to mention how disappointing the rhymes by Dep have been so far. He was the puzzle piece of hope on the last Bad Boy releases, but here he thoroughly comes weak. We can forget about this finding for a little while though during the "Shiny Suit Man", that actually once more is rather entertaining, with P proving that he can laugh about himself. And you have to give props to that. Something you can't give to "Diddy" though, that features The Neptunes, and another one of their flawing offerings, making them even more overrated by the minute, or track.

Mike 'Punch' Harper created a somewhat westcoast sounding beat for "Blast Off", that's reminding us of some stuff that Bay Area riders would chose to rhyme over. The "Airport (Interlude)" is providing the intro to "Roll With Me", a track featuring P, Eightball, MJG, Faith Evans, as well as a cool beat by Spike Leroy & Jamal Rasheed, it being of a summer vibe, and also not trying to do anything flossing or bling bling, but rather moody. Things then return to more used to waters on "On Top" with Loon and Marsha helping out, over an unspectacular beat, that P uses to spit: "niggas fronting like we ain't fly / but nigga can't name nothing that we ain't buy / or we ain't try, we ain't drive / the judge said 'not guilty' and he ain't lie". Funnily enough "Where's Sean?" samples a track played by the James Last band, and that's funny, because James Last is like the epitome of old people music in the German speaking countries in Europe, somewhat like the Florida house band, so to say. However, the joke is on us, as the track does kinda work, and the team of P, Bad Azz Ko, Black Rob, Kain, Loon, Mark Curry and Bristal are using the beat for some story telling verses.

While it sounds good, both the beat and the flow, we are not too sure what G.Dep is trying to say on "Child Of The Ghetto". We next ignore the "Incomplete (Interlude)", as well as the sung contribution by Cheri Dennis called "So Complete", to also quickly bypass the "Smoke (Interlude)", before the west is in the house with the who am I Kokane, doing a track with P, Kain and Mark Curry called "Lonely". The next track we really enjoy is "I Need A Girl (To Bella)" that talks about the dime pieces these artists wish to connect with, over a dope Coptic production. The "Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now" is trying to come across reflective, before on "If You Want This Money", Yogi accomplishes what seemed to have been impossible: he makes the drum of "P.S.K." sound crap. Another interlude ("I Don't Like That") is taking us to "Back For Good Now", that is trying to cash in on the Latin music craze, and as so often failing to our misfortune. Now, when Faith Evans and Carl Thomas connect on "Can't Believe", they are sounding excellent, and the "Phone Tap" sample is still allowing this to be a good track, although it would have deserved a much more musical composition.

Finally there's "The Last Song", that tries to capture some of the excitement of the first cut on here, and on "Thank You", B.I.G. gets the obligatory shout out. What then leaves us with making clear that we don't dismiss this just for P's sake. Puff's music always had little elements that made it worthwhile to check out his music, may it be out of curiosity, to hear what he's doing, or for some seriously cool songs. And the same can be said about this album.