guests: the notorious b.i.g., nas, lil kim, g-dep, jaÿ-z, twista, bizzy bone, busta rhymes, others.

With Bad Boy falling apart (Mase retiring from raping, The Lox leaving Bad Boy, Shyne saying he'd rather have signed with Def Jam), it’s on the P.Diddy himself to carry the weight. Will it crush him? It’s doubtful, since this album will go platinum. But will it deserve this kind of success? Well,....let’s see. Since opinion on Puff are always so biased, let’s bear with me, and let’s go through each track individually, just to make sure, I remain fair.

Things start oh so beautifully with "What You Want". This tickling piano that Zach White got for Puffy makes everybody looking forward to the rest of the album. And right from the beginning, Puffy is part flossing and arrogant "gotta steal what I am touching is real / you just a clone wit a production deal / I sailed the seven seas and kept my head above the water / sorry I left you but now i am back for ya / but its like we never bounced / platinum from word to mouth / hottest niggas out" and part defending himself: "bitches is trifling hands out grabbing / niggas hating scheming and back stabbing". What’s with his flow, that remains a miracle of sorts.

Well, things get ready for the party on "I’ll Do This For You", where Faith sound-a-like Kelly Price lends her vocals, and Mase some ‘yeah yeah’s. However, the ghostwriter certainly stepped up his game, because Puff flows nicely, rhyming "yo now nobody party like we party / you wouldn't know till you cats see me party / I party sip Bacardi, sew your clik pink / a nigga to pretty to sip a mixed drink / but chicks think when they see I be in V.I.P. / D-I-double-D-Y be, the cat who kick back". But he reaches for the stars, when he makes Puffy rhyme "I'm a poet, got money won't show it" and "I ain’t only from Harlem, I’m from the Heartland". Huh??

After all that flossing, it’s time for attacking player haters, on the unlisted skit. Next track, the Jigga lending his voice to "Do You Like It...Do You Want It...". Another party track, as produced by Daven "Prestige" Vanderpool and the Puffster himself. And now after all that sweating, it’s time to make a move on the ladies. In comes "Satisfy You" featuring R.Kelly. The track is nice, but mostly because "I Got 5 On It" was nice too, and this and that track have the same sample. I mean, using a sample after the huge success of another track using that exact same one, should have been too cheap, even for Puff.

Anyways. Twista gets another guest appearance, after "Is This The End?" from Puff’s first album. Actually this track works, and is interesting with all the sound effects in the back, the paranoia of the story the lyrics tell, and a tongue twisting appearance of,...you know who.

"I Hear Voices" has more of that paranoia, with a beautifully used sampled "Bamboo Child", as heard before. Now "Fake Thugs Dedication" features Redman, made this reviewer somewhat excited. Because Puffy teaming up with the Brick City cat is just nice like that. But the result has Redman only spitting the chorus, and adding little madness to a minimal, uptempo drum and bass kick beat. Was it just Puffy preventing to have somebody really nice rapping with him? But let’s forget about that, while listening to "Diddy Speaks!", where he breaks down Bad Boy, in a whispering, almost stoned sounding voice. This leads us into the "Fantasy" sampling "Angels With Dirty Faces", featuring Bizzy Bone, that rhymes unusually understandable. Totally not in his typical Bone style. Well, who’s that other cat rhyming with Bizzy, cause that’s some low voice having cat. Or is Puff’s voice breaking?

Let’s ignore "Gangsta Shit" featuring Lil Kim and Mark Curry, and listen to the familiar sample of "Pain", that again keeps things interesting with sound effects and good production. Let’s slide into "Reverse", the lyrical heavy track featuring G-Dep, Shyne (Biggie sound-a-like), Cee-Lo (of Goodie Mob), Busta Rhymes, and Puffs personal ghostwriter Sauce Money. Strong piano by maybe the strongest producers from the Hitmen Nashiem Myrick, with help from Carlos Broady.

The track that will be getting the most attention, will probably be "Real Niggas", because Biggie has an appearance on that. But all that hard knock frowning is not that impressive, and so isn’t Lil Kim who rhymes "we powerful don’t think that all we got is guns / we buy out everything you claim including your name / mama bitch squeeze the life out of ya niggas / screw barker i take bites out of ya niggaz". How inspiring.

Well, things get better with "Journey Through The Life", that once again has Joe Hookers voice chime over these strings, and he gives this track the emotional dramatism, that this album oftentimes is lacking. Nas and Beanie Sigel, as well as Lil Kim again, show up too on this track, only to lead up to the strongest track on the album: "Best Friend" feat. Mario Winans. It’s on this track that Puffy finally realizes, that "too much sinning, gotta be more than plush living / gotta be more than grabbing nines to buck tenants / gotta be more than just to lust women / gotta be more than platinum Rolexes, 600's and crush linen". The lush production of this track, and the choir at the end, once again show what was so right on the first album, and what this album is lacking: the emotionality that Puffy is so strong at. Maybe just because he just does not have the right voice to be hard, or to get you partying.

Aight, two more to go, with The Madd Rapper showing up again, and with the first single "P.E. 2000". Now why the hell Puffy had to get Hurricane G to rhyme on this album, I don’t even wanna know, because she is one of the wackest rappers out there. For real. But then again, with her being on this album, Puffy is not the worst rapper on it. Puffy ripps off Public Enemy’s "Public Enemy No. 1" (who sampled Fred Wesley & The JB’s "Blow Your Head"), to mixed results. In a way it works, because he added stuff to it.

Concluding: the album is not as bad as some people will make it to be. It’s also not as good as others will say it is. Puffy has some strong points on the album, that I mentioned above, and although his delivery is still lame, if not really, really bad, I know rappers that are worse. And I definitely have heard albums that are worse.