Can't nobody hold him down not even a shooting trial or a high-profile break up.
As he once rhymed, the Joneses are out; people are trying to keep up with the Combses. Even with his shiny suits tucked deep in the back of his closet, Sean "P.Diddy" Combs is once again the most visible man in the rap world. Not that Diddy ever took an extended break from the music biz despite his evolving career as a fashion powerhouse with the Sean John line, not to mention his occasional acting gigs but with all the politicking he's been doing in the past year, he's making it hard for others to have any lapses. "Stop" still hasn't checked into his vocabulary.
After being found not guilty of bribery and weapons charges in March of last year (see ), Diddy spearheaded a Bad Boy Records comeback, releasing critically heralded albums by himself, 112, Faith Evans and G. Dep. And while a large portion of Puff's 2001 was spent on the comeback trail courtesy of The Saga Continues (1999's Forever had been somewhat of a commercial disappointment), 2002 has been all about blazing new trails.
The platinum-plus We Invented the Remix proved fans are still feeling him, debuting at #1 on the Billboard 200 albums chart (see ). And it's obvious his peers are loving him too, as Diddy's been collaborating with everyone from Mary J. Blige to Cash Money's Baby via production work and guest appearances.
Just how Diddy do it? Here's the blueprint (and ): Puff, who debuted at #1 in April with his We Invented the Remix LP, squelched any doubt that he was king of remixes, not only with his own retoolings of "I Need a Girl," but by dropping bars alongside his peers on their musical do-overs. Swizz Beatz most recently joined the incessant line of artists (including Janet Jackson, Jermaine Dupri, N.
O.R.E.
, Fabolous, Mr. Cheeks, Tweet, Whitney Houston and Busta Rhymes) that have called on Puff to drop his smooth-as-baby-oil bars on their tracks. "We're gonna put Puff on a bunch of remixes and keep him hot," Diddy's right-hand man and main Bad Boy A R guy, Harve Pierre, explained in March on the set of the "I Need a Girl, Pt.
1" video. Loon, Faith and G. Dep have also been keeping Diddy zesty with their various guest spots.
For added measure, Diddy even gave the nod to Michael Jackson and Ashanti to use Notorious B.I.G.
's vocals on their albums. While P. Diddy the artist has been as dominant in the past year as major league hurler Curt Schilling, he's hoping to carve out another section for himself in the hip-hop annals with two of his other jobs: producer and executive.
Diddy and Mario Winans have most recently given 3LW a hit with "I Do (Wanna Get Close to You)" and are hoping to do the same with tracks they laid down for the upcoming Justin Timberlake LP, Justified, and Foxy Brown's Ill Na Na 2: The Fever. Puffy will undoubtedly be supplying tracks for Mary J. Blige and Loon as well.
Like he did for Foxy's project, he's serving as executive producer on those albums. Puff has an extra vested interest in Loon's debut, since the LP is coming out on Bad Boy. In July, Diddy officially ended his partnership with distributor Arista, buying back all of Bad Boy's master recordings (see ).
No announcement has been made yet, but in May he let the world know he was close to jumping in bed with another major label to put out all future Bad Boy recordings. "[There are] a lot of conversations going on. Everybody that I'm dating right now is looking very sexy and beautiful," he said earlier this year, offering a metaphor for his business negotiations.
"We're in a great place. It's a lot of people talking the type of language I like hearing. It feels like I could go outside with a bikini thong on right now.
It feels very hot and toasty, very heat-wavish right now over at Bad Boy." Catch all the sizzlin', star-packed VMA action direct from Miami on August 28. MTV News' preshow kicks things off at 6:00 p.
m. ET/PT, followed by the big show at 8 p.m.
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