Sean “Diddy” Combs is undergoing a very public midlife crisis. A month into turning 41, the mogul looked more like a high school sophomore at DJ Khalid’s Miami birthday party in November, wearing a varsity letterman jacket and concealing eye-blinding grills behind his jaw. His newly formed R&B outfit Dirty Money might be an offset of a middle-aged man struggling with persona maintenance, but their debut album Last Train to Paris is a refreshing transition from the “shiny suit” Bad Boy dominance of the 1990s.
Sean “Diddy” Combs is undergoing a very public midlife crisis. A month into turning 41, the mogul looked more like a high school sophomore at DJ Khaled’s Miami birthday party in November, wearing a varsity letterman jacket and concealing eye-blinding grills behind his jaw. Diddy’s Dirty Money, his newly formed R&B outfit, might be an offset of a middle-aged man struggling with persona maintenance, but their debut album is a refreshing transition from the “shiny suit” Bad Boy dominance of the 1990s. Let’s see how it performs in our Last Train to Paris album review.
For Dirty Money, Diddy enlisted the help of former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard and award-winning songwriter Kalenna Harper. The girls shoulder most of the load for vocal duties while Diddy sporadically chimes in with a verse or auto-tuned melodies.
Diddy’s Last Train album plays as a concept record of sorts, taking the ups and downs of a crumbling love/hate relationship and setting them to danceable beats. The twisted “Yeah Yeah You Would” featuring Grace Jones has blaring ambulance sirens and bits of distortion. The clean piano and shuffling baseline of the Motown-inspired “I Hate That You Love Me” showcases interpersonal dysfunction at its finest.
“Ass on The Floor” has gorgeous overlapping vocals from Richard and Harper in the chorus, and is charming as a song with the line “Got me madder than a motherfucka” can be. Diddy actually holds his own lyrically on Diddy’s Last Train album, which can only mean that he’s employed a more refined ghostwriter this time around. His solo track “Someone to Love” has him sounding like a mix of early LL and Illmatic-era Nas.
Diddy used his clout in the industry to make the most star-heavy record of the year. Justin Timberlake, Usher, T.I., and Drake are among the slew of superstars who make an appearance. But make no mistake about it, this is Richard and Harper’s album. Their vocals are phenomenal and compliment each other while Diddy and the rest of the platinum-selling artists are along for the ride.
With themes of jealousy, deceit, and obsessions, Last Train to Paris by Diddy’s Dirty Money is a rather dark record. However, the downtrodden vibe never gets too overwhelming and is lifted at times with upbeat bangers like “Hello Good Morning.” For this Last Train to Paris album review, we think Diddy deserves credit for taking a chance with a left-field project and reviving his career in the process.
Last Train to Paris album review
This album receives a PARL
Rating system:
P… Horrible
PA… Tolerable
PAR… Good
PARL… Kinda Great
PARLÉ… Classic
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