A remix to Mario's "Thinking About You" has leaked online and features a verse and adlibs from Diddy. When a full, high quality version of it is available for listening, I'll post an update.

Thanks Theo.

In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Diddy announced that he's been working with Dr. Dre on the creation of "Diddy Beats," which will be audio ear buds; and "Diddy Beatbox," an iPod speaker base system. Beats by Dr. Dre, the high quality headphones, were created through a partnership between Monster, Dr. Dre and Interscope Chariman Jimmy Iovine.

A couple of "Last Train to Paris" notes. Diddy told Ryan Seacrest that "Last Train to Paris" is coming in March.

Secondly, in the press release announcing the Bad Boy/Interscope deal, it was mentioned that Rage would be directing the "Love Come Down" music video, which is supposed to be shot or have been shot this week.

A few days ago, we mentioned a Billboard report that indicated that Diddy would be leaving Warner/Atlantic Records, but that the Bad Boy roster would remain. At the time, I said that this created more questions than it answered. Well, Diddy jumped on Hot 97 and spoke with DJ Absolut last weekend and, though he referenced the situation, he basically revealed nothing.

Absolut asked him: "We want to know about this new Bad Boy exclusive distributor. What's going on with that?"

"Yeah, that's why I'm out in L.A. right now," Diddy answered. "'Bout to wait for this ink to dry, so like Monday or Tuesday. Definitely big shout out to Atlantic Records, [Michael Kyser] and Julie [Greenwald] and Kevin [Liles] and all them. We had a nice run; time for a change for me just in general and a fresh start for Bad Boy in general and I'm still involved with Day26 and Janelle Monae and [Cassie] and all of the acts that I have over there, but I get to get a fresh start in my new situation."

You'll notice that no label was mentioned beyond Atlantic. The rumors are Interscope, of course, but that hasn't been confirmed.

On Twitter, Diddy posted a scan of his November 2009 Ebony magazine cover.

The Sean John blog has scans from Diddy's cover appearance in the Autumn/Winter 2009-2010 issue of Vs Magazine. Their website has more - just click on the picture of Diddy on the homepage.

When the "Last Train to Paris" lyric book was first released, it included:

"Strobe Lights"
"Uptown"
"Change"
"If You Wanna Go (5th Ave.)"
"Lifted"
"My Heart"
"On -N- On -N- On"
"Playing God"
"Private Entertainer"
"Roller Coaster"
"Sade"
"Show Em How to Move (Love Come Down)"
"Someone to Love Me"
"Voices"

It was then updated with all of these tracks being removed, replaced by a single track: "Angels."

It was updated shortly thereafter and this meant that "Strobe Lights" was added back. Today, I noticed that it was updated again. Here are the tracks now:

"Cry for Me"
"Strobe Lights"
"Angels"
"Make Love to You"
"Someone to Love Me"

According to James Cruz, the former Nationals Promotions Director at Bad Boy, Diddy/Dirty Money are shooting the video for "Someone to Love Me" today in Los Angeles. He says that the video for "Love Come Down" will be next week.

You may recall that this track was included in the "Last Train to Paris" lyric book when it was first released. After being removed, it has now returned.

Over at Rosenberg Radio, radio host Peter Rosenberg posted a video clip of him talking with Diddy during a break from his show. Diddy talks about underground music and his love of Raekwon, Mos Def and Jay Electronica. It's a cool clip, so check it out below.


Via Amadeus.

On Twitter, Diddy shared a scan of the cover of BlackBook Magazine that he's featured on.

In February and April, we revealed and discussed the DJ Hell and Diddy collaboration "The DJ," included on Hell's "Teufelswerk" album.

Longtime Diddy collaborator Felix Da Housecat, who last worked with Diddy on the "Lectro Black" mixtape, has come out with harsh criticism for Hell, accusing him of plagiarism. The vocals used on "The DJ," Felix says, were taken from a session that he had with Diddy and while Hell may have permission from Diddy, he did not seek permission from Felix.

inthemix says that Felix gave Hell a CD featuring unreleased outtakes from his sessions with Diddy. Felix was then surprised to hear these recordings used by Hell, without any prior notice. To prove that it was his recording, Felix gave the vocal track to Boppernation, allowing them to make it available for free download. The track posted is supposedly the unedited version of the session used for "The DJ." In it, you can hear Diddy shout out Felix. These shouts have been removed from Hell's "The DJ."

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BlackBook has a preview of their upcoming feature on Diddy, which includes a photo spread and an interview.

The nominees for the 2009 BET Hip-Hop Awards were just released and Diddy has picked up a nomination in the "Hustler of the Year" category. Also nominated were Drake, Jay-Z, Lil' Wayne and Kanye West. The show will air on BET on Tuesday, October 27 at 8 PM ET.

AllHipHop.com has "American Dream" by The Game. The third verse on the song sounds like it was written for Diddy. One can only speculate, at this point. That said, it's a cool track and I like the production on it - I would like to see this as an actual collaboration.

Thanks Theo.

One persistent criticism that you hear of Diddy and Bad Boy, at times of idle chatter, is his and the label's business dealings with artists, specifically the fairness of these dealings. I've long maintained, time and time again, that Bad Boy is no different from any other label - that artists take the best deals laid in front of them and that Diddy is, in large part, a victim of his own success as a known executive. His business is simply good business and the idea of a "paperwork gangster" is an absurdest reality where actually taking care of your business is seen as an evil or bad thing.

He is the public face of the company and an easy target. If you have something negative to say about him, you'll be given a platform. Especially in this day and age. Generally speaking, he's maintained relative silence about these comments and, to be honest, that's a good move. Why should Diddy need to respond to a random former artist who would be known by nobody if Diddy hadn't signed him in the first place? Still, it was good to hear him talk about these claims in an interview with Shade 45's Angela Yee.

"One of the things I want to say, I'm gonna make sure I make clear on this promo tour is I haven't had no more issues than Def Jam has had with artists, that Jay has had with artists, that whoever has had," he told Yee, when asked about his issues with former artists. "Every label - this is a cycle that we have. It comes with the game, people. I make my money, I gets busy. I don't have to take from nobody, jerk up nobody, give nobody a bad contract. I'm a very intelligent cat. And I love to work. Nobody gave me nothing. I gets busy."

"It's unfair when people are doing analysis - on 'what happened to this person? that person?'," he continued. "Yo, they did two, three albums. That's the usual bid on the island. And then the money changes and you got the vultures that come after your artists, be putting venom in their ear. And then, I'm usually just cool with it. OK, you think that the grass is greener over there? Go with it. But, I haven't had no problems."

He was then asked, by Yee, if his celebrity, if his visibility and accessibility as an executive lead to these public claims of wrong doing. "Yeah, I think people relate Bad Boy to one person," he answered. "I think that's been the problem. People tried to be counting the cat's paper and trying to just assume things that would go on. When it's attributed to a white corporation, everything's all good. But, then, when it's to a person, we do have a responsibility for each other because we come from the same place, which I agree with. But then, in this game, people just be flipping. I've let some people go, 'cause they asked. If you ask that question, you don't want to be here at Bad Boy 'cause you may think you can get some money elsewhere, I'm not gonna be begging you to stay. I'm not about to be fighting with you about it."

Diddy stopped by The Ed Lover Show earlier this week and the audio is available on their website. They have video, as well. There is a lot of good stuff in the interviews. A few highlights:

He's washed his hands of the Yung Joc situation. It's between Russell "Block" Spencer and Joc.

He said that he plans to put together another girl group.

He's talked to Mase and Mase apologized to him for the things that happened in the past. He said that there is or was money that Mase owed him (into the 7 figures), so they had to work it out.

He talked about the rapping skills of his sons Quincy and Christian and Biggie's son, C.J. Wallace. He praised them all and said Christian was "nice."

He's talked to Shyne recently, just talking on a personal level. Not about his career.

His hilarious recounting of the Kanye West and Lil' Mama stage invasions at the MTV VMAs.

There's some more, but those are some of the highlights. Definitely listen to the full interview.

The video below features Diddy talking about the concept of "Last Train to Paris" during a listening party for the album. Someone at the end of his talk imitates Lil' Mama, when she crashed the stage during Jay-Z's performance at the MTV VMAs and the crowd has a laugh.

Vibe is reporting that Diddy has signed to Interscope Records. The details in their articles are very, very scarce. Vibe is reporting the info care of a source at Interscope.

Surely, if Diddy was going to go under the Interscope umbrella, it would be all of Bad Boy going and not just Diddy. This could potentially explain the delayed release of "Last Train to Paris." Until we hear more, this news should be taken with a grain of salt.

A request for comment from Bad Boy was not immediately returned.

According to various reports, Diddy was involved in a verbal dispute with a New York cop while exiting an MTV Video Music Awards after party on Sunday night. The accounts I've read indicate that Diddy was exiting a club and there was a crowd and the cops were trying to clear it out. I decided to wait for more information to be available before posting something about it. The biggest piece of information was a video released by TMZ. Check it out (warning: vulgar language):


First things first: we don't know what happened before or after this clip, so that should be kept in mind. But, judging from the clip, it was a chaotic situation and, when you throw humans into that sort of situation, chaotic things happen. The man in the passenger side of the car Diddy was next to looked a lot like Doug E. Fresh. I think the cop acted inappropriately, specifically in following and trying to make a point with Diddy, "I don't give a f*** who you are." There's no need for that. Once Diddy, as a citizen, walked away, that should have been the end of it. But, once the cop said that, Diddy shouted back "I don't give a f*** who you are either, motherf*****" and, honestly, I can't blame him. The cop was being a little abusive and, though the average citizen probably can't get away with telling off an abusive cop - if you are in a position where you can, it's not like you simply have to take the abuse and walk away.

In a radio interview (listen below), Diddy discussed the incident. "He was in plain clothes," Diddy said. "I didn't know he was an officer. Things were a little aggressive for me, which I'm not really used to. I said my piece, he said his piece and we kept it moving." He called it "just a little understanding" and said that he and the officer "worked it out."


The NYPD told TMZ that the officer was not in plain clothes. But, if you look in the clip, at the 0:16 mark, you'll see the officer has a New York Yankees logo on his shirt. As far as I know, the New York Yankees logo is not part of the NYPD uniform.

On September 4, Diddy posted a Twitter message with a download link to the DJ Rob Dinero remix of "Love Come Down." Check it out.

MTV's Shaheem Reid reports that "Last Train to Paris" has been pushed back to 2010. In August, Hip Hop Weekly reported (via DROStreetteam09) that the album had been pushed back to 2010 and that they would release a four song, four video EP in October. At the time, Bad Boy would not confirm or deny the story.

MTV News talked with both Diddy and Jay-Z on the topic of longevity. The video below has most of their quotes, but the text feature on their site has a bit more from Diddy.

Diddy joined Jay-Z on stage at tonight's "Jay-Z: Live at Madison Square Garden: Answer the Call" benefit concert that was broadcast on Fuse.tv. If you missed it, Fuze's Jay-Z Answer the Call blog has pictures of Diddy, Jay, Kanye West and Memphis Bleek together and of just Diddy and Jay.

Because of his appearance, "Diddy" was a trending topic on Twitter this evening for a period.

If you missed the show, like I did, they will be rebroadcasting it on Sunday at 5 PM ET.

MTV has released a trio of videos that feature Diddy in promotion of this Sunday's MTV Video Music Awards in New York City.

In the first clip, Diddy joins a host of celebrities in discussing the allure of hosting the show in New York.



For this next clip, MTV asked a number of people who would take home more awards: Kanye West or Eminem (both are nominated for four). Diddy predicted Kanye would.

» Read More

MTV News has a report from Tuesday night's release party for Raekwon's new album, "Only Built 4 Cuban Linx II." The party was hosted by Diddy. Raekwon recently talked about his relationship with Diddy and the respect that he has for the Bad Boy CEO.

Details are sparse, but a tweet from Diddy linked to the Fashion Week Bingo page where you can download two bingo playing cards.

You are trying to spot the people and scenes listed, post them on TwitPic and tweet them with the #nyfwbingo hash tag. If you get 5 in a row, you tweet the tag and the word "BINGO" and you can win unmentioned prizes and VIP passes to Fashion Week events. It's unclear if you actually have to be in New York during Fashion Week to play, or not - it's certainly possible to spot several of these items if you live far away. But, it could just be for people actually in the city this week.

Fashion Week started today and runs through September 17.

Sam Roberts at The New York Times reports on the release of The New York City 400, a list of 400 people "who have helped define New York CIty for the past four centuries," according to the museum. It was put together in honor of the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's entrance into New York Harbor. Here's Diddy's entry:

In the video below, Diddy and Vogue magazine Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour discuss Fashion's Night Out, which takes place on Thursday, September 10. From 6 PM through 11 (later in some cases) 800 New York City fashion retailers will be open in hopes of boosting sales in support of the city's fashion industry (watch the Diddy featured public service announcement).

Here it is: the music video premiere of "Angels" by Dirty Money featuring The Notorious B.I.G. It was directed by Hype Williams, the man behind the videos for "Big Poppa" (with Diddy), "Mo Money Mo Problems," "Hate Me Now" and plenty others.

SOHH.com has an interview with Raekwon focusing on his relationship with Diddy and the respect that he has for the Bad Boy CEO.

"My relationship with Diddy is fine, you know," he said. "It always been cool. That brother, you know what I mean, I got a lot of respect for him, just as being a business man, just as being a man, you know?"

Tonight, Diddy will be hosting Raekwon's album release party in New York City. "It was an honor for him to want to be a part of it because I told him 'Yo, man, you the mayor of the city, B, you our Mayor Bloomberg regardless of what and it'd be a honor if you could be a part of it,'" Raekwon continued. "And I felt real good 'cause this brother coulda said 'I need seven zero's' or five zero's. But, when it's true friendship in a situation of what we're dealing with far as growing up in this business, that's all a part of being a real dude."

"Right now, we here for the game. We here for music, we here for the love of hip-hop - we really love it. You know what I mean? Puff is a real hip-hop head. I recognize that and I acknowledge that. He made a lot of people successful around him and, you know, for him to want to get down with something that I'm dealing with, that means a lot to the game. That means a lot to me. Word, I'm appreciative."

Here's the clip:

According to Diddy's Twitter, the music video for "Angels" by Dirty Money featuring The Notorious B.I.G. will premiere today online at 4 PM ET. There was a trailer released last week. Check it out below.

In a new interview with MTV News, Diddy discusses the direction of the music video for "Angels" and the risk he's taking with "Last Train to Paris." The article mentions that the video for "Angels" will be released today online.

Check out the clip below for some comments, and the full write-up for the rest.

The "Last Train to Paris" lyric book, originally launched with 14 tracks and then updated to remove all 14 and add 1 more has updated once again. This time, "Strobe Lights," one of the original 14 included, is back with "Angels" the 15th track featured in the lyric book.

In the clip below, a number of celebrities, media personalities and others join together to wish Beyonce a happy birthday. This includes Diddy, who appears at the 1:06 mark.

In a series of messages posted on his Twitter account, Diddy put his support behind today's protests at Howard University, his alma mater. From the Washington Post:

The "Last Train to Paris" lyric book that we reported on earlier has been drastically changed: all songs that were in it have been deleted. And "Angels" has been added, with it being the only track in the lyric book now.

The cause is unclear, but if you want to know the songs that were included earlier, please see our initial story.

Referring to it as "our lyric book for 'Last Train to Paris,'" a message on Diddy's Twitter page shared lttpdirtymoneylyricbook.com. At the URL, you're provided with a downloadable "Last Train to Paris" lyric book. Here are the tracks listed:

"Strobe Lights"
"Uptown"
"Change"
"If You Wanna Go (5th Ave.)"
"Lifted"
"My Heart"
"On -N- On -N- On"
"Playing God"
"Private Entertainer"
"Roller Coaster"
"Sade"
"Show Em How to Move (Love Come Down)"
"Someone to Love Me"
"Voices"

"Change" was the track that The Dream called "the best male record I've written" in February.

"My Heart" was produced by Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, as we reported in June.

FInally, if you happened to visit lasttraintoparis.com when it first launched, you hear a very small portion of "Lifted." Specifically, "call me Mr. Diddy."

This shouldn't be taken as a track listing as that wasn't suggested or confirmed. Note that "Angels" is not even included. Also, in some cases, these may not be the full, final lyrics for the songs. For example, Diddy's rap verses are not included in the lyrics for "Show Em How to Move (Love Come Down)."

In the clip below, Diddy introduces the new Dirty Money single "Angels" and explains the meaning behind the track, referencing friends and family who have passed away.


I can dig it.

On his Twitter, Diddy shared the photo that will be used for the single cover for "Angels" by Dirty Money featuring The Notorious B.I.G. Check it out below (click to expand).

Here's the new preview/trailer for the upcoming Diddy/Dirty Money music video for "Angels." It's directed by Hype Williams. At the :32 mark, you can see a cameo by Aasim.

Earlier today, we premiered the two new singles from Dirty Money, "Angels (NYC Mix)" and "Love Come Down."

In so many words, the "NYC Mix" cuts out an intro from Diddy that's included in the mixshow version of the single. This version has now been added to our audio player.

Tracey DeLara has some behind the scenes footage from the shoot for the clip that plays at the start of every episode of "Making His Band." Check it out below.

Our audio player has the two new singles from Dirty Money, the collective featuring Diddy, Dawn Richard and Kalenna. As we reported in June, "Angels (NYC Mix)" features a Biggie vocal sample from "My Downfall" off of "Life After Death" with a beat sampled from Jay-Z's "Where I'm From."

The primary difference between the NYC mix of "Angels" and the regular version seems to be the removal of a 40-second intro to the track from Diddy. I hope to have this track up at some point. Update: Listen to it now.

Meanwhile, "Love Come Down" features a couple of rap verses from Diddy and samples Jay-Z vocals from "Izzo (H.O.V.A.)" Check them out now and let me know what you think. I am loving them both.

Finally, here's a brand new promotional image of the group:

On Diddy's Twitter, he mentioned that he was working in the studio with Guy Gerber (Discogs.com discography). "My dreams have now been fullfilled!!!," Diddy remarked.