If you pay attention to the credits at the end of these shows, you will see that Diddy and Russell Simmons have been doing work in the TV world. In fact, they are making tremendous strides with stellar shows like "Run's House." I heard a rumor that Russ and Diddy are quite possibly going to take it to the next level. I heard they might be working on another label venture that will be based in Atlanta. So far, I have been unable to find information on this, so it could be a silly rumor. It could also be that base of power needed in the industry. Stay tuned�

Putting together Press Play has been a long process for P. Diddy. After relatively average sales for 2001�s The Saga Continues album, Diddy decided to focus on growing his other businesses (i.e. clothing line Sean John, record label Bad Boy records etc), taking a break, and even working on a dance album called Divided Souls with some of dance music�s hottest producers, which has since been put on the back-burner. ...

�A lot of time when you get somebody�s iPod, you�re shocked because you�re like, �this person listens to Coldplay, Tupac and Garth Brooks?,� he laughs. �People like all types of music and all types of things. You look at what�s going on in the UK in the underground hip hop, grime, garage, and drum�n�bass scenes. I mean my iPod is full of things from dance music to movie scores to James Brown� there are so many things that are in my head. I wanted to be able to express all that without being all over the place, and still make it hip hop � that�s what I tried to do.

mp3.com: OK. I've never heard another emcee copy your style verbatim, and [The Future] made me wonder if ghostwriting is something you've done often over the years?

PM: Nah. It's the first time I did it. One, because Puff called me in. He was like, "Yo, let me hear what you're working on." I played him some of my s***. He was blown away. I was like, "Wow. I didn't think he was going to respond like that." He played me the beats that he had, which was like Alchemist and Kanye and Denaun Porter and Havoc. And I was like, "Holy s***." Like, he has some real thorough beats. Being the psycho Scorpio that I am and knowing that he's a Scorpio, it was fulfilling to take the job to get to see what goes on behind the scenes of a mogul for my own crazy curiosity, you know.

mp3.com: And what did you see when you stared into that realm?

PM: The number one thing is there are lots of women. Number one thing is he appreciated my work ethic in the studio. But on the flip side, I appreciated his work ethic, period. Like, dude doesn't sleep. I never seen him sleep. I'm pretty sure he got sleep somehow somewhere, but.

November 22: Miami, Florida � American Airlines Arena
November 24: Greensboro, NC � Greensboro Coliseum
November 25: Birmingham, AL � Birmingham Jefferson Civic Center
November 26: Atlanta, GA � Philips Arena
December 1: Memphis, TN � FedEx Forum
December 2: St. Louis, MO � Savvis Center
December 3: Kansas City, MO � Kemper Arena
December 8: Oakland, CA � Oakland Coliseum
December 10: Los Angeles, CA � The Forum
December 21: Hampton, VA � Hampton Coliseum
December 22: Philadelphia, PA � Wachovia Center
December 23: New York, NY � Madison Square Garden
December 26: Detroit, MI � Joe Louis Arena
December 28: Chicago, IL � Allstate Arena
December 29: Cleveland, OH � Wolstein Center
December 30: Baltimore, MD -1st Mariner
December 31: D.C. � Verizon Center

N.C. Central University's Lyceum Committee, 100 Black Women and VOX are sponsoring a lecture by Sister Souljah at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the LeRoy T. Walker Complex. ...

The lecture is open to the general public and admission is free. For more information, call (919) 530-7452

Q. Were you surprised when Justin Timberlake came out with a record talking about bringing "sexy" back? Particularly since for years you've been talking about throwing parties for the sexy, being part of the grown and sexy, even mentioning in your Proactiv commercial that you were "preserving your sexy."

(Laughs) I know. Who knew "sexy" had gone away and needed to be brought back? Naaaw, I mean, I was cool with it. I don't get really caught up into stuff like that. I love the record. I like his work ethic.