Customer Reviews

Last Train to Paris

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

If you had told me a few years ago that there'd be a day when I'd suggest that my opinion of the best album of the year would be a Rap album I'd have said, "You're crazy!" Well either I'm the one that's going crazy or perhaps my Rock horizons are just broadening, because I think that Last Train to Paris by Diddy Dirty Money gives the other 2010 album that I said was perhaps Album of the Year a real run for its "Money".

Even two weeks ago I never thought that I'd be buying the new Diddy album. But then on December 4th, 2010, I saw Diddy and his group perform Ass On the Floor and Coming Home on Saturday Night Live, and I said to myself, "Either those two songs were excellent or I gotta stop staying up so late." It turns out that the songs were just really excellent.

So I downloaded the record today and there isn't an unpleasant song on the disk (but parents beware of some language...surprised?). Diddy doesn't have the best singing voice in the world, but when he sings on this album he sings with his heart. And he gets a lot of help...not just from a lot of today's superpowers of Hip Hop and Pop, but also form two--let's call `em--co-lead singers named Dawn Richards and Kalenna Harper. I don't where he found these two gals, but talk about chemistry. Sean Combs, two Rihanna sounding ladies, and a great sounding bunch of road-musicians make Diddy Dirty Money a band...not a Rap act.

Since it's not clear here on the Amazon product page, I'll reprint the track listing that shows each song's guest performers. Add this great driving or party CD to your cart now. Enjoy:

1 - "Intro"
2 - "Ass On the Floor" (featuring Swizz Beatz)
3 - "Yeah Yeah You Would" (featuring Grace Jones)
4 - "I Hate That You Love Me"
5 - "Someone to Love Me"
6 - "Hate You Now"
7 - "Your Love" (featuring Trey Songz)
8 - "Shades" (featuring Justin Timberlake, Bilal, Lil Wayne, James Fauntleroy)
9 - "Angels" (featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Rick Ross) Side note: Very cool the way Diddy went to the archives to find a way to include his old pal Biggie on this track; even cooler is combining Biggie with Rick Ross...perfect!
10 - "Strobe Lights" (featuring Lil Wayne)
11 - "Looking for Love" (featuring Usher)
12 - "I Know" (featuring Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa & Seven)
13 - "Loving You No More" (featuring Drake)
14 - "Hello Good Morning" (featuring T.I.)
15 - "Last Night, Pt. 2"
16 - "Yesterday" (featuring Chris Brown)
17 - "Change"
18 - "Coming Home" (featuring Skylar Grey)
Bonus Track iTunes Exclusive - "First Place Loser"

This album shocked me.

I've been a Puffy (Diddy to the rest of y'all) fan from day one, back when he was the self proclaimed 'coolest man alive', and its been hard ... no ... painful to watch his slide from that to an attention whore trying to stay relevant in the 21st century musical landscape. His last THREE albums have been bombs by the 90's Bad Boy standard (though Press Play did hint at the change of direction that is Last Train to Paris). Add to that the stream of failed careers he's presided over ... 112, Black Rob, G Dep, Loon, Total and the gold grill in his mouth that he's recently been prancing all over the place with and maybe, you get why I was pretty much done with him.

So when 'Last Train To Paris', came out ... I wasn't going to listen to it.
I wasn't going to listen to it if someone put it in my itunes for FREE!
I means screw that guy right?

But ... soon after the album dropped ... I got this steady stream of dazed reviews from friends on twitter, facebook etc saying, basically ...
"Dude, I don't know how to say this, but Last Train to Paris is actually good, Its confusing ... just go listen to it"
The grudging compliments were so overwhelming and guilty (I mean these were people who basically felt the same way about Puffy as I did) that I said to myself
"Screw this ... I'm going to hear this for myself, if only to point and laugh at these Badboy groupie friends of mine!"

So I went and got the album.
Needless to say ... I stand before you. Ashamed.
This album is so good that its a bit disconcerting.

The first thing you'll notice is that Puffy is gone from the Album cover (unlike Press Play, P.E. 2000 and No Way Out).
Then right after the intro fades out ... Yeah Yeah Yeah You Would, grabs you by the scruff of your neck and from there the album simply doesn't let go.
Its head bobbing music from start to finish ... and then it leaves you wanting more. (I've had it on repeat since I got it yesterday morning)

Simply put ... Puffy has rediscovered the ear for *music* that made him a megastar in the 90's, but that's not all ... because of the addition of Dirty Money (pure speculation here) Diddy is forced to tone down his antics on the album ... gone are the "We won't stop, because we can't stop"'s ... and "Uh hunh ... Yeah"'s that were oh-so-badass in 97' but started to grate at the turn of the century ... he doesn't try to rap as much we're used to and the girls do a lot of the singing on each track. So the Signal to noise ratio is much higher from the jump.

Almost every track features a collabo and the list of guests reads like the whos-who of contemporary and not-so-contemporary R&B ... Nicole Scherzinger (remember her?), Justin Timberlake, Brandy, Weezy, Mary J, Jamie Foxx, Bigg Boi, Ciara, Christiana Aguilera, Drake, Swizz Beatz ... and on and on and on. And while you'd think they were on there to 'save' the album, its not like that at all ... the cameos are very well executed and you actually look forward to them as the album loops over and over (Chris Brown on "Yesterday" is basically musical homicide ... he absolutely KILLLS on that track).

Like a perfectly placed pocket square and tie pin on a custom fitted suit, they add some polish to the tracks and (finally) give Puffy some of that 21st century music cred that he's been badly seeking for the last 10 years.

Finally, there's the music ... which is simply the best part of this album.
On Yeah Yeah You Would, Swizz Beatz (I think) announces "Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here to tell you ... this is a brand new sound"
He's not kidding ... from the the frenetic drums on that track through the deceptively simple piano melody on "I Hate That You Love Me" sexed up with some seriously ill drums, to the Dido sounding prelude to Coming home, the musical arrangement on this album is simply AMAZING. And you will have a hard time classifying the sound of this album, which is a good thing.

Back in 1997. I remember being mesmerized by two things, specifically, off the No Way Out Album.
The xylophone (hope I have that right) in the background of "Young G's" (a xylophone on a hip hop track in 97!?!?!) and the MINDBLOWING piano performance in the background of "Do you Know?". I mean, that solo is almost as good as the one on Bruce Hornsby and the Range's "The Way it is"! (forgive me, I used to play the piano).
That for me was what finalized the categorization of Puffy as 'Genius' in my brain back then.
Back to my point though, To me, that is what has been missing from his albums for the last 10 years,(there was a bit of a resurgence on "Press Play"). And I am so very happy its back.

Make no mistake, Puffy's rapping is still awful and he's often the worst part of this album with his autotuned singing and stilted rap delivery ... but in his defense, it seems like this time he's actually singing and rapping about something close to his heart instead of talking about being #1 till 3020, or being 'street' (everybody can't be 50 cent son).
The album isn't a Blue Print 3 (Hov) or My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Kanye), but its good enough to be a must-listen album of 2010.

Long Story short ... Puffy (not Diddy) is back, and I think you might want to get on this train.
Solid buy.

Dirty Money (now renamed Diddy-Dirty Money....smh can the women get some shine?) consists of singers Kalenna & Dawn from Danity Kane "fame". No doubt with Diddy as the headliner, everyone always tried to figure out just exactly what is Dirty Money. After all the awards show performances it seemed like they were just glorified backup dancers to the Diddy show. Thankfully, on Last Train To Paris they get the majority of the shine here to prove they aren't. They do have talent as far as vocals go but they aren't going to blow you away with them. Even so, Last Train To Paris is more of a cohesive compilation album.

Unsurprisingly, there are plenty of guests artists here to pick up the slack for the lack of talent overall in the group. Diddy has talent at hyping things up and production but zero rapping or singing talent. Kalenna & Dawn are good enough but not outstanding - "where's the solo album good" on their own. Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa, Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Usher, Rick Ross, T.I.,& Drake amongst a few others handle the heavy lifting. For example, Yesterday sounds like a Chris Brown song with Dirty Money in the background and Diddy whispering 8 bars on the track. Looking For Love with Usher sounds like an excellent Usher song that easily could have been on his last album or serve as a single on the next one. The album pretty much skates along in that manner.

The production is excellent, simply put, featuring production from Danja, Darkchild, Swizz Beats, Seven,and Alex Da Kid amongst others. It has a unique sound that doesn't really go the techno route but is still forward and (surprisingly) "urban" (read Black). It's comparable to the futuristic sound that was found on Press Play from Diddy a few years ago.

Of course there are some missteps though such as Strobe Lights which is as wack as it sounds. The song was so weak and so bad that Lil Wayne could not save it. Unlistenable. Yeah Yeah You Would ft. Grace Jones is decent but kind of weird...it's not as bad as Strobe Lights but it's along the same premise. Those are the only two songs where I was thinking "wtf is this??" in a bad way. The rest of the album is pretty solid and at times outstanding (Looking For Love, Yesterday, I Hate That You Love Me). The singles released are all pretty good songs but they date all the way back to early 2010. Angels & Hello Good Morning have slightly lost their impact but new singles A on The Floor, Coming Home, and Loving You No More keep the momentum going.

If Diddy had any talent rapping (or singing) this album would be one of the top albums of the year. No matter how many checks he writes, his rhymes are pretty much wack and his delivery and flow are so forced and unnatural. It doesn't matter how many people ghostwrite the album, Diddy comes off as not being a rapper...which he isn't. I will say that the album is an entertaining listen and ranks right up there with Puff Daddy & The Family as far as his discography. It's more cohesive and has more of a purpose rather than just being a collection of songs. Make no mistake about it, Last Train To Paris is a mainstream hip-pop album but it's good for what it is. Don't expect Waka Flocka Flame hardness or a lyrical masterpiece but instead a good set of music by an unlikely source. 4 Stars.

*UPDATE 5-23-2011*
Had to bump this thing up to 5 stars. It's still jamming hard! Diddy has outdone himself.

If this album isn't the best Hip Hop or even Pop album of the year, it has to be the at least the best produced album of the year. The quality of production is nothing short of unbelievable and refreshing. Unfortunately, every time I get a good feel for a song, Diddy vomits foul language all over the track, bringing me out of a great song and into a smh moment. This effort would have been so much more to the industry if Diddy didn't "try" to be so "hip hop." If he let the music run while Dirty Money and the guests artists did there thing, this album would have gotten 5 stars from me and it seems, most other posts on Amazon. He seemed to get in the way of his own album.

Anyway, I'll definitely put it in rotation at the house but unfortunately, not when my 5 year olds son is around due to the out of place content. The song "Someone to Love Me" could have gone without the "mf" word 4 times in the first 20 seconds. What's funnier than that is those are the only four curse words on the entire song! Doesn't seem to make sense.

Near perfect album with a few unfortunate problems that take so much away...

I would have given it 5 stars had they included LOVE COME DOWN in the album. LTTP has been long overdue, wasn't Dawn still with Danity Kane when Diddy announced LTTP? Funny that Diddy had to get a group together to make the album hot. He reminds me of stunna aka birdman. They both are head of their own record labels and when they drop a album, they need a lot of help from other artist to make it hot. Pretty much if you'd like the single they've released so far then you will like the album.

If you had told me a few years ago that there'd be a day when I'd suggest that my opinion of the best album of the year would be a Rap album I'd have said, "You're crazy!" Well either I'm the one that's going crazy or perhaps my Rock horizons are just broadening, because I think that Last Train to Paris by Diddy Dirty Money gives the other 2010 album that I said was perhaps Album of the Year a real run for its "Money".

Even two weeks ago I never thought that I'd be buying the new Diddy album. But then on December 4th, 2010, I saw Diddy and his group perform Ass On the Floor and Coming Home on Saturday Night Live, and I said to myself, "Either those two songs were excellent or I gotta stop staying up so late." It turns out that the songs were just really excellent.

So I downloaded the record today and there isn't an unpleasant song on the disk (but parents beware of some language...surprised?). Diddy doesn't have the best singing voice in the world, but when he sings on this album he sings with his heart. And he gets a lot of help...not just from a lot of today's superpowers of Hip Hop and Pop, but also form two--let's call `em--co-lead singers named Dawn Richards and Kalenna Harper. I don't where he found these two gals, but talk about chemistry. Sean Combs, two Rihanna sounding ladies, and a great sounding bunch of road-musicians make Diddy Dirty Money a band...not a Rap act.

Since it's not clear here on the Amazon product page, I'll reprint the track listing that shows each song's guest performers. Add this great driving or party CD to your cart now. Enjoy:

1 - "Intro"
2 - "Ass On the Floor" (featuring Swizz Beatz)
3 - "Yeah Yeah You Would" (featuring Grace Jones)
4 - "I Hate That You Love Me"
5 - "Someone to Love Me"
6 - "Hate You Now"
7 - "Your Love" (featuring Trey Songz)
8 - "Shades" (featuring Justin Timberlake, Bilal, Lil Wayne, James Fauntleroy)
9 - "Angels" (featuring The Notorious B.I.G. & Rick Ross) Side note: Very cool the way Diddy went to the archives to find a way to include his old pal Biggie on this track; even cooler is combining Biggie with Rick Ross...perfect!
10 - "Strobe Lights" (featuring Lil Wayne)
11 - "Looking for Love" (featuring Usher)
12 - "I Know" (featuring Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa & Seven)
13 - "Loving You No More" (featuring Drake)
14 - "Hello Good Morning" (featuring T.I.)
15 - "Last Night, Pt. 2"
16 - "Yesterday" (featuring Chris Brown)
17 - "Change"
18 - "Coming Home" (featuring Skylar Grey)
Bonus Track iTunes Exclusive - "First Place Loser"

First off hat's off to a fantastic business man / hustler! However, musically I expected more on his behalf given all the talent and resources he has available, he has NOT held up his own again. He is just weak with his delivery as well as his flow, even with great writers like Jay-Z writing for him, he just doesn't pull it off! He's not convincing, and he should know better of all people given he's been in the game for a while and worked with legendary artist. I'm not one to tell anyone to quit, but he definitely needs to get the yes men and woman out of the studio and out of the corporate meetings.

The beats are FANTASTIC on most of the album, he has a talent for picking great production. What's bothersome is that when you have to resort to having everyone in their mother feature on your album, that doesn't say much for yourself as an artist. That you can't hold your own. The girls work great, vocally they are very talented, would love to see them do an album minus the vocals of sean combs.

I enjoyed watching making his band and was anticipating to buy this album, however the show was far more entertaining, i"ll pass on purchasing this album.

Good luck next time!

I give it up to Diddy on this album. Listened to the album while I was working out and I was dancing in the gym. Its been some time if ever Diddy put out 16 tracks to keep you dancing.

I absolutely love this CD. The lyrics are heartfelt, interesting and thought provoking and the music is bumping. Most of the songs are about love, loss, pain, relationships, and more love. You can tell that Diddy was going through something when he wrote them. These are definitely topics you can relate to and they tell an interesting tale. There are some naughty words in a few of the songs, but other than that - I Loved It!!!

I'll be the first to state that my expectations for Diddy's Diddy-Dirty Money project Last Train to Paris was low. Despite the hit that "Hello Good Morning" was, the single was so off-putting it did not solidify `Last Train To Paris' being a `valedictory' effort by any means. Also, given the guest-heavy, sometimes flawed 2006 effort Press Play, you would be hard pressed to find any critic ready to `laud and magnify' this experimental effort by Diddy. That said, `Last Train To Paris' proves to be a pleasant surprise, eclipsing 2006's `Press Play.' Filled with numerous guest spots aside from Diddy's in-house singers `Dirty Money' (Dawn Richard & Kalenna Vick), Dirty Money is one of the more alluring hip-hop/urban efforts of 2010. There are still moments that are oddities, but for the most part, there is enough unique material and innovative crossover moments to make `Last Train to Paris' a real treat to listen to, surprisingly!

After an introduction helps to `set the tone' of the effort (Diddy calls love a `M.F.'), "Yeah, Yeah You Would" featuring Grace Jones begins the album off on a high note with incredible production work by Nate "Danja" Hills. The hook is simple ("yeah, yeah you would") and while Diddy may be no Lil Wayne or Jay-Z, he sounds viable enough as an MC. "I Hate That You Love Me" features more sensational production work, thanks to Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins; most notable is the piano line coupled with the `hard' drums. As always, the hook is catchy and the cut captivates.

Three `powerful punches' follow via single "A** on the Floor," "Looking for Love," and "Somebody to Love." "A** on the Floor" was produced and features standout Swizz Beatz, who is at his best from the producer's seat. The drums are `banging' here, which seem to help incite some solid MC'ing from Diddy. Dirty Money's vocal contributions are great, even if the lyrical depth consist of Dirty Money calling their men `MF's' - must be Diddy's favorite cuss word I suppose. "Looking for Love" is arguably the album's best cut, featuring a perfectly suited Usher as its high profile guest. The production by James "JLack" Lackey and Polow Da Don is perfect and Diddy's lift off of previous cut "A** on the Floor" is actually sort of genius: "she's got me higher than a M.F./she's got me flying in this M.F..." Usher clearly steals the show with his best collaborative effort in sometime. Finally, "Someone to Love Me" ingeniously lifts a smart choice of sample in "You Roam When You Don't Get It At Home," as performed by The Sweet Inspirations. Diddy provides one of his most captivating rap performances on this cut, clearly in the album's top five if not top three.

"Hate You Now" is solid, though less satisfactory than any of the `big three.' "Yesterday," featuring beleaguered R&B singer Chris Brown, is solid, if a shade valedictory than the best of this effort. "Shades" is interesting, but a bit of an oddity that is hard to shake off, particularly given one sole listen. The cut features `royalty' in the form of Lil Wayne, Justin Timberlake, Bilal & James Fauntleroy. "Angels," featuring Notorious B.I.G. (sample: "My Downfall") and Rick Ross is exceptional, but drags on too long. "Your Love" features Trey Songz, who sounds as solid as always, but doesn't quite make "Your Love" a `hit.'

"Strobe Lights" featuring Lil Wayne helps redirect any lost momentum. 7 Aurelius's production work is outstanding, as is Lil Wayne's quasi-rapped/-spoken performance. "Hello Good Morning" featuring T.I. follows, keeping the quality of `Last Train to Paris' at a lofty level. "I Know" continues the upward swing of things, featuring a soulful Chris Brown, Wiz Khalifa & Seven of Rich Girl. "Coming Home" featuring Skylar Grey is equally alluring, but it is bonus cut "Loving You No More," featuring the ubiquitous Drake that is a true show stopper, ending this effort on a very high note.

Overall, Last Train to Paris is one of the biggest surprises of the year. Diddy proves that he has not aged a bit and also recognizes his limitations as an MC. I highly recommend this effort, particularly if you like a solid crossover album that transcends one set genre.