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Press Play On Diddy's October LP, Hear Christina, Kanye, Mary J.
07.11.2006 3:06 PM EDT
'I've evolved a little bit,' rapper/producer says of back-to-basics album.
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Diddy
Photo: MTV News
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NEW YORK — Diddy has scrapped the PDV (PD Five) album name he's been working with for the past year. The official title for his October 3 release is now simply Press Play, an ode to Puff's vow to not overhype his
LP.
"I'm known for dramatic titles — 'Unforgivable' the cologne, [the albums] No Way Out, Forever, The Saga Continues," he said yesterday in his Daddy's House Studios. "I've evolved a little bit. Studied the game, been a part of it, had success. It all comes down to pressing play. After you press play, it's gonna make or break you in this game. That's where I'm at. We about to press play on October 3, and hopefully I can make people feel good."
For the past year and a half, Diddy has been working with a huge list of collaborators that includes Kanye West, Pharrell, Mary J. Blige, Brandy, Pharoahe Monch, Just Blaze, Will.I.Am and Fergie from the Black Eyed Peas and Mobb Deep's Havoc. The first single is a toss-up between "Tell Me," featuring Christina Aguilera, and "Come to Me," featuring Nicole from the Pussycat Dolls on the hook.
"It's basically all my musical experiences from the Uptown era, when I was working with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige and Guy and Heavy D and everything I learned as a producer from that," he said about the LP. "To the Biggie, 112, Mase, Total, Diddy, No Way Out era. As time evolved and I started traveling overseas and going into dance and techno clubs and seeing music from a worldwide point of view, it came together, all those sounds in my head. The approach I came into was sitting down with the tracks and making it something you would have to sell. I wanted it to be a CD to press play and it would hit you."
Diddy said his five-second rule determines if a song makes the cut: If the song didn't grab him within the first five seconds, it had to go. Press Play also has a theme.
"One of the things I've gone through in the last couple of years is a lot of situations with relationships," he said. "I wanted to do an album that had a concept but wasn't heavy on the concept. You get a character statement about who this man is. He meets this girl, they seduce each other, he falls in love, then there's some pain that comes with it. I thought that was a little bit different when I was listening to everything that was out there hip-hop-wise. I thought that was a lane I could get in. I kinda specialize in relationships and some of the problems and the seduction and all that. It's something we all go through."
The first track leaked from the LP is "Get Off," an interlude in which Diddy talks — but doesn't rap — about dancing on street corners in the summertime and in his basement.
"It really captures the energy of the movement," Diddy said of the song. "Being from Harlem, when we dance, we call it 'getting off.' "
— Shaheem Reid
 For more on Diddy, Christina Aguilera, Kanye West and Pharrell Williams, check out the MTV News Archive
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