Artist: Diddy Dirty Money
Album: Last Train To Paris
Label: Bad Boy Entertainment/Interscope Records

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.

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