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Puff Daddy: Forever
 Time was when producer, record executive, and socialite Sean
"Puffy" Combs was a one-man sure-shot. But the game of hip-hop is a
fickle one and Puffy's brand of pop-rap, heavy on recognizable party-hearty
samples and Italian designer name-dropping lyrics, is falling from favor. These
days the market demands a tougher, leaner (if no less status-conscious) breed.
So it's no surprise from a commercial standpoint that many of the 19 tracks on Combs's
second solo CD reflect this au courant street sound. Of course, the notion of
Combs adapting a thuggish posture is laughable. He is about as threatening as the Tasmanian Devil, which is
probably why he leaves the truly down and dirty rhymes to guest rappers such as
Busta Rhymes and Redman. It's hard to argue with Puffy's talent as a producer;
even with his love for the blatant he can still cook up a sizzling cut. But as
a rapper he's a would-be at best, and what he has to say is even more
pointless. The constant references to himself as a Christlike figure, the
nonstop paranoia, his insistence that he's a wanted, dangerous public enemy are
self-indulgent nonsense. In the end, Forever is a star-studded ego trip from an
artist who should stick to making dope hits for other people.
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