Diddy

Good hip-hop producers create hot beats, beats you can dance to, rhyme over, remember.

Great hip-hop producers, however, create a sound. They have a point of view.

If you didn’t know that before, you will definitely know that now, once you catch any of the fourteen tracks that make up Press Play, Diddy’s dazzling new Bad Boy/Atlantic Records release. As Diddy and guest stars Ciara and Big Boi intone on “Wanna Move”, it’s a CD that will “get you high on music” while you “enjoy the vibe.”

And it’s a new vibe, indeed. Combining all the artistic influences that have defined him as a hip-hop fan, artist and producer over the years, Diddy has done something artists always tell you they intend to do, but rarely actually accomplish: He’s taken it to the next level, creating a sound that might best be described as New Wave-meets-Hip-hop, sexy electro-pop with a urban street beat. Like hip-hop has always been, it’s a riveting mix of the new and the old. But Diddy does something with the music cutting edge of musical forms; it’s sounds like nothing you’ve ever heard before, massaging the ear as passionately as it shakes the ass.