Diddy Boppin

Let's be honest, we never fully appreciate people while they are alive. Last week I paid my regards to pitchman Billy Mays, and now it's my turn to salute a true living legend. He's one of the world's greatest entertainers, influencing the worlds of music, movies, theater, and fashion. I'm talking of course about the one and only Sean "P. Diddy" Combs.

Ok, the lead paragraph is what we in the biz call a "hook," and it's obviously a bit tongue-in-cheek. Since the theme of this blog is honesty, I'll be honest myself here. I used to despise Diddy. Interestingly enough, though, he hasn't changed over the years. He's always been the same Diddy--the things I despised about him before are the same things I love about him now. He's arrogant, flashy, and talentless, but at the end of the day he is entertaining. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times--in any form of entertainment, you have to be really good or really bad. You have to either be Einstein-funny or dumb as rocks. In hip-hop, I like Lupe and Common because of their intelligence and Cam'ron because he's in essence a joke-rapper. In movies, I go back-and-forth between Memento and Dumb and Dumber atop my all-time favorite movie list. Diddy is absolutely ridiculous, but if you stop taking him seriously then his entertainment level rises infinitely.

If we travel back in time to old-Diddy, we can see he really has always been the same. Throughout the 90's, Diddy was fortunate enough to manage potentially the greatest rapper that ever lived in The Notorious BIG. So here you have a phenomenal rapper in the midst of recording epic songs played even still today, and his clown of a manager feels the need to hop on the tracks. Witness Diddy's adlib contribution to Biggie's "Big Poppa" (arguably his most popular track ever):

Tell your friends, to get with my friends, and we can be friends
Sh*t we can do this every weekend. Is that alright wit' you? Yeah, keep banging.

Further proof of Diddy's adlib prowess, on Biggie's "Long Kiss Goodnight":

See the f*cked up thing is that I love you. It's just in my nature to love you.
I can't hate you cuz it's not in my nature to hate you.

Diddy seemed to save his best for the music videos, too. Looking back at these classic videos, why didn't we all pick it up sooner that this guy was a joke?

• "Mo Money Mo Problems" (look at the outfits! Just watch Diddy the whole time. You'll have a new appreciation)
• "Missing You" (gotta love the motorcycle wipeout in the intro)
• "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" (again with the dance moves)

Fast forward 10 years and Diddy continues to top himself on a weekly basis. He's even taken advantage of the Twitter craze, posting various updates in his PTwittyTV series. Some of my favorite PTwittyTV episodes:

• Epsiode #20- Swagga Like Puff (should undoubedtly win a Grammy, Moonman, ASCAP, Emmy, Tony, and every other possible award. If you don't find this funny then you are a certified square)
• Episode #24- Live From the 305! (I'm going to replicate this video in my neighborhood one day)
• Episode #27- Recent Breakout of B*tchassness (the Maybach ain't hurtin the situation, neither)

And in case you want the summer/fall/winter knock-it-out-of-the-park hit of 2009, make sure you download Diddy's latest hit, Diddy Bop.

All in all, you have to love Diddy. Because of his affiliation with Biggie, we cut him slack and let him hang around in the highest of hip hop circles. Since we've grown a little further from the situation, we all now realize what Diddy is about--absurdity. He's just here to make us laugh and make us move--nothing more, nothing less. Once you properly file him away into his place in the entertainment world, you can more fully appreciate what he brings to the table. Now do that Diddy Bop!