Hello everyone, and welcome to a special edition of Short-Long Music Review.
Today, I'll be reviewing three songs. But here's the twist, all of them are by a group made up of one rapper and two backup singers who become amazing co-stars in their own right.
This idea came to me one early morning back in August when watching an episode of Chowder. (Don't ask what it was or what I was doing.) So I've decided to create this seemingly random edition of Short/Long...for no reason. So let's get started.
We all know Sean Combs (aka Puffy aka Puff Daddy aka P. Diddy aka Diddy aka Puff Daddy),
rapper, entrepreneur, liquor connoisseur, and all-around money grabber.
But did you know he was a member of his own music group? Yes that actually happen, and thanks to me, you now remember about that again.
Today, we’re taking a look at one of the most popular, successful, and yet most quickly forgotten music groups of the 2010s. (And trust me, they came and went as quickly as this post)
Today, I, Andrew, present to you this special edition of Short/Long Music Review on Diddy - Dirty Money.
After his last album Press Play, Diddy did-cided (heh) to take his career to the next level--by creating a group featuring two female singers (Kalendra and Dawn Richard) and begin production on a concept album, Last Train to Paris. This album, their only production, featured a style and technique different from the Puff’s original style, and incorporates Dance and Europop with Hip-Hop and R&B, creating a vibe in music that probably hasn’t been seen in the mainstream before, and setting the tone for many other artists to come.
Three of the songs featured here
"Hello Good Morning",
"Ass on The Floor",
and "Coming Home"
were the group’s hit singles from Last Train, and have probably become staples in the club scene since. (I really don’t know; I obviously never went to the club when these songs came out, and I don’t think I will for a while soon after.) I thought they were fun to listen to as a kid, and I still think so today. They still hold up well as dance tracks, too, since these songs were popular because of their choruses more than others.
So let’s get to it, shall we?
Looking at these lyrics, you would think I would know what they are and that I know them by heart. But I don’t. The way Dirty Money using their lyrics sounds like mangled gibberish, with a few sentences I could grasp. This is all I could pick up from the first time:
“Cause I be hangin’ at the bar,
I be paintin’ up the SARS,
all the girls gonna gimme mo’ fries/
Twenty-five on tha bag,
got me somethin’ on they ass,
And they mad cause I just got flies”
--I’m not saying that they can’t sing right, but that doesn’t make sense.
“Got’cha boyfriend chillin’ like a groupie/
Ya know (x3) we on that”
That’s a strange way of saying “I’m taking your girlfriend”. But...okay. Still wrong.
“HGM (x2)...
Hello Good Evening/
You blow...
You feenin...
'Cause you know...
...that you really need it”
Okay...what the hell was that? This three-minute song is something I didn’t expect much. Most of the lyrics feel less like verse and more like a chorus--an ever changing chorus. And that’s sad when you actually pay attention to this track.
But...when you don’t pay attention to it... it works amazingly. The beat is perfect to dance to and keeps a great party/club-like vibe going from start to finish. And the catchiness of just one short lyric repeating over this song somehow makes it even better. When you start to listen to this, you know to get up and move--and when it ends, you leave feeling good and excited. And in that regard, this song works great.
It sucks when actually listening to the lyrics, but rocks when you don’t and just dance to it.
It’s a two-sided coin that works in this song's favor.
There is also a version featuring Rick Ross and TI that’s just a great, with lines from both rappers that I actually enjoy.
In terms of concept, the chorus makes no sense in relation to it and the lyrics. If this is a song about a bad relationship and heartbreak, shouldn’t the title and chorus reflect that? All I can get from this is that it’s a song about going to the club and shaking your rump, and then about breaking up with someone who’s a motherfucker. For all I know, this could be about some woman (since DM is singing the lyrics) breaking up with a guy-”the motherfucker”-and then going to the club to forget about her breakup and her heartbreak. At least, from that perspective, that could make a lot more sense. But it’s not, because everything is not matching.
--Because no one wants to look at human waste? Or...
Anyway, let’s get serious here. This song is, to me, really good.
The hip-pop beat (yes, “hip-pop”--a genre term I want to use to refer to songs featuring both pop and hip-hop) is absolutely bombastic; the use of drums give a high amount of energy and excitement, and Swizzy’s chorus only adds to the fun. Diddy also rounds it out putting up actual energy we can notice (actually sounding like he gives a damn) and still puts in a great bit of swagger, class and power into his verse. And DM’s vocals are beautiful and show off their own personalities while singing their verses about one girl getting her heart broken by a motherfucker.
And speaking of that word, my only gripe of this is the fact that all members of D-DM say the word “motherfucker” in all their verses. It’s really annoying and nearly ruins the tone of the song. I already got the message--I feel your pain; I don’t need you to hammer in one word at the end of your lyrics. It nearly kills the entire vibe hearing one of the Seven Dirty Words You Can’t Say on Television said 8 times throughout the track (which now I think of it, is pretty amusing.)
Other than that, “Ass on The Floor” is a very fun, very-well-written, very-catchy and very-enjoyable song. And because of that, I find this the better of these songs.
Only the better, because we now reach the best single this short-lived group had to offer.
featuring Skylar Grey.
This song definitely can be a powerful and empowering tune.
As it plays, a story is told about a man who lives his life in sin and makes many mistakes, breaking the relationship between him and his family. But with compassion, begging, some money, and love, the relationship has mended and is stronger.
So, what's there to love about it?
Diddy's vocals are not only great, but also retrospective. He details his life, his career, his kids and his former significant lovers, with the pain he has given to them and other people in his life shown in full detail. And after bouts of heartbreak, regret, and change, he becomes a better man and goes to change his life in the eyes of his loved ones for the better.
Skylar Grey's vocals in the chorus is glorious. The soft, meek weakness in her voice fit the song amazingly, and give it a layer of sincerity and vulnerability to it. And, even though they've been shunted to the background--saying only a few words throughout the song, and probably sang the chorus along with Grey (although I really couldn't tell), they do a great job with their vocals as well.
So, this song is certainly the group's best song, and one of the best songs to be released in 2010.
And these are the three songs that brought Diddy - Dirty Money to huge success around the the world, both commercially and critically. All of these songs are great in their own ways--they're fun to listen to, with dope lyrics that are actually written well, and the swagger and sex appeal that Diddy carried from his classic are oozing in these tracks. I loved hearing these songs back then, and I still love them now.
I had no idea the group was created in 2007, and lasted for about 5 years until it disbanded in 2012; because all I knew about it came from 2010-12, with all of the creation happening so quickly to keep the Didds relevant. And it worked thanks to the result and impact.
I’ve enjoyed their songs and their appearances on TV: from Saturday Night Live to the BET Awards to American Idol and more.
The music they spotlight is a lovely change and it shows: different vocals, different genres and different everything. And it’s a nice change for me from the crap gansta rap and ghetto trash-bag hip-hop we've been exposed to for so long at the time. Ans I'm happy to have been exposed to them as I did years ago.
So I salute Diddy - Dirty Money for being a great group for giving us great rap/dances jams, and getting some actually needed success--commercially and critically--in the process.
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