Bark + Bite

Diddy hits SXSW festival sans the Dirty Money

Chalk it up to the indie vibe of the now major SXSW festival in Austin, Texas, but Diddy, for once, decided to scale back and tone down for his set at the music festival.

The king of excess has been hard at work, plugging away at his Dirty Money concept album, but for SXSW, Diddy went back to being Puffy, kicking it with the vintage hits from Bad Boy's deep catalogue including "All About the Benjamins," "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems" and "Victory."

There was no gloss and no varnish in sight, aside from Diddy's trademark sunglasses, and concertgoers got to be up close and personal. Don't believe it? Check out the white deodorant clumps in Diddy's arm pits. That's real hip hop, baby.

Watch a video of Diddy's SXSW performance below

Get to know the more personal side of Dirty Money

Video via Mr. World Premiere

The Dirty Money crew sat down with MTV2's Sucker Free for a detailed interview revealing how the group got its name and the journey they've gone on to building group chemistry. Amazingly, Puffy's ego is downsized considerably and he lets Kalenna and Dawn do a lot of the talking. Dirty Money has been good for Diddy, humbling in fact. And they've out to be one of the better hip pop acts in 2010.

Dirty Money throw down with Swizz Beatz on SNL

Now that the Last Train to Paris is finally pulling out of the station, Diddy, Dawn and Kalenna are hard at work putting in promo time for the album's upcoming release. Bad Boy was in the building on Saturday night for SNL and their collaboration with Swizz Beatz, "Ass On the Floor," was a showstopper. Swizz got to play the Dirty Money crew's hypeman, while Diddy played the background for the first half of the performance letting Dawn and Kalenna shine.

The energy of the song, which uses the same drum pattern as Major Lazer's "Pon di Floor," is undeniably infectious. And who knew Swizz was capable of unleashing this much energy on stage? Swizzy was darting back and forth across the stage, crouching down and getting hype. His Twitter account might be dead for his wife's charity, but he was live on stage.

Diddy, once again, borrows shamelessly from Kanye West, surrounding himself with a bevvy of android-like white models and rocking a red coat and red shoes. Admittedly, Diddy has never been one to shy away from appropriation, but seriously, Kanye was just on SNL in that red jacket and shoes with the stoic white models in October. He could at least let the memory of the original fade a bit before recycling and reusing.

Watch Dirty Money rock the house with Swizz Beatz below

Diddy surveys his emotional wasteland in "Coming Home" video

The latest single from Diddy's Dirty Money crew (who knows what number we're on at this point) sees the media mogul reflect on the wreckage his playboy lifestyle has wreaked on his family life. It's yet another mea culpa to his babies' mother Kim Porter and his children, expressing remorse over his immaturity and irresponsibility. Kalenna and Dawn tag along to play the Greek chorus in Diddy's self-made tragedy. This hurts.

Watch Diddy and the Dirty Money crew walk a thousand miles below

Diddy gives a side eye to people who call him a cheat and a thief

Photo credit: Wireimage.com

It might not be fair, or even totally accurate, but the phrase "Diddy is a snake" has become a common quip in hip hop and music industry circles. While the Bad Boy CEO is well-known as a charismatic personality and tastemaker, his role as a guiding hand at his record label has been an uncomfortable roller coaster.

Faith Evans, 112, Carl Thomas, Danity Kane, Dream, Da Band, Black Rob, Shyne and Total were all at one point artists under Diddy's tutelege. None remain so today. They've either disbanded, moved on to new deals or dropped out of the industry all together. Is Diddy greedily shortchanging his artists for his own personal wealth and gain? Puffy says, no way. SOURCE: HipHopDX.com

"There’s an off perception that needs to be addressed about me that I have ever robbed somebody or mistreated somebody. Or tried to be ruthless or whatever in this game. Like, all this year I’ve heard people say, 'Where’s Carl Thomas, where’s Black Rob, where’s G.Dep? Where are these artists?' And for some reason they go ahead and equate that, cause those artists aren’t with me, that I’ve done something wrong or malicious or conniving. It’s something that I do have a problem with because they don’t have no proof that I’ve ever done nothing like that," he said.

Diddy's defense is that a lot of artists come and go in the music industry. Some people are meant to stick around and some aren't. You know, don't hate the player, hate the game.

"But people don’t understand this game that were in. You have a short life expectancy. It’s rare to be a me, to be a Jay-Z, an LL, a Nas. That shit is a rarity. That’s not even one percent of the rappers. If you look at any artists that were on Ruff Ryders, where they at? If you look at any artist that was on Def Jam at the time we started, where they at? If you look at any artist that was on Roc-A-Fella, Jive, where they at? It’s not like anything was wrong with them. It’s just that you have a four, five-year average in this game."

Yes, that's true, but he places himself on a pedestal with Jay-Z and Nas when his situation is sharply different from theirs. As the CEO and artist on his own label, Diddy has pretty much limitless opportunities to "win" on the charts. When his singles flop, he just releases another, and another, and another, and throws in a remix on top of that, until he finds something that sticks. That's hardly the same generosity he extends to his artists who often find their projects shelved after a 2nd single fails to take.

Dawn and Kalenna: The side biscuits to Diddy's chicken dinner

Last year in 2009 when Danity Kane imploded, Diddy announced that he was plucking Dawn from the remains and putting her in his special new project, Dirty Money. Dawn, having been spared the vicious blade of the "Making the Band' guillotine, was grateful to Diddy for the second chance and hopped on board. Later, a third partner in crime was announced, singer-songwriter Kalenna, and Diddy did what he know how to do best: Launch an MTV reality show promoting his new project, "Making His Band."

Dirty Money dropped two singles in 2009, "Angels" and "Love Come Down" and waited for a hit. But it never came. New York radio showed them love but outside of the Empire State, no one seemed to pay the Dirty Money Crew any mind and the album release date kept slippin' and fallin'. Then, late last year, Diddy jumped ship from Atlantic Records, uprooted his Bad Boy imprint and moved it over to Interscope. The Dirty Money project was put on hold again while the label transition was sorted out.

But now, the wonder twins who make up the estrogen half of Dirty Money, are finally seeing a light at the end of the tunnel. The often-delayed and much belabored "Last Train to Paris" is set to depart on June 22. The two ladies spoke with HoneyMag.com about the upcoming album, a possible reality show to launch Dirty Money (again), Chief Diddy and possible solo projects in the future. There was no mention of whether the group would try to win on the charts with another single or whether they'd keep running the ball with the lukewarm first two singles. Instead, mixtape appeared to be the buzzword on Dawn and Kalenna's minds. SOURCE: HoneyMag.com

Diddy is finally ready to grow up, wants to work on becoming a better man

Photo from fOTOGLIF

Sean "Diddy" Combs might just be having the opposite of a mid-life crisis. Call it a mid-life awakening, if you will. The Bad Boy mogul unveiled a wax statue of his likeness yesterday in front of the press, with his Lil' Kim-look-a-like mother, sister and son in tow. While Puff wore his usual Cheshire cat grin for the cameras, when asked what he hoped to accomplish next in his career Diddy surprisingly didn't answer, "I wanna start my own reality television channel and replay 'Making the Band,' 'Starmaker' and 'I Wanna Work For Diddy' 24/7." Instead he said he planned on working on his personal life.

Who slipped Diddy some maturity syrup in his cup of Ciroc?

"I'm a work in progress. I think my focus now is more on my personal life. You know, me as a man. I just want to become the best man I can become," said Diddy.

Watch Diddy at the Madame Toussand's unveiling in this video from Reuters.

Does Sean John not make belts?

 

Does this video go into the Bitchassness files? While riling up the crowd during Obie of Motion Entertainment's party in NYC, Diddy found himself a little exposed. The mogul was hooting and hollering and gettin' his jig in celebration of his 40 years of life, baby mamas and sampling, but it appears that his pants couldn't keep up with the beat cause they dropped down to the flo', exposing Diddy's ashy knees and chicken legs.

Watch the video of the PANTS FAIL below.

Kudos to the Didster. He played it off like it wasn't no thang. It's a good thing he didn't wear his "Ma$e + Puff = 4Eva" boxers. Now that would've been embarrassing.