Diddy Does Playboy

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Sean Diddy Combs recently did an interview with Playboy for their January 2010 issue where he talks about everything from his father to how the game has changed over the years, not writing his rhymes and of course his own ego. Here’s some interesting excerpts from the interview.

PLAYBOY: You sound like one of your idols, Muhammad Ali. Are you saying you’re the greatest?

COMBS: If I’m not inspiring you at this point, you’re a lost hope. I’m one of the baddest motherfuckers to ever do this shit, and I’m not saying that in an arrogant way. That’s a fact, in black and white. I dare you to write down all my achievements. It will be overwhelming. Break it down and then say who’s number one in hip-hop. Who else has conquered television? Who else has conquered fashion? I don’t want to hear you have a fashion line. Do you have a Council of Fashion Designers of America award? I need to know. Have you run a marathon? If you all still want to fuck with me after I ran the marathon, I don’t know what else to do.

PLAYBOY: Let’s get into some of the criticisms. You’ve been attacked for being one of the few rappers who don’t write their own rhymes. Is that a fair accusation?

COMBS:
My instrument and my tone represented Harlem—my swagger, my lazy flow. Nobody came in and told me how to do that. I was spoiled because my first rhyme was written by Biggie. People don’t know that Biggie was the one who pushed me to be an artist. I was afraid to do it, but he said, “The crowd goes crazy when you come out. I’m gonna write you some rhymes.” We did “It’s All About the Benjamins” and “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down.”.

PLAYBOY: You’ve done a lot of research on your father, Melvin. Did you find out why he was killed?

COMBS: My father was a real heavy in Harlem. He had the Italian connection from a guy he went to Catholic high school with. When my father was driving a limousine, he bumped into that guy, who was the son of someone very high up in the Mafia. The guy said, “You don’t need to be driving no limousine. I’m going to put you on.”

PLAYBOY: In what capacity did he put him on?

COMBS: Back then you were either getting the drugs from the Italians or the French connection. And my father became the connection to Harlem. You had to see my father. I’m not glorifying it. I’m not proud of it—I’m telling the story as it was told to me.

PLAYBOY: People say you’ve lost your passion for music.

COMBS: I agree. It’s hard to stay passionate. It’s hard to go from working with artists such as Biggie, Mary J. Blige, Jodeci and the LOX to the new generation of artists. The rules of the game have changed.

PLAYBOY: How have the rules changed?

COMBS: Artistry is not encouraged. You’re expected to deliver a record that fits in a nice comfortable box for everybody. Wack shit gets played on the radio and becomes number one. If you look at the records made in the past five years, which ones are going to be played 10 years from now? I’m not hating; that’s real talk. People can say whatever they want about me, but six or seven of my records are played every night. “It’s All About the Benjamins” is the most-played hip-hop record of all time. What other record is played in every country at a party every night? There’s only one other record, and that’s the second-most-played hip-hop record, “I’ll Be Missing You.” How in the hell does P. DiddyPuff Daddy—have the number one and number two most-played songs? Let’s talk about the factual information, and after that leave me alone and let me get on this last train to Paris and ride into the sunset. [laughs]

You can check out the full interview here.