mixtape maestro (2.0)

The idea of Diddy tossing in his own take on contemporary music’s undying obsession with all things bridging an 80′s pop/ electro-rap sensibility with a Y4K club feel (read: his own 808′s & Heartbreak or “Boom Boom Pow”) for the forthcoming, high-concept LP Last Train To Paris felt very unnecessary from the first moment it was announced.

But then we remembered a few things: A) Diddy-as-musician has kinda always felt unnecessary; B) his decade-plus-strong career as admittably unleashed more than a few entries we still get giddy over every time they’re given a new spin; and C) “Last Night” was the it-shay, so an entire album somewhat based on that one single should yield a couple keepers…right? (Plus, we couldn’t help but be a tad intrigued by the still-in-construction snippets teased on his latest reality-TV guilty pleasure, Making His Band).

So, with all that said, where do we stand after finally getting a full helping of the newly leaked, maybe/ maybe-not first single “Love Comes Down”.

Well, it’s not as immediately grabbing as “Last Night” (nor, contrary to our hopes and dreams, a futurized remake of Evelyn “Champagne” King’s 1982 roller-rink gem “Love Come Down”), but it has some good moments. Notably the verses, which latch onto an ear-treating smoove groove with it’s jingly bells production and Dirty Money ladies Dawn (the ex-Danity Kane one) and Kaleena (the Estelle-looking one) sounding like a new version of late-90′s Diddy protogees Total as they relate a trite, devotional R&B lyric (“Oh babe my heart’s on overload and you’re to blame/ Lookin’ for a future with you babe/ Willin’ to give me your last name…”).

Unfortunately, all that slightly engaging build-up never leads to the gigantic, out-of-this-world hook the track demands, disappointingly fumbling it’s curioso hold over the aural cavities with a limp chorus that needlessly tacks on a sampled Jay-Z line (“Izzo (H.O.V.A.)”‘s “Show ‘em how to move in a room full of vultures”). And the less said about Diddy’s bored rap interlude, the better (this group is in dire need of a stronger emcee).

Decent stuff (at least the guy still knows how to pull off a solid enough R&B number), but “Love Comes Down” is nowhere near the mind-blowing game-changer Diddy has prepped us into anticipating, resigning us, until further leakage, to stick with our initial sense of this whole ordeal being completely “unnecessary”.

DL: “Love Comes Down” (alt)