The last time Diddy put out an album, he just barely jumped the gun. 2010's Last Train to Paris, credited to himself and Dirty Money, came just before the producer-as-stage manager gig came back into vogue. Now, the Artist Formerly Known As Puffy has not one, but two full-length efforts on the way. The first, Making Money Mitch, is the one that he teased when he announced a limited-time return to producing (and a desire to work with only the elite of the elite). The second won't be a Diddy album; Sean Combs will resurrect the Puff Daddy & The Family byline for what he plans to be his last musical effort, No Way Out 2. Now, behind-the-scenes footage exclusive to Apple Music shows him hard at work with Pharrell.

Title cards suggest that the pair has been working at crafting the sequel to Puff's 1997 debut for more than seven weeks now. Diddy doesn't speak directly to the camera per se, but he does let it slip that the new effort will be short, somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 tracks. Of course, Pharrell is the more hands-on member of the duo, adjusting and re-adjusting patterns to fit the Bad Boy founder's abstract visions. Gizzle, the latest artist signed to that 20-year-old label, has said that No Way Out 2 will be the mogul's last album. The original won the 1998 Grammy for Best Rap Album, beating out solo debuts from Missy Elliott and Wyclef Jean and sprawling double-disc efforts from the Wu-Tang Clan and The Notorious B.I.G., Puff's friend and protege who had been gunned down in March of the previous year. 

 

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