No Way Out (1997) - Puff Daddy & The Family

Obviously, in this day and age, the subject of Sean "Puffy" Combs, aka Puff Daddy, aka Diddy, is a touchy one. At the time of this writing, he is sitting in county jail awaiting trial on a variety of charges, including assault and sex trafficking (among other things). As a human being, he has always been suspect. Even way back when the east coast / west coast beef was destroying hip hop, famously taking the lives of 2pac and Puffy's best-selling artist The Notorious BIG, if you delved deeper into the issues at hand you would find Puff Daddy at the centre of things and showing some seriously dodgy behaviour. So who knows if he'll ever see the light of day again. 

Regardless, we sometimes must attempt to separate the art from the person and recently I found myself revisiting his first album 'No Way Out'. To say it's a 'Puff Daddy' album is somewhat misleading, as it is really more of a showcase for the Bad Boy Records of 1997. Similar to Dr. Dre's 1992 classic, 'The Chronic', Combs plays the role of curator more than anything on this album, for almost none of the most memorable moments feature the man himself. And in that sense, you could class this as an ensemble piece.

Even in 1997 it was no secret that Puff Daddy was not writing his own rhymes. This is evident quite often on this album and you can have a bit of fun trying to guess who wrote his rap for which song. However his delivery is believable enough and he is smart enough to have very few solo efforts in the rotation. Luckily, the man now known as Diddy knew enough, even back then, to know that his talents are not on the mic, but rather assembling some of the best rappers and certainly some of the best beat-makers of the era and letting them shine. In this regard, the album was a major success. For example, opening track 'Victory' features a beat ripped from 'Rocky' and I defy anyone not to get hyped by it. This is one of the greatest rap songs of all time and features The Notorious BIG at his absolute pinnacle, dropping not one but two of his greatest ever verses in a flurry of incredible wordplay: 

"Excellence is my presence, never tenseNever hesitant, leave a n***a bent real quick

Real sick, brawl nights, I perform like Mike

Anyone, Tyson, Jordan, JacksonAction, pack guns, ridiculous

And I'm quick to bust if my ends you touch

Kids or girl you touch, in this world I clutch

Two auto-matos, used to call me Fatso

Now they call me Castro"

This level of menace, combined with the beat, combined with Busta Rhymes screaming on the chorus, is enough to make you want to put your foot through a charity shop window. You shouldn't, but you know what I'm saying. The only sour point to this song is Diddy's mindset behind it all. By the time of release Biggie was dead. By the time they recorded it, 2pac would've already passed. Yet Diddy insists on opening his album with a song titled 'Victory' and throws in many ad-libs at the end jabbing at arch rival Suge Knight and Death Row Records. What is confusing is that, by any measure, this isn't a victory at all. His so-called best friend, and biggest-selling artist, had been mercilessly gunned down on Knight's home turf, so the fact that Puffy is posturing and peacocking this manner is somewhat confusing and perhaps gives us a window into what is truly important to him (and maybe a prelude of all the bleakness to come). That said, this song is a certified banger and Biggie's supreme rap skills deserve many, many listens. 

The pace continues with next track, and first single, 'Been Around The World' featuring Biggie once again and Bad Boy's newest star at the time, Mase. This song, despite essentially ripping the beat from Bowie's 'Let's Dance' and stealing the chorus from, of all people, Lisa Stansfield, is also a banger and ushered in the "shiny suit era" of rap music to the world. Mase got a lot of flack back in his day, due to being 'pop' and having his monotone, mealy-mouthed, delivery. But if you listen today, he really was underrated. His wordplay is pretty much flawless in every song he features on. You could even say that his laid-back style influenced an entire generation that came after him (50 Cent, we're looking at you). 

In terms of production, this album is on another level. One thing Bad Boy records had at this time was no shortage of amazing music at it's disposal. The Hit Squad, as they were known, featured some of the finest hip-hop producers in the world and 1997 was probably the peak for the collective. As they put out Biggie's 'Life After Death', this album, and Mase's 'Harlem World' all in the same year. All three albums went multiple times platinum and they almost created their own sub-genre within the genre, such was the potency of the music and their omnipresence in the charts. Here they are able to make a very sub-standard Diddy solo number like 'What You Gonna Do?' shine with it's vivid and sweeping sound. There are too many great beats on this album to list individually but obviously the one that became the most famous was 'It's All About The Benjamins' - featuring The Lox, Lil Kim and Biggie. This song was on MTV probably 7 times an hour at it's peak and it really shouldn't have any commercial appeal, but it somehow does. The beat is one of the most jeep-rattling numbers you're likely to hear, but it's a hardcore posse cut featuring nothing but lyrics, almost like a more polished version of Wu-Tang. It played everywhere, from underground clubs like the Tunnel to mainstream events like "MTV Spring Break" which is ridiculous really given lyrics like Lil Kim's "German luger for yo' ass bitch, deep throat it". 

Again, most of the highlights are highlights not because of Diddy, but almost in spite of him. 'Young Gs' features Jay-Z and Biggie spitting absolute fire once again. Every time these two collaborated it was gold and this song is no exception. They are both so superior that you forget that Diddy even has a verse. The same is true of 'I Love You Baby' featuring Black Rob. Lending his gruff storytelling capabilities to this classical violin beat (allegedly stolen from Havoc of Mobb Deep), this song qualifies as a real highlight, showing once again that Bad Boy really did have the best music during this time. Diddy, again, is irrelevant to the quality of this song.

After track 10, things inevitably sag for a bit. The beats are still outstanding, it just gets a bit much, particularly as Puff Daddy really has no point of view or nothing of interest to say. There are some nice touches on there (like some ridiculous tongue twisting from 90s legend Twista) but you're really just trying to get to the last two tracks at this point. The first of these is mega-hit and Notorious BIG tribute 'I'll Be Missing You'. I used to hate this song, largely because I knew quite a lot about the situation leading to Biggie's death and, if you know that, you know that Puff Daddy was quite involved. You could even say responsible to some degree. But I digress. Listening now, it's a lot more moving than I remember. I suppose that's because the chorus is being sung by his grieving wife. It still bothers me a bit, but it's better than I remember. 

The final track 'Can't Nobody Hold Me Down' goes back to braggadocio mode and you can tell this is Combs' comfort zone. Over the exact same beat as Grandmaster Flash's 'The Message', this song takes that original concept and completely flips it on it's head. Where the message was world-weary, revolutionary and wise beyond words, this is just talking about how sick their lives are and how rich they have all become. A confusing choice, but damnit if you don't find yourself jigging along to Mase's smooth delivery "broken glass everywhere, if it ain't about the money Puff I just don't care". Despite being the very antithesis of the original song, this still slaps. 

Overall this is a mixed bag of an album, but the highlights make it worth a visit. There are some unheralded Biggie gems on here that are worth the admission price alone and overall there is enough great music in here to make the album an enjoyable experience. It's the weakest of the three albums put out that year by Bad Boy Records, but that's not saying much as the other two are stone classics. So this is a pretty underrated effort, very much worth a listen for the beats and rhyme skills of everyone who isn't named Puff Daddy. Does it give you insight into what a monster there was, hiding in plain sight? It oddly does, but not for the reasons you'd expect. You have to dig a layer deeper, but it's there if you look hard enough. When you're dancing and spilling Crystal in the club though (or, in my case, half a bottle of Blue Nun), you'll barely notice. Which was probably part of the plan all along. 

★★★☆☆

JB.