The Saga Continues P. Diddy & the Bad Boy Family Bad Boy, 2001   Buy it online Tracks 1: The Saga Continues 2: Bad Boy For Life 3: Toe Game 4: That's Crazy 5: Let's Get It 6: Shiny Suit Man 7: Diddy 8: Blast Off 9: Airport 10: Roll With Me 12: On Top 13: Where's Sean 14: Child Of The Ghetto 15: Incomplete 16: So Complete 17: Smoke 18: Lonely 19: I Need A Girl 20: Nothing's Gonna Stop Me Now 21: If You Want This Money 22: I Don't Like That 23: Back For Good Now 24: Can't Believe 25: The Last Song Reviewed by Lincoln Cho	There are some albums you like going in. Before you've heard the first single, seen the first video or pulled the cellophane off the CD, you want to like them, if for no other reason than you like the artist, have liked what he's produced in the past and have every reason to hope that the latest will, in fact, be the greatest: better than anything that has gone before. If this is the case then, obviously, the reverse can be just as true. Artists that, if you don't loathe them on general principle, you at least really aren't nuts about who they are or what they stand for. That pretty much sums up my feelings while I pulled the wrapper off The Saga Continues, the first album to sport P. Diddy's name since he was known by another name entirely. The Saga Continues is a surprise, though. Despite early reviews that have mostly panned this latest effort from the baddest of the Bad Boys, The Saga Continues is tight, varied and ample even if it is -- somewhat predictably -- overproduced. Doubling as a showcase for the latest wave of talent from Sean Combs' (the artist formerly known as Puff Daddy) Bad Boy Entertainment, The Saga Continues features contributions from "family" members Cheri Dennis, Black Rob, G. Dep, Kain, Harve Piere, Mark Curry, Big Azz Ko, Blassy, Loon, Faith Evans, Carl Thomas and more. And more. And more. The resulting album is a sort of varied tribute to P. Diddy, with these amazing talents -- and Combs has always had an inarguable eye for talent -- contributing their riffs and their rhymes but all of it to some degree celebrating the big Diddy, himself. Somehow this epic approach to ego works. If the Didd-meister occasionally comes across as arrogant, we have to sort of sit back and think about that. At this point in his career he can own a bit of arrogance. Just over 30 years old, Combs has amassed a diversified empire that boggles the mind: aside from his entertainment holdings -- and these are vast -- the Diddifier owns a couple of restaurants -- both named "Justin's" for his son -- one in New York City and one in Atlanta. He designs clothing under the Sean John label and owns Web design and marketing firms. And while this empire has taken (some would say well-deserved and self-inflicted) hits over the last couple of years, it's still been a mind-boggling accomplishment. It puts one in mind of a sort of urban Martha Stewart, though Combs is almost exactly half that style maven's age and it's difficult to imagine Stewart tucking a handgun into her Hermés bag. Or maybe it isn't, what the hell do I know? Here's what I do know: The Saga Continues is a worthwhile showcase of the best of Bad Boy. If Combs' own rhymes sometimes feel a little trite or a little hollow, with 18 songs and 25 tracks (several of these are interludes of one kind or another) there is enough here to satisfy anyone who has enjoyed even one of the artist's many phases. And while much on The Saga Continues is quite good, a few tracks push the whole up into the postmodern, hip hop stratosphere. "That's Crazy" is as good as anything Combs has contributed to with an upbeat tempo that pulls you towards the floor. The rap here is performed, alternately, by Black Rob, G. Dep and P. Diddy. Listen to P. Diddy's thread for a bit of an explanation of his most recent name change, including this line: Man, we done had the key to the city From now on there's no Puff just Diddy Man, New York never looked so pretty Can't picture N-Y without no Diddy Listen closely, as well, to the interlude track called "Shiny Suit Man." Here Combs, sounding vulnerable and even childlike, talks about his "government" name -- Sean John Combs -- but intimates that, of all the names he's known by (and they are getting to be legion) he prefers Shiny Suit Man. This piece of fun is echoed in the liner notes where, on a "family" photo where almost everyone is indicated by their best known name as well as an AKA, combs is labeled as "P. Diddy AKA News@11." Considering the year he's had, this could either be a little poke at himself or yet another name-in-waiting. Personally, I'm going to hope for the former. This artist has so much potential and so very much going on it would be nice to think he's back on the road to using all of that power for good instead of evil. | August 2001 Lincoln Cho is a musician and freelance writer.	Somehow this epic approach to ego works. If the Didd-meister occasionally comes across as arrogant, we have to sort of sit back and think about that. At this point in his career he can own a bit of arrogance.