Last Train to Paris
Last Train to Paris is a collaborative studio album by American rapper and record producer Diddy and American R&B duo Dirty Money, billed collectively as "Diddy – Dirty Money". It was released on December 14, 2010, by Bad Boy Records and Interscope Records. It is the only album by Dirty Money before their 2012 disbandment, although the group reunited once more to co-perform on a song from Diddy's fifth album, The Love Album: Off the Grid in 2023. Story-wise, the album follows Diddy's alter-ego as he travels from London to Paris to regain his lost love; subject matter and lyrics are predominantly based around dramatized descriptions of romance, heartache, vulnerability, regret, and emotional conflict.[4] Last Train to Paris is predominantly contemporary R&B, but incorporates elements of Eurodance, Italo disco and tech house.
Last Train to Paris
December 14, 2010
2008–2010
- 2nd Floor Studios (Hollywood)
- Boom Boom Room (Burbank)
- Chalice Studios (Los Angeles)
- End of Era (Los Angeles)
- No Excuses (Los Angeles)
- Daddy's House (New York)
- Record Plant (New York)
- 64:55 (standard)
- 73:07 (deluxe)
- 7 Aurelius
- Alex da Kid
- Arden "Keyzbaby" Altino
- Swizz Beatz
- D'Mile
- Danja
- Deekay
- Jerry Duplessis
- Sean Garrett
- Guy Gerber
- Hollywood Hot Sauce
- Jay-Z
- Rodney "Darkchild" Jerkins
- James "JLack" Lackey
- Polow da Don
- Harve Pierre
- Miykal Snoddy
- Team S. Dot
- The-Dream
- Tricky Stewart
- Mario Winans
Guest vocalists on the album include Grace Jones, Chris Brown, Lil Wayne, Skylar Grey, Drake, Justin Timberlake, Nicki Minaj, T.I., Wiz Khalifa, Swizz Beatz, Trey Songz, Rick Ross, Usher, Sevyn Streeter, James Fauntleroy, Bilal and The Notorious B.I.G. The album also features vocal segues from designers and editors of the fashion world, including Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour and Tommy Hilfiger. The executive producers on the album are Rodney Jerkins, Diddy, Mario Winans and Harve Pierre.
The album marks Diddy's first and only project with Interscope Records after he and his Bad Boy label parted ways with Atlantic Records in 2009. Last Train to Paris was generally praised by critics, who commended the addition of Richard and Harper to help Diddy innovate a new sound. Its three preceding singles, "Angels", "Hello Good Morning" and "Loving You No More", were met with moderate success on the Billboard Hot 100; however, its fourth, "Coming Home" peaked at number 11 on the chart and foresaw the album's release the following month—in December. The album spawned two further singles released the next year, both of which failed to chart. During its opening week, Last Train to Paris outperformed expectations, debuting eight places higher than predicted—at number seven—on the US Billboard 200. It sold 101,000 copies, compared to the 60,000-70,000 copies that Billboard had predicted it would sell. However, despite this, the album underperformed sales-wise.
Conception[edit]
Diddy described Last Train to Paris as an "electro-hip-hop-soul funk" album[5] which has been three years in the making.[6] Diddy says the sound of this album was influenced by "being in the dance music world and doing stuff with Felix da Housecat, Erick Morillo, Deep Dish, DJ Hell and being in Ibiza and DC10."[7] The arc follows Diddy's character as he tours from London to Paris and finds the woman of his dreams - only to lose her, find her, lose her again and find her a final time.[8] The records were conceptualised from Diddy's comments to his producers. He told Alex da Kid (who produced "Coming Home") "I want a beat that makes me feel like a white man in a basement in Atlanta." Diddy said that "most of the producers he worked with, he's been friends with for a long time. The records came together by hanging out with them, taking them to parties and showing them movies".[9]
In an interview with MTV News, Diddy said "One of the things [Dirty Money] trying to represent is emotion... Not being afraid to show emotion on record. A lot of records out right now — no disrespect to them, but they're all surface. It's about what people have or a dance. All our records are gonna be about love, feelings and emotion. Last Train to Paris is a love story and the most vulnerable album I've ever been involved in. It's raw emotion — you get a feeling, a vibe."[10] Diddy also released an application for the iPhone that integrates his social networking site and Twitter feed.[11] A short film will also accompany the album.[8] Rap producer Bangladesh, also confirmed that he would be producing for the album.[12] According to New York magazine, the album was "assembled from 60 or so songs. The genesis of Last Train to Paris is full of odd stories involving our hero, ensconced in a darkened studio, barking batty ideas to his production team."[9]
Dirty Money[edit]
Last Train to Paris is officially credited to Diddy – Dirty Money. Dirty Money was formed when Diddy asked former Danity Kane member Dawn Richard, and singer-songwriter Kalenna Harper to perform alongside him on the album.[13][14] In an interview with All Hip-Hop, Diddy said that Dirty Money is "not about no drug money, illegal money, or anything negative". Instead he described it as "a sound, a movement, [and] a crew", something fresh and unique for his new album. He explained that "he wanted to tell a love story" but needed Dirty Money because "he couldn’t just tell the male’s point of view."[15] Further elaborating on the group's name, Diddy told Slant Magazine that its origins are dated back to 2005 when the group was at "a strip club in Jacksonville, Florida, during the Super Bowl. People heard I was there, and all of a sudden so many people came in that I had to rush outside to my truck. I was sitting there with a bunch of money and I was like, 'Damn, this is some dirty money.' A light bulb went off that day."[16] Simon Vozick-Levinson from Entertainment Weekly described the group's role on the album as "fleshing out Last Train's skeletal storyline, playing jealous lovers, disappointed partners, and commanding divas to his conflicted playboy."[1] Jim Farber of New York Daily News said that Dirty Money "sing loudly, often and well -- a good thing", on the disk.[17] Henry Yanney of Soulculture said that Last Train to Paris was vocally-led Harper and Richard, who give the album "attitude and style". He said "the duo sing harmoniously and break into solos with much precision and pace, remaining in sync at all times with the abrasive club influenced beats on hand."[18] David Jeffries said that at times Dirty Money came off as "fine background singers or part of Diddy’s Fashion Week posse."[2] Matt Sayles disagreed, stating that on the record, "Diddy takes a backseat" which allowed "Kaleena and Dawn to do a lot of the heavy lifting (and breathing) on a wide range of songs."[19] Dirty Money was inspired by the 1980s bands Soul II Soul and Loose Ends though Diddy pointed out that he "wanted to flip things" by having two girls and one guy in the band. "Two bad divas, one for the left and one for the right side of me".[15] He told Amos Barshad from New York that "[The girls in Dirty Money] diamonds in the rough. These girls got a certain flavor and swagger, which is rare in this marketplace."[20]
Album cover[edit]
The album cover is a photograph at Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France) taken by Australian cricket writer and photographer Jarrod "Jrod" Kimber.[21]
Guest vocals[edit]
Guests included on the album were initially confirmed as Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Drake, Lil Wayne, Rick Ross, T.I., Swizz Beatz, Grace Jones, Bilal and Wiz Khalifa but the final track list also included Skylar Grey.[22][23] Richard told MTV News that the album had been in the making before she and Harper joined Diddy to form Dirty Money. She said "I know when Kalenna and I speak, we sometimes feel giddy because people like pioneers of the game said, 'You know what? We want to be on your album,'". Richard also defended the number of guests on the album stating that it was a "labor of love" which is why the group felt like the album needed a "stunning introduction" to the world.[6] Simon Vozick-Levinson of Entertainment Weekly said the role of the guests on the album "[mainly] assorted suave fellows... help fill out [Diddy]'s side of the conversation."[1] Vogue was first to reveal that editors and fashion designers have recorded vocal segues for the album. Among those set to feature on the album are Isaac Mizrahi, André Leon Talley, Zac Posen, Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour (editor in chief at Vogue) and Tommy Hilfiger.[6] Talley said of his involved in the album, "[Diddy]'s like great creative thinkers in music who love fashion; swooner Marvin Gaye in his duets with Tammi Terrell comes to mind — what sense of elegance, what Motown glamour!"[24]
Commercial performance[edit]
In its opening week, the Last Train to Paris debuted on the US Billboard 200 at number 7, with 101,000 copies sold. The final figure sold was, in Billboard's own words, "rather larger than initial forecasts",[58] which put the album at around number 15, with 60,000 - 70,000 copies.[59] Despite beating the expectations, the Last Train to Paris underperformed against Diddy's previous album, Press Play (2006), which debuted at number one, with 170,000 copies sold.[58] Thus far, it is Diddy's lowest charting album on this chart[60] as well as Dawn Richard's lowest charting Billboard 200 album, the others being with the group Danity Kane.[61] The album also debuted on the US Top Digital Albums at number 7[62] and the US R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number 3.[63] It is also both Diddy's and Richard's lowest charting R&B/Hip-Hop album, thus far.[60][61] Last Train to Paris is Kalenna Harper's first appearance on any Billboard album chart.[64] As of May 8, 2011, the album has sold around 270,000 copies in the United States.[65]