Puff Daddy & The Family Liberate Triumphant Les Sins & Chromatics-sampling Return-to-form, "MMM" In Honor of Diddy's 46th Birthday (Bad Boy Records)

"Before, I used to make records when I made music... then, I decided to make culture. And as I got older, I decided I'm going to make fashion. Ladies and gentlemen, listen and watch some fashion," rapper-producer and mogul Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy preached to an audience full of industry insiders, rappers, producers, record execs, and socialites Tuesday night at an impromptu listening party. The matter at hand: Puffy's first project since Last Train to Paris (2010), MMM – short for Money Makin' Mitch, a self-described "sonic motion picture." Puff Daddy & The Family's long-rumored proper return-to-form, MMM appears to be a precursor to Combs' apparent final album, No Way Out II. Diddy's initial hustler's ambition-leaning concept behind MMM was first brainstormed during an evening of "Netflix and Ciroc & lemonade," in which he and his lady finally got around to watching Dame Dash's cult classic Shakespearean Hop-Hopera, Paid In Full; "Money Makin' Mitch is a fairy tale about this fly n***a from Harlem that came up and did his thing. He was shinin' on them, stylin' on them, showin' them how to do it. Showin' them how to get it," Sean Combs intricately rhymes on MMM's scene-setting introductory track, "Facts." "Maybe he was gettin' it in the wrong way, but the fairy tale of it is [that] most brothers and sisters end up dead or in jail," he cryptically continued. Diddy himself seems to be a semi-autobiographical real-life version of our protagonist, Mitch; having been a former New York street-hustling drug dealer who's managed to morph himself into a similar-minded music industry-hustling multi-million dollar mogul and endlessly successful money-makin' household name.

While MMM boasts an impressive array of talented "co-stars" ranging from Lil Kim to Pusha T, I would say the most note-worthy aspect of Puff Daddy's celebratory 46th birthday mixtape/street album is quite arguably its sheer commercial accessibility. Not entirely unlike his former Led Zeppelin-sampling hit, "Come with Me," MMM makes sonically flawless use of Middle American-friendly source material; particularly Toro Y Moi frontman Chaz Bundick's Dance-laden side project Les Sins and Italians Do It Better visionary Johnny Jewel, better known as "Chromatics." "Workin,'" in addition to Lil Kim, Styles P & King Los-assisted "Audition," was debuted on BET's annual Hip-Hop Awards show last month and makes perfect use of Bundick's infectious jittery refrain, "don't bother me... I'm workin.'" However, "Workin'" now sports a completely unnecessary and thankfully, sample-less end portion featuring 'Ringtone Rappers' Big Sean and TraviS Scott. "Harlem," on the other hand, showcases a comparably more subdued sample lifted from Chromatics' Night Drive and Drive Soundtrack-featured "Tick of The Clock." Puff Daddy & The Family are reportedly set to slowly unleash 13 music videos to accompany each of MMM's contained tracks, when fully assembled in ascending order, will make the "sonic motion picture" Puff Daddy had initially envisioned. Ahead of MMM, Puff Daddy & The Family quietly unleashed two neck-snapping tracks, "Finna Get Loose" and Rick Ross-assisted "Big Homie," which will seemingly re-appear on the newly-reformed Bad Boy Family's forthcoming quasi-sequel to their critically-acclaimed 1997 debut, No Way Out.

"Let Me Shine for You:" Lindsay Lohan for Playboy (Winter 2011-12 Leak)

Lindsay Lohan essentially embodies exactly "What NOT to Do In Hollywood :" Fame, fortune, success... sex, drugs & Rock "N" Roll . Within a fairly short period of time, Lohan somehow managed to obtain a plentiful helping of POWER @ a very young age. This gradual rise-downfall was captured on film; Between 1998-2010, she portrayed a wide array of roles across the silver screen in movies including: Mean Girls, Bobby , Herbie Fully Loaded , Georgia Rule, Machete , and Freaky Friday . Between rapid-paced film shoots, Lindsay Lohan also found time to record 2 Pop Rock albums for Casablanca , Speak (2004) and A Litter More Personal-Raw (2005). Needless to say, Lindsay Lohan has gotten roped up in a lot of troubles and woes with the law over the last 3-5 years... a vicious cycle of drugs, arrest, court, rehab, "daddy issues," jail time [Repeat]. That's the pure basics of it - But Google that shit for additional info, if necessary. Towards the end of

[W]reckless, Topless American Youth: Lana del Rey - "Born 2 Die" (Britney Spears Birthday 30)

Lana del Rey [Lizzy Grant] effectively became 2011's "It Girl" with the release of her phenomenal debut single, "Video Games" (Stranger) . Like many struggling singer-songwriters, Grant has been signed, dropped, and significantly changed her public image since bursting onto the scene (2009). With that said, it can be assumed that Lana del Rey has collected just as many "haters" as she has avid supporters. To be perfectly honest, the only other artist I can think of that made this much commotion... garnered so much wide-spread buzz/hate and critical acclaim -- right out of the gates -- with just one track is Britney Spears . And maybe in this post- Mike musical era, that's the true synthesis of Pop Culture: Britney Lynn Spears . After months of repeated teasing and speculation, Lana del Rey 's major label debut, Born 2 Die will [finally] be released this coming Jan. 30-31, 2012. Pitchfork reports that it will feature "Off to The Ra

Liberty Bell Cracked In 1/2: Ween - "Freedom of '76" (Gene Ween's Final Send-Off)

Chocolate & Cheese (1994) was one of the first albums I bought with my own money. I was in some sort of BMG Music Club , where you'd buy 5 CD's and then get 10 for "FREE." It was all sent through mail order and you picked the titles from some special booklet. I'm almost positive that Chocolate & Cheese's side boob-baring album cover was what initially drew me in... mind you, I was 12-15 and the zany Ween logo/middle finger CD graphic really didn't hurt either. Honestly, I forget how I really felt about it @ the time, but a few years later, my older cousin Josh told me that Ween were this BIG college "jam band." CKY did some sort pf 93.3 radio takeover to promote their new album and played "Freedom of '76" late that night on air. Needless to say, I re-visited Chocolate & Cheese @ about 20-something this go 'round and I fucking loved it! Ween were really weird, yet talented... almost too talented. I can vaguel

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