The last we heard of Diddy is that he's sitting atop Forbes' Wealthiest Hip-Hop Artists of 2014 list and worth about $700 million. If you're stuck in '09, though, maybe the last you heard of Diddy was his lowkey feature on DJ Hell's "The DJ," where he knocks DJs who play four minute versions—"This goes out to all the muthafuckas who like 15-20 minute versions of a muthafuckin record," he says.
Diddy has an outspoken affinity for dance music, as he reminded the audience at today's IMS Engage in LA (Steve Aoki, Hans Zimmer, Moby, and Pete Tong were among the other speakers at the event). In a conversation with the collaborator for his upcoming album, Guy Gerber (who has a pretty crazy story about meeting Diddy and getting to work with him in the first place), Diddy described the record, titled 11:11, as "underground dance."
Judging by this clip he played at the Red Bull Guest House during ULTRA last month, it just might be (note: he says it's for the "demented after hour minds"). While at IMS he added, "We didn't do it for commercial success," which could honestly mean many things; hopefully it means that it's actually a good body of music.
According to a string of tweets from Beats' Pop Music programmer Arjan Writes, IMS Engage, and the W Hotel Hollywood, he confirmed many of the album details, including that it would be released this summer.
Diddy shares his new album will definitely be released this summer.
— Arjan Writes (@arjanwrites) April 16, 2014
Expected summertime release for @GuyGerber / @iamdiddy collaborative album 11:11 #IMSengage
— IMS Engage (@IMSEngage) April 16, 2014
He also talked about how going to Ibiza in 2003 was "spiritual" (seems like he had a similar experience at Burning Man last year).
.@iamdiddy talks abt going to Ibiza in 2003 and experiencing dance music that he found "spiritual." "It was experimental, it opened hearts"
— Arjan Writes (@arjanwrites) April 16, 2014
He also brought up his belief that the underground keeps music alive.
"The underground keeps music alive." @iamdiddy
— Arjan Writes (@arjanwrites) April 16, 2014
He also nodded to current trends in live electronic music shows and the $$$ people are paying to see them.
"I never had ferris wheels at my concerts, or hotels with my name on it (@Avicii at #WMC). I'm learning from ya'll!" -@iamdiddy #IMSengage
— IMS Engage (@IMSEngage) April 16, 2014
"People pay a lot of money to be entertained...you can't just press a button." - @iamdiddy at #IMSEngage
— Beatport (@beatport) April 16, 2014
He also discussed his mission with the album.
"This mission with [11:11] is to touch a lot of people without trying to please everyone." -@GuyGerber in convo with @iamdiddy #IMSengage
— IMS Engage (@IMSEngage) April 16, 2014
.@iamdiddy "We wanted to the whole world to hear so they have something new to add to their playlist" on working w/ @guygerber #IMSEngage
— W Hollywood (@WHollywoodHotel) April 16, 2014
"It's not a workout album it's more of a connecting album but we leave that up to you" @iamdiddy about #1111 #IMSEngage
— Arjan Writes (@arjanwrites) April 16, 2014
And apparently when Guy Gerber was about to explain the album's title, Diddy stopped him. Maybe it's because they started working on it in 2011? Or as THUMP points out, it could reference New Age beliefs ("11:11 is an auspicious sign that signals the presence of spirits"). Regardless, it's better than Ketamine, which is what he originally wanted to name the project.
Diddy just uttered a loud "uh uh" when Gerber was about to spoil the meaning of #1111 album title. #IMSEngage
— Arjan Writes (@arjanwrites) April 16, 2014