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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Puff Daddy A Spectacle Of Contradictions

Puff Daddy and the Family Sunday, Dec. 21, the Arena

It was a study in contradictions set to a deep thumping beat.

In the span of three-plus hours, the crowd gathered at the Arena for Sunday’s hip-hop/rap extravaganza was urged to “make noise” for:

Sex

Drugs

and God

While Busta Rhymes rapped in lurid detail about the female anatomy (and I don’t mean our hands), Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs lectured the men in the audience to “respect all the women.”

Lil’ Kim spent most of her time on stage next-to-naked, and Rhymes mooned a crowd that was later extolled to remember, “No matter what, God is always by your side.”

Rhymes told the children in the crowd not to swear or use drugs - before setting off into a curse-riddled rap about smoking pot.

“I’m sorry, Mom,” Rhymes told a cringing mother in the front, her young son carefully earplugged next to her, “but this is hip hop.”

And that it was: a who’s-who of the rap and hip-hop elite as nasty and as godly as they wanted to be.

Contradictions aside, it was a standout show with power-stoked performances from Rhymes and Puff Daddy’s crew.

It was a show that didn’t skimp on either the number of artists (there must have been at least 20) or the stage setup (the backdrops and pyrotechnic were beyond anything I’ve seen at the Arena this year).

It was also a show that found the dead rapper Notorious B.I.G. making a return from the grave.

Busta Rhymes and his Flipmode Squad - DJ Scratch and rapper Spliff Star - took the stage with rumbling theatrics. Scratch positioned himself atop a giant skull while Rhymes and Spliff romped in front of the dark image of a castle.

Dressed in a shiny red jumpsuit, Rhymes seemed a maniacal jester as he grinned and growled through “The Body Rock” and “Get High Tonight” off his latest album “When Disaster Strikes.” His raps were all uncorked energy and locktight as he and Spliff called back and forth in perfect timing during “Dangerous.”

To his credit, Rhymes did warn parents in an audience packed with teen and preteen girls to take kids out before he got down and dirty.

Rhymes wins no awards for his lyrical treatment of women. With the spotlight on two giddy blond girls in the audience, Rhymes and Spliff hip-thrust and crotch-grabbed their way through a song about stuff I can’t print. (Think sex - raunchy sex.) The two then stripped and danced about the stage with their drawers about their feet to a song called “Take Off Your M.F. Clothes.” Although they wore boxers, their bare backsides did make a brief appearance.

But it was Puff Daddy who was the master of the stage - and the night.

The hip-hop king descended from the ceiling on a suspended platform to a stage adorned with three oval video screens, six dancing girls and four backup singers.

The image of Puff’s pal and fellow rap star Notorious B.I.G. flashed on the screens. Revived by video, Biggy rapped along with Puff to songs like “Victory” as though a gunman had never laid the giant six feet under.

The night featured a roving cast of characters ranging from Puff’s sidekick Mase to Lil’ Cease (who sounded a lil’ flat), 112 and The L.O.X. and Lil’ Kim, who rolled on stage atop a bed dressed in a flowing and showing red nightie. Doling out ripping raps and soaring R&B, the artists took turns at center stage, with Lil’ Kim playing the raunchy raptress and 112 singing smoothly soulful.

Puff presided over his Family and the crowd, working the audience into an arm-pumping frenzy between hits from his album “No Way Out.”

Most of the cast came on stage for “I’ll Be Missing You,” a spinetingling remix of the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.” The show then abruptly swerved into a gospellike revival with Puff playing pastor. He urged everyone to “make some noise for God” before Lil’ Kim returned to the stage in black netting and a bikini.

In the end, Puff chocked the contradictions up to honesty on the part of the performers. And if that seemed a flimsy excuse, the audience didn’t seem to notice or care.

For when Puff Daddy told them to “wave your hands in the air” and “make some noise” - whether for God or for the Notorious B.I.G. - everyone gladly did as he said.

, DataTimes