Diddy and Dirty Money's Last Train to Paris

Did anyone expect the dude we used to call Puff Daddy would release one of the best hip hop albums of 2010? I think it stands toe to toe with Kanye's latest and is probably even more fun to listen to on a purely musical level.  This album has a lot in common with a lot of electronic dance music, specifically of the trance and house music varieties.  That in itself isn't notable, except that the parts he captures most elegantly are the haunting synthesizers, soaring memorable vocals, and kaleidoscope drum machine tangents that give you shivers down your spine.   There isn't a single bad song on this album, or even 30 seconds of wasted space that doesn't at least tickle your eardrums with something interesting.  Hip hop, electronic, and dance music fans NEED to have this album in their collection, especially if you're as much of a sucker for synthesizers as I am-- this album is a love letter to people that love all of the wonderful things synths can do-- from New Order, to Toto, to Oakenfold and even Justice.  Ignore the fact that it's made by Diddy, which is pretty easy to do since the album speaks for itself. 

I listened to a bunch of it in preview on iTunes just because of your enthusiasm. [Random note: Now the preview is 90 instead of 30 seconds? That's awesome!] I can see that they're trying to make something interesting hear, and I don't have the same instantaneous "ew" response I have had to everything Sean Combs has done in the past 5 years, but it's just not what I want out of a record. This stylish, overly produced, shiny hip-hop is not my scene. I don't think Kanye's record is revelational or has any great social meaning, just as you said, but it does have a hypocritical mixture of a raw bravado and a beautiful crescendo that really grabbed me. Diddy's just isn't my style. Glad you love it though. 

Listened to it, only kept I Hate That You Love Me, Ass On The Floor, Yesterday, Angels, and Hello Good Morning; the rest I threw out. Though, I've listened to those few songs a lot more than I was expecting to over the past few days. I really wish this dude's flow would improve though.

To me, what makes Kanye's album fascinating, as mentioned before, is the depth of the contradictions he pose throughout the album. I didn't think it was the best rap album of the year (I'm confining it to rap because making cross-genre comparisons is fucking hard man): for that I'd look more towards Das Racist's Sit Down, Man, or , if one finds their hipster-esque personas grating (which I can understand, although I'd encourage people to try to at least give them a chance - you might like what you find), Big Boi's Sir Lucious Left Foot. 
 
To me, My Dark Twisted Fantasy was simply the most intriguing album of the year, because it exposed someone so conflicted, so internally contradictory, that one can't help but stare in confusion and awe. That's also why I don't find Last Train to Paris nearly as endearing (see, I was totally getting there): Diddy clearly wanted to put more of himself into this album than he has previously, and he succeeds in that; however, what he presents us with simply doesn't seem as interesting, to put it bluntly, because he doesn't seem, as Kanye does, to be lost; Diddy merely seems to be someone who's struggling to express to everyone else who he is; Kanye, on the other hand, seems to be struggling to express to himself who he is, and that is why it's infinitely more intriguing when Kanye bears his soul to us, than it is when Diddy does. 
 
Of course, I know that sounds like "pretentious babble", so, if you prefer it, let me put it this way: Kanye seems more confused than Diddy, and as such, his album is more interesting to me than Diddy's is. Also, I think Sit Down, Man is pretty damn good, so long as you can ignore your initial "oh god more hipster bullshit" reaction.
 
There, now I'm going to go make myself some espresso.