Puff Daddy & the Family - No Way Out

Originally, producer/bad boy CEO Sean "Puffy" Combs intended for the debut album from his Puff Daddy persona to feature nothing but non-stop party jams. Unfortunately, the murder of The Notorious B.I.G. (credited here as Executive Producer) threw an ugly spin on the album, resulting in a mixed bag of fun fluff and gangsta posturing. Puffy's delivery is thin and nasal, and his raps uninspired, but help from pals like Lil' Kim, Busta Rhymes, and protégé Mase partially make up for his deficiencies. With his unrivalled knack from nicking hooks--he pilfers from Sting ("I'll Be Missing You"), Grandmaster Flash ("Can't Nobody Hold Me Down") or classical composer Samuel Barber ("No Way Out (Intro)") with equal aplomb--Puff Daddy epitomized homogenized hip-hop. --Kurt B. Reighley Amazon.com

One Way Out of this cd....

..Press Eject. Puffy is the worst thing to happen to hip hop period! He cant rap for diddly squat and he has about as much personality as a tree sloth. There is nothing more to these 4 and 5 star reviews than mere nostalgia. I hated this release from day one because I saw ahead of time what the success of this pop rap train wreck would cause. Years later everything I thought has come to pass. If there is one thing you cant escape when listening to this album is boredom. I mean how can you listen to lifeless tracks like What You Gonna Do, Do You Know, Pain(absolutely dreadful) and I Got The Power and not fall asleep? If you got this album to dance to in the clubs you have to admit that Dont Stop What Youre Doing(feat Lil Kim) Cant Nobody Hold Me Down(feat Mase) and Been Around The World(feat Biggie and Mase) would make you fall asleep in the club. Classic hip hop laughable from Puffy "Im the mackaroni with the cheese". All About The Benjamins was that track that everybody pretended to like. Even though Biggie's verse was fire everybody(with the exception of Puffy who's rhymes were garbage) from The Lox to Lil Kim has suspect verses. Senorita is bad enough to offend the Hispanic Community. Biggie's verses on Victory was fire and Busta Rhymes was tight on the hook but Puffy stopped that song from being a classic joint. This trend reappears on Young Gs feat The Notorious Big and Jay-z. I'll Be Missing You is the dullest RIP record I've ever heard in my life and EVERYBODY knows that Sauce Money wrote the rhymes for that track. The poorly used sampling makes this album all the more painful to listen to(besides Puppy's bad rapping). I've never heard so many ineffective uses of samples in my life. That is what differentiates Puff Trashy from most producers. The other producers are masters at sampling and Snuffy just sucks at it. Bottom Line: No Way Out is the worst rap release from the worst thing to come out of New York period. The production was bland, Puffy sucks as a rapper and the guest spots(with the exception of Biggie) were just as bad as Puffy. Puffy laid down the foundation for hip pop with this musical nightmare of an album. If this album is a classic to you then you must have started to listen to rap when Puffy came out. February 14, 2008

Classic

The album is a classic especially when clean. The edited version is bad because it omits three songs, but it is good because you get to hear burps, glass smashing, and hicups to censor the curses and profanity. If you like the sounds of it edited get it but if you like originals then get the Explicit version. December 25, 2005

Not as good as reviews say

P.Diddys debut album is considered a classic and with all the hits on it i do consider it a classic, however with that said this cd is not all that great.With the exception of all the singles on this LP it is not very good however all the songs are still listenable November 27, 2004

It's alright, explicit version sounds better

I know I sound like a bad lil' girl, but it's true. You know what? The clean version doesn't even sound right. All the good songs were taken off due to excessive profanity. So you're really skipping the good songs when you're listening this. A lot changes were made to this album. Track #1-The No Way Out intro sounds the same. Track #2-"Victory" the best song by Puff Daddy, and it's not cuz of Biggie & Busta Rhymes appearance. It just has a tight eerie beat. Track #3-"Been Around The World" was a popular song, both the original version and the remix have a catchy hook. The Madd Rapper skit was taken off. Track #4 (#5 Explicit Version)-"Don't Stop What You're Doing" f/ Lil' Kim is a "party" song. Lil' Kim hooked the song up. Track #5 (6)-"If I Should Die Tonight" is a just a storm interlude with Puffy talking about his grief. Track #6 (#7)-"Do You Know" has background vocals from Kelly Price. Track #7 (#9)-"I Love You Baby", Puffy's love song, features the best rapper on Bad Boy, Black Rob. Track #8 (#10)-The head-banging song of the album is "It's All About The Benjamins", yet another popular single from the album. Track-#9 (#11)-"Pain" is a depressing song, it has you thinking about Biggie. Track-#10 (#13)-"I Got The Power" has The L.O.X. doing their thing. The hook shows the "criminal" side of Puffy. Track #11 (#15)-All I gotta say about this hook of this song is "EN ESPAÑOL". Track #12 (#16)-"I'll Be Missing You" is the tribute to Biggie AKA Notorious B.I.G. featuring Faith Evans & 112. The skit from the beginning of of the track was taken off. Track #13 (#17)-"Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" f/Ma, Puffy just had to remake my favorite Ol' School joint called "The Message". The songs that were taken off for clean version were "What You Gonna Do", "Young G's", "Is This The End?", & "Friend". March 21, 2001

No Way Out

Sometimes I'm compelled to pop in my edited version of Puff Daddy's NO WAY OUT and find that it get either better or worse with each listen. I was very excited to recieve it when someone ordered it for me a few years ago, but even then I was dissappointed with it. I found that that Busta Rhymes verse in VICTORY had been removed. I now realize that this song is so much better with Busta and am now stuck with a useless version of NO WAY OUT considering VICTORY is one of the better songs. Almost every song is sampled. This album was a success when it was out and I wonder if it would have been a success without the samples. If not, you can't hate a person for trying. But it's all sampled and just as dissapointing as you might expect something from Puff Daddy to be. IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BENJIMANS is a classic and is the only song that keeps me from giving this sloppy compact disc one star. It would be wrong because this is the song that started all of those materialistic songs about money, "ice", and cars, etc... Otherwise, the beats are stinky. I LOVE YOU BABY is not such a bad song but and neither id DO YOU KNOW. PAIN is kind of depressing. The songs after track nine are boring.

P.S.- There's a track missing on the clean version. November 25, 2000

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