We learned a lot of things in Diddy‘s “Carpool Karaoke” ride with James Corden on The Late Late Show Thursday night (April 20). For one, despite his myriad of stage names — Puffy, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, Sean “Diddy” Combs — there are exactly two people who are allowed to call him by his given name Sean.
His mom — typically when he’s in trouble — and Jay -Z. “We call each other Sean,” Diddy explained of the fellow MC born Shawn Carter. “There’s not a single person outside of my mother that should be calling me Sean.”
“You can call me any of the approved names,” Diddy told Corden. “I was born Puffy and then I became P. Diddy. Then they called me Diddy because I was so pretty. And then Puff Daddy and then I became who I am now, which is Love. L-O-V-E, not Brother Love, just Love.”
There is so much love, in fact, that when Corden asked Diddy to give him a new nickname for his “joyous, uplifting, fun” new era when his show ends its run next week, Combs said he was happy to share the Love, dubbing James “Love” as well. “We’re both Love, we’re both trying to have fun,” Combs said.
The catalog run began with the Bad Boy boss’ signature anthem, “Bad Boy For Life,” with Corden and Combs bouncing along to the song from Diddy’s third album, 2001’s The Saga Continues.
Corden also revealed that the rapper/entrepreneur’s eponymous 2001 hit “Diddy” kind of makes no sense. “The thing with that song, it goes, ‘It’s Diddy,’ and the chorus goes, ‘The D, the I, the D, the D, the Y, the D, the I, the D,’ which is Diddydid,” Corden pointed out in the most polite way possible after the pair bopped to the tune featuring the Neptunes. The always chill Combs explained that it’s about a vibe, describing how “you don’t have to say the rest of it,” because it’s implied and the last “dy” gets lost due to “silent letters.”
They agreed to disagree on that one and then locked in their flow for the Notorious B.I.G. tribute tune “I’ll Be Missing you,” with both men crooning Faith Evans’ keening chorus.
In the spiciest segment, father of three Corden congratulated Diddy on the birth of his seventh child in December, while soliciting advice for setting the perfect mood in the bedroom. Diddy said the baby was inspired by his move back into producing R&B via his Love Records label, which is all about making “baby-making music.”
Describing his “Super Bowl of R&B” playlist for lovemaking, Diddy then gave Corden step-by-step instructions for building the perfect intimate night: turn on a red light, put the kids to be, disconnect your phone, play some sensual music, do a little dancing, pour a bit of his signature tequila, press play on the mix and commence bopping.
“And then we take it, we go let’s…,” Corden asked swaying. “No, you gotta take your time and smell her and talk sweet nothings into her ear, man… it’s not a rush-in,” Diddy counseled. Then comes the conversation portion, which James suspected would go something like his wife saying, “‘I’m tired. I’m exhausted.’ She’ll then talk about we’ve got some mold, we’ve got a mold issue in the garage which you’ve got to sort out,” as Combs looked on with a confused look.
“How do I switch it from the mold and the termite issue back to the bop?” Corden wondered. “You say ‘shhhh… tonight it about you, don’t worry about the mold,’” Puff suggested. Things got even more explicit before the Loves slipped into “I Need a Girl (Part 2) and after a chat about the giant billboard Puff had in Times Square for a decade as a message to young people about perseverance and fortitude, the ride ended with a rousing run through Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York.”
Watch Diddy’s “Carpool Karaoke” below.
