The hip hop world is buzzing as Sean Puffy Combs seems to be making waves. Yesterday he appeared in a New York court to address criminal charges of assault. The judge moved his sentencing date to August 5th. If convicted, the Puffster can get up to 7 years in the slammer. The strange twist to all this, is the fact that Puffy announced that he will be hosting the upcoming Source Awards with non other then Steve Stoute, the man he assaulted. Apparently Puffy and Stoute have buried the hatchet, but he still has these charges to contend with. We’ll keep you posted as this further develops.

While Puff is handling his legal woes, he’s also addressing his musical woes. Thus far ’99 has been a bit disappointing for Bad Boy Records. Not only did his biggest star Mase retire so he could pursue religion, his latest album Double Up has been selling miserably. In spite the one or two good songs that you may hear on the radio, the verdict is the album is not happening. Puff himself is trying to make things happen as he just dropped a new record featuring himself and Too Short. Entitled ‘For The Money’, the song got mixed reviews when it aired on our station today. The beat is ok, but folks on the left coast weren’t feeling their hometown hero rapping with Puff. Some went so far to say that Short sold out. Personally I think the song is ok, although Puffy sounds remarkably like Too Short. It think it will grow on people as it gets more air play.

The hook up with Puff and Short may have been an attempt for Puff to branch out and reach a wider audience. That’s certainly what people are saying about Puffy remaking the Public Enemy classic ‘Public Enemy #1’. Entitled ‘P-E 2000’, this song will be the first single off his upcoming album ‘Forever’. Chuck D and Flava Flav make guest appearances.