Puffed Out

“Dangerous! Dan-ger-ous!� The man they call Puff, Puffy, Puff Daddy and now P. Diddy is behind the wheel of a speeding golf cart and shouting out fair warning to the startled crew members in his path.

The deep laughter of Sean Combs echoes on the dark, narrow streets of the Universal Studios back lot, where his extravagant new video, “Bad Boys 4 Life,� is being filmed. His cell phone is ringing, but he’s not answering. He’s having too much fun.

After months of very public trials (both literally and figuratively), it’s easy to imagine the breezy moment as a metaphor--a man outdistancing his troubles, racing to get back to his music. But this famous rapper and music mogul is not done proving himself.

Everyone knows the 31-year-old can make headlines, but can he still make a hit?

Combs delivers his third album to stores next Tuesday. “The Saga Continues . . . “ is a raucous, funk-laced collection with a rawness that separates it from his last album, “Forever.� That 1999 album sold 1.4 million copies, a sizable number to be sure, but also a sharp decline from his defining 1997 debut, “No Way Out,� which surpassed 5.1 million sold.

“When you do your second album and you have a lot of pressure, you’re trying to create something new, you’re trying to create something good,� he says. “It’s just like if somebody’s trying to act and you see them on the screen. They’re not just living it.�

Combs says the new album was “never planned, it just happened� during a six-week span in Miami, where Combs had fled “to take a breath.� He had just been acquitted in a high-profile New York criminal case and was still reeling from his famous breakup with girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, the ubiquitous actress-singer. Combs is reticent about the latter topic, but it is a clear theme in the new song “I Want a Girl.�

The lyrics describe Lopez’s loyalty to Combs during his trial on weapon and bribery charges stemming from a now-famous Manhattan nightclub shooting in December 1999. “ ‘I caught a case, Shorty took the whole ride with me,’ � Combs says, reciting one verse. “It’s saying she stood by my side the whole time.� Combs also raps that he regrets not having a baby with Lopez.

“[That song] is what it is. That’s what was on my mind. I dedicated that joint to Jennifer on the record. That’s just something I went through. . . . It wasn’t really anything deep. It was just talking about a girl and a relationship.�

By the end of the video shoot for “Bad Boys 4 Life,� a long list of famous Puffy pals had visited the set to make cameos, among them Shaquille O’Neal, Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, Dave Navarro and Ben Stiller. Mike Tyson also dropped by to show support for Combs, although the former heavyweight champion gave Combs some grief as well.

“He said, ‘You know something, I’m mad at you,’ � Combs says. “He said, ‘I went through this and I didn’t want to see you go through this. You should have learned from my experience.’ �

Tyson was talking about the shooting at the Club New York that left three people injured and Combs arrested after a police chase through Manhattan. Combs was found not guilty in March of all charges, but one of his proteges, rapper Jamal “Shyne� Barrow, was sentenced to 10 years in prison as the triggerman.

Earlier in 1999, Combs also publicly apologized for his role in the beating of a record industry rival. The assault in the offices of Interscope Records was jolting for observers who had not lumped the seemingly refined Combs in with the rap world stars who openly embrace the “thug life� mentality.

“I don’t think people like to see me get in trouble,� Combs says. “People didn’t like it when I had the incident with the record executive because I disappointed myself and I disappointed them. I was the good-time guy, the guy you want to come over and play with your kids. I can’t play with your kids if you think I’m going to have a flip-out.�

The perception of Puffy is an intriguing puzzle in the rap world. He’s respected for the wildly successful business achievements of his New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, achievements that have landed him on the cover of Forbes magazine and at glittery parties rubbing elbows with the likes of Donald Trump and Ron Perelman.

But some fellow hip-hop stars also privately disparage his skills as a rapper and say he’s far more relevant in the boardroom than in the studio. It’s the large delegation of guest rappers that handle the hard work on Combs’ albums, the critics say.

On the new album, Combs responds to those who criticize his act as more flash than substance. On the track “Shiny Suit Man,� Combs takes one of the disparaging nicknames aimed at him and uses it as the title of a playful monologue. He says he doesn’t pretend or expect to be the best rapper in the world, but that his skills go well beyond rhyming in the spotlight.

“I can’t say I’m the most talented MC on the face of the earth,� he says, sitting in a Hollywood recording studio the day after the video shoot. “But I think sometimes drive and determination play a bigger part and may outweigh somebody that may have a certain talent but may not work on it.�

And what is P. Diddy’s greatest talent? “Entertaining people. Being the coach, the leader, being a ringmaster. I think that’s my strongest talent. The P.T. Barnum of it all.�

For “Saga,� whose full, official title begins “P. Diddy & the Bad Boy Family Present . . . ,� the man at the center of the circus brings a parade of performers to the mic, including Black Rob, Marc Curry, G. Dep and Faith Evans. All are Bad Boy acts that had come to Florida to check in on their bruised leader and ended up partying and making music.

The group effort was produced by Combs, and the music veers across the hip-hop landscape. There’s the languid, cruising anthem “Roll Wit Me� and “Lonely,� a layered, trippy track with West Coast rap’s bounce and shimmy. Old-school funk, heavy-beat R&B; and even gospel crop up in different tracks as well--because, Combs says, the atmosphere evoked party themes, not heavy messages.

There are also no samples on the new album, a marked departure for an artist who has made a name by using signature snippets from the Police, Led Zeppelin and others to fashion new hits. The absence of samples will spare Combs some heat from some past critics, but he insists that wasn’t the point.

“Nobody samples better than me, so I wouldn’t run from that,� he says. “I’m just trying to please the people, not the critics.�

The fans did not respond as passionately to his last album, “Forever,� as Combs had hoped, but retailers and radio programmers say that a sizzling single or video will reestablish Combs quickly.

“There have been times that I thought that his stuff would have soft sales or possibly stiff, and he has always pulled off strong sales,� says Violet Brown, the urban music buyer for the Wherehouse chain of stores. “Now I really believe in his strength in the marketplace. He always manages to win.�

The publicity surrounding the trial and the Lopez relationship has also created a built-in curiosity about the new disc, says Emmanuel “E-Man� Coquia, music director for L.A. radio station KPWR-FM, a.k.a. Power 106 (105.9). “The ‘Bad Boys 4 Life’ single is getting a lot of calls, and you can tell a lot of people were waiting to see how he would come back,� he says. “The last album was more pop and this one has club-bangers, it’s more street. I think he’s going to the next level with this one.�

Like his famous ex-girlfriend, Combs is hoping to add a Hollywood section to his resume. The rapper makes his silver screen debut on July 13 in “Made,� a comedy directed and written by Jon Favreau (“Swingers�). Combs portrays a slick organized-crime captain. It’s not a role that will change the minds of those who view him as a bad guy.

Combs chuckles and says people can say what they want. But he wants it noted right now that he will win an Academy Award someday because he plans to focus his famous resolve on just that task. He also wants it on the record that he’s doing fine. His clothing company is lighting it up, his new album is done, and new acts Dream and 112 are scoring hits for the Bad Boy label.

“And I can be right here smelling fresh air,� he says, looking around the studio where there are no lawyers, no prison bars, no paparazzi. “This year right here is on a definite positive upswing.�