No Puff (Omaha World Herald, 1997)‏

Puff Daddy is the hottest name in hip-hop music, but that hasn't persuaded 311 to collaborate with him on a recording project. "We called him back and said, 'You've got to be kidding,'" Hexum said Saturday night in Bonner Springs, Kan., where the band performed. "We turned him down flat."

Puff Daddy, also known as Sean "Puffy" Combs, wants 311 vocalists Nick Hexum and Doug "SA" Martinez to lend their rapping skills to a remake of Combs' song, "It's All About The Benjamins." During and interview at Sandstone Amphitheater, Hexum said Puff Daddy "wants to make money off us." "I'm sure he watches the charts," said the lead vocalist and songwriter for the /former/ Omaha band. 311's new CD, "Transistor," hit Billboard's top albums chart last month at No. 4.

"The Benjamins" refers to $100 bills, which bear Benjamin Franklin's image. The lyrics are about money being the only reason to pursure a career in music. There still is a faint chance of a deal -- if Hexum and Martinez are allowed to rap lyrics with a message different from those of other artists appearing on "It's All About The Benjamins." They include the late Notorius B.I.G., Lil' Kim and the L.O.X. "he wants to have a point of view that's opposite,m but I don't think we'll end up doing it," Hexum said, still sounding skeptical. "He's not one of my favorite artists. He uses old hooks ... and he doesen't play an instrument."

The two artists are just too different in their attitudes, and as proof Hexum cited lyrics from one of his own songs from "Transistor." "Starshines" begins with the lines: "I am a music lover and somehow I get piad/ This song would still exist if no money was made. That's the difference/ I summed it up in a sentence." Hexum also said he and Martinez don't agree with the message of "No Way Out," a song on Puff Daddy's current album. On Monday, a spokesman for Bad Boy Management of New York City confirmed that ex-Nirvana drummer Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters already has contributed guitar and drum work on the new "It's All About The Benjamins," which, the spokesman said, will be released soon.

311 had a successful weekend run in the Midlands. The band played to more than 30,000 fans over three nights: in St. Louis, 10,000 were in attendance, Friday at Riverport Amphitheater; Kansas City, 13,000 Saturday at Sandstone; and Council Bluffs, 7,800 at Westfair Amphitheatre. The nights were cool at Westfair and Sandstone, but fans were especially warm to the band when it played it's older material. Most of the new songs -- including "Transistor," "Prisoner" and "Stealing Happy Hours" -- generated enthusiastic response as well.

Hexum said promoting the latest release is somewhat challenging because "there are no radio songs on it." "With this record, we just wanted a record (so that) our fans could say we changed it up." he said, "We want them to respect us." And whatever happened to the band's anti-KKK song, whose working title was (note: this was not printed in the paper, rather listed as Expletive) "Fuck The KKK?" Well, it's on "Transistor" but now it's called "Electricity." The song doesen't mention the Ku Klux Klan. A year ago, a report surfaces associating the name 311 with the white-supremacist organization. (The band's name actually comes from a police code for indecent exposure.)

Hexum said 311 drummer Chad Sexton and producer Scotch Ralson questioned him about naming the KKK in such a way in the song's title. "I let it brew for a while," Hexum said. In the end he decided that "to have a song and put their name in front of a million people would have been giving them juice." "I was going to come out and say I hate the KKK, but that would have been negative going up against negativity," Hexum explained. The album's title, as well as the title and lyrics of "Electricity," refer to the unifying forces of nature, according to Hexum.

* A footnote ... After coresponding with Tony Moton from the World Herald, the stated total of 7,800 occupants at the Westfair show was in fact correct, and the Iowa State Daily had misstated this information Much thanks to Tony for this information.