***PLEASE NOTE: EDIT CONTAINS NUDITY***
Rapper Sean Combs has kept in line with celebrity tradition and published his first book.
But it's not so much words his readers will be immersing themselves into, P Diddy's latest project is all about the female backside.
The rapper has teamed up with music producer Jimmy lovine and photographer Raphael Mazzucco to bring out CULO, meaning buttocks in Italian, a collection of photographs of female derrieres taken all around the world.
And judging by their grin at the book's New York City launch, the boys seem very pleased with the result.
SOUNDBITE: Jimmy Iovine, Chairman Of Interscope-Geffen-A&M, saying (English) :
"What it is it's an idea that spurred out with will.i.am about four years ago. He wanted to make a video, he went to Brazil and made it. And I said this is more than a video, this is a coffee table book. And then coincidentally about a year later, I met Raphael and he was an artist I wanted to back, a photographer and an artist and we kicked around ideas. I said 'you know, there's this book we talked about with will.i.am,' he said, 'that's great.' I said, 'do you think you can get it done?' He says, 'yeah.' So we just backed him and he went and did it."
SOUNDBITE: Raphael Mazzucco, photographer, saying (English):
"Well everything, you know, with the travelling, was really amazing for the CULO book just because of the fact that it brought very, very spontaneous photographs. And it was all very not pre-ordained and it just happened you know, in a very organic way."
Australian model Nicole Trunfio's backside is among those featured.
SOUNDBITE: Australian model Nicole Trunfio, saying (English):
"He gets really excited on, you know, everything he's doing, and he has crazy ideas. And it was the middle of winter and it was snowing and we went out onto an ice-lake and shot naked on an ice-lake and I was like, 'Raphael my father's going to kill me.'"
The book will be available on November 22. Mazzucco will also be touring his CULO art collection across the U.S. and abroad.
Kathi Urban-Oberberg, Reuters.
