Quick Facts
Founded: 1993
CEO: Sean “Diddy” Combs
Notable Artists: The Notorious B.I.G, Craig Mack, Faith Evans, Stevie J, etc.
Headquarters: New York, NY
What is Hip Hop?
“A Cultural Movement Associated Especially With Rap Music”
Meet The CEO
Sean “Diddy” Combs was a student at Howard University before he started interning at Uptown Records. After deciding to drop out of college he then rose through the ranks of Uptown Records. Then at the age of 23, he wanted to start his own label. He garnered a lot of success in the early stages which caused tension between him and Andre Harrel (Head of Uptown). He was soon after fired from Uptown but cut a deal with Arista Records.
Early Stages
Bad Boy Records experienced their first big hit with the song “Ready To Die” sold two million copies. This caused Bad Boy Records to skyrocket in popularity and sign artists such as 112, Faith Evans, and Ma$e. Which lead them to raise to #1 Hip Hop record label in 1995.
Drama
All of the success of Bad Boy Records directly paralleled Death Row records in the West Coast. While this started as a harmless feud between the two. Starting as a playful competition, then quickly spiraled into a violent feud. In 1997, Biggie was murdered while visiting Los Angeles. Diddy then released the song “Can’t Nobody Hold Us Down” by Puff Daddy feat. Ma$e. The song remained at the top for six weeks.
Double Drama
Diddy had a lot of fame and power through his record company. Since this was the case he started trying to get more into the spotlight of the people and get more power and more money. The OG talents that were on the label did not like this and soon parted ways from the label. However they did do a reunion show at the 2015 BET Awards show.
Overall
Bad Boy Records will forever have a huge impact on Hip Hop culture today. This label at one point in time was the definition of Hip Hop. Diddy went on to become one of first billionaires of the Hip Hop culture. He continues to create platforms for others within the industry.
Quotes
“Getting on Bad Boy was like being the top pick in the draft, going to play with the Bulls when Mike was there. It put the battery in our back.” – Jadakiss
“Everything Puffy touched was golden. He just made hit after hit after hit.” -Russell Simmons (co-founder of Def Jam)
“Ready to Die is one of the first records to tell the perspective of the street-corner drug dealer that wasn’t all fantasy and gloss. It wasn’t kingpin, _Scarface-_type stuff. It was similar to what Richard Price did with Clockers. But Biggie didn’t take 500 pages. He took an hour of your time, and you could dance to it.” – Cheo Choker (Notorious Screenwriter)
