Bad Boy Records has been in the game for 20 years now and the label is showing no signs of stopping anytime soon.
To commemorate the label and its success, GQ called on Jadakiss, Ma$e, Bad Boy President Andre Harrell, and Sean "Diddy/Puff Daddy" Combs himself, alongside artists and industry insiders, to recount the greatness that is Bad Boy.
Check out some excerpts after the jump.
Jadakiss (rapper, the Lox): 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.
Janelle Monáe (singer, Bad Boy artist): Bad Boy was proof that the American Dream was real for hardworking young black artists in the '90s, just like it had been real for Berry Gordy and all my soul and funk heroes at Motown in the '60s and '70s. When I graduated high school, I headed straight to New York. That's where Broadway was. That's where Puff was.
Russell Simmons (co-founder of Def Jam): Everything Puffy touched was golden. He just made hit after hit after hit.
Sean "Puff Daddy/Diddy" Combs: I remember waking up one day and I had six of the Top 10 records. As a producer, I had taken over the charts. Everybody wanted a piece of that Bad Boy sound.
Gabrielle Union (actress): Every jam was like, "Aaawww, shit." Y'know, one hand covering your face, the other in the air.
Andre Harrell (founder of Uptown Records, Combs's mentor): Puff was a great groove maker, and whoever controls the groove controls the attitude.
Jessica Rosenblum (party promoter): We could be anywhere-in Palladium or a club in D.C. — Puffy always walked around with a bottle in his hand. Biggie had a bottle. They understood the fantasy. When Bad Boy first started doing videos with mansions and all that, nobody was actually living that way yet. It was a projection of what was to come. Bad Boy sold a dream.
Read more here.
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