Since Gucci Mane is currently serving a prison sentence, it wouldn't be surprising if they cut his verse. Fabolous was on set at the shoot and he laid a verse down on an alternate remix. Perhaps something is brewing there, but that is strictly speculation.
Below, check out the new music video for Janelle Monae's "Tightrope," featuring a guest verse from Outkast rapper Big Boi. It's set in an asylum where dance is strictly forbidden "due to its subversive effects on the residents and its tendency to lead to illegal magical practices."
Over at Red Cafe's Hottest in the Hood.com, check out "The Cypher" by Tony Moxberg with a guest verse from Cafe. The track also features Styles P. and Joell Ortiz.
Over at Red Cafe's Hottest in the Hood.com, you can listen to the remix to "I'm Ill" featuring The Lox. After Red Cafe's verse, Sheek Louch can be heard saying "Bad Booooy." It doesn't mean anything, it's just funny to hear him say it.
"I had big plans when I left the big house. Bad Boy, they done let me up in Big's House." -Red Cafe
According to a CBS-issued release, a Dirty Money-featured montage will kick off the network's coverage of the NCAA Men's Basketball Championship Game on April 5 at 9 PM ET. You can check out some behind the scenes footage from the shoot below:
On Twitter, Diddy shared a free download link to a version of "Angels" by Dirty Money that features a freestyle from Fat Joe that serves as the opening verse. Rick Ross picks up the second verse that was featured on the official remix to the track.
Check out the preview below of the music video to Janelle Monae's "Tightrope" featuring Big Boi. The full video will premiere on MTV on March 31, according to the end of the clip.
On his Twitter, Ness is promoting the availability of "Super NeS All Stars," a new mixtape by DJ NoPrhillz that he hosted and is featured heavily on. You can download it at DatPiff. Check out the cover, track listing and an embedded player below.
Over on The Mad Rapper's website, you can download "Fist-2-Cuffs" which features Ness alongside Black Dinero, Street and Gillie da Kid. The song will be featured on the upcoming Mad Rapper mixtape "Appreciate The Hate II."
It appears that the Bad Boy/Interscope roster has grown by one, as Diddy has signed singer/songwriter/producer Jeremy Greene, according to the clip below.
At the beginning, Diddy announces that he's about to sign Greene to Bad Boy and praises the singer's multi-faceted talents before the duo sign the actual paper work. Diddy teases Greene a bit about being from Maine - he was born in Winslow, according to a bio on Friendster.
His MySpace lists MySpace Records as his record label. Digital Music News reported in January that that the label was being restructured and, according to a source, would shift to more of an A&R focus. MySpace Records was created through a joint venture with - here's where it makes sense - Interscope. It's unclear if MySpace Records will still be involved in his project or if he will simply shift to Bad Boy.
I reached out to Red Cafe on Twitter to ask how the remix to "I'm Ill" was coming along and he replied saying that it would premiere next week. Stay tuned.
During a recent club appearance, Diddy said that if you weren't drinking Ciroc, you were drinking "pee pee." Diddy himself drinks more than just Ciroc, so of course, this was a marketing stunt. Reports indicate he said it in a club in New York, but I know he said it in a club in Miami. So, maybe he's said it more than once.
Anyway, this marketing stunt has begotten another marketing stunt. Martin Silver, who owns vodka brand Georgi Argent, put out a press release demanding an apology and promising to deliver a toilet full of Ciroc to Diddy's office and he followed through, according to reports by the New York Daily News and My Fox New York.
Honestly, it didn't seem like it got all that much attention as far as people actually showing up (see the clip below), but it's been successful because it was picked up by many outlets online (and probably offline) and put the brand in front of people who hadn't heard of it (like myself, a non-drinker) and there is always a segment of people who dislike a celebrity or public figure, so the stunt will resonate with those folks, as well.
Pretty funny that protesting Ciroc actually involves buying more Ciroc. But, that's the point, I think. At the end of the day, this will likely lead to more sales for both vodka brands. The chances of Diddy apologizing for such an off-hand statement are probably between slim and none, but Mr. Silver likely knows that and doesn't even want an apology. It's a show; it's entertainment. It's marketing.
Back in August, we reported that Red Cafe would be a featured artist on Kristine Elezaj's "Living Dream." This was followed with a free download, which remains online.
The team most commonly referred to in speculation was Crystal Palace. The administrator for Crystal Palace, Brendan Guilfoyle, told the Bromley Times that Diddy "has shown a desire to help, but sadly that desire does not extend to money."
Vibe is reporting that Dirty Money will perform "Hello, Goodmorning" on American Idol, next Wednesday at 9 PM ET on FOX. The U.S. version of the track features T.I., but it's unclear if the Atlanta-based rapper will appear on American Idol for the performance.
Below, check out the the full music video for Red Cafe's "I'm Ill" featuring Fabolous care of Cafe's Twitter. Co-starring Jadakiss, the clip also features cameos from Akon, Sheek Louch and Grafh, among others.
If you had a login on the last version of the website, it does not appear that it will work on this new version. If you're on the site, this is my profile.
Hit play on the clip below to hear Marina Chello's "Not Myself." According to her YouTube, it's an original song intended for her upcoming debut album, "What's Done is Done."
Despite the video player saying the clip is 4:48 long, it only plays through 2:53, at the time of writing.
In an interview with MTV, Jonah Hill said that Diddy may be the McLovin of "Get Him to the Greek," referring to the character played by Christopher Mintz-Plasse in the film "Superbad." "Every time he breathes in the movie, it garners a huge laugh," Hill said. Check out the clip below.
In the clip below, Diddy revealed to British DJ Tim Westwood that T.I. would be featured on the U.S. version of "Hello, Goodmorning," which he premiered at a Super Bowl party in February. But, for the U.K. version, he wants to work with a U.K. artist, who he's currently looking for.
Ludacris and Diddy have been having a little fun on Twitter, talking about who would be the first rapper to have six songs reach #1 on The Billboard Hot 100. First, Ludacris tweeted that he was the first rapper to do so. Diddy congratulated him, but called Ludacris to let him know that he already had 5 and so, the challenge to 6 was on.
It was at this point that Ludacris revealed that the two would appear on the same track soon and if that went number 1, then it would be a battle for 7. Diddy agreed, saying that they'd get 6 together and then go for 7, but that he's still number 1 and you must "beat the champ to get the belt."
Obviously, they're just having fun, while also being two proud individuals. So, I thought I'd pull up their respective Hot 100 histories and break them down. Below, check out how they stack up. When the song posted was not simply listed as by Diddy or Ludacris and featuring someone else, I included who the song was credited to, as the primary artist.
In a similar vein to "Echo," Gorilla Zoe has spontaneously released a new music video for a track called "Day Dreamer." Check it out below, along with some behind the scenes footage.
Red Cafe is keeping busy, providing verses for a trio of new tracks from Sheek Louch, Theory and Ricky Blaze.
Sheek Louch's "Ain't No Half Steppin 2010" is a remake of the Big Daddy Kane track of the same name (minus the 2010), of course. Listen at XXLMag.com.
Cafe also checks in on Theory's "Crush" and the remix to Blaze's "I Feel Free," which also features Ron Browz and Nicki Minaj. Listen to the latter below, care of the artist's MySpace.
The BBC is reporting that, according to a spokesman representing Diddy, he is pondering an investment in an English football (soccer) club.
That's about all that has been confirmed. Various reports have speculated that Crystal Palace, a club dealing with financial issues, had garnered the interest.
Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released on Thursday. Music buyers came out to pay tribute to The Notorious B.I.G.
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums
9. "Ready to Die" by The Notorious B.I.G. (up from 17).
13. "Greatest Hits" by The Notorious B.I.G. (re-entry).
16. "Life After Death" by The Notorious B.I.G. (re-entry).
To cater to listeners who favor singles to albums, Monáe had once intended for The ArchAndroid's two parts, the second and third suites of the Metropolis series, to be released separately. But now, as evidenced by the album's 18 tracks, Monáe is eager to release her story as an “emotion picture experience” – one that, according to Wonder, made Diddy cry the first time he heard it.
What's the story behind "Tightrope?"
"Tightrope" deals with balance. Early on in my career, and even now, it's a daily struggle to stay balanced and not get too high or too low. It was something that I hadn't really heard in a song. If I was telling somebody how to make it through life, I would definitely tell them that balance is important. You can't get too high on praises and you can't get too low on any one situation. I wanted that song to be an empowerment song. I wanted people to find their inner confidence and to feel more self-empowered in understanding that they have to stay more balanced in life. That was my goal. James Brown influenced it, of course. I wanted it to be that 2010 beyond anthem—that classic song that you can go to in any moment when you feel like things are out of control in life. That'll be your little medicine. Big Boi brought a different perspective in too. He's been in the music industry for awhile. There are so many lows and highs in this business. For him to be a part of this song only felt right. He's a friend of mine, and I can talk to him about anything. I thought he was definitely a person who could have a believable and inspirational perspective for this song.
Sharing a photo on Twitpic, Diddy's Twitter noted that Janelle Monae has made her third appearance in Vogue magazine, landing in the April issue. Her MySpace has a couple of full page scans.
While noting that the album will have 18 tracks and that the tracks below do not represent a final tracklisting, writer Rajul Punjabi listed the songs below. Presumably, they were played during the party.
"Suite II Overture"
"Dance or Die"
"Faster"
"Locked Inside"
"Sir Greendown"
"Cold War"
"Tightrope"
"Mushrooms & Roses"
"Suite III Overture"
"Neon Valley Street"
"Wondaland"
"57821"
According to Diddy's Twitter, Dirty Money has shot a commercial for CBS that will air during their coverage of the NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship tournament. This follows the commercial that aired on CBS during the Super Bowl. It will air on April 5.
The reason I started this site was to provide an outlet that Bad Boy fans could trust, one not driven by gossip or sensationalism, but by accuracy, fairness and the fan's perspective. As a Bad Boy fan myself, it's been fun to see this vision realized.
I'd like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who regularly reads and supports Bad Boy Blog. Thank you for being a part of this community of Bad Boy fans.
Just a small programming note: I'm in Austin, Texas for South by Southwest (SXSW) Interactive. The conference runs from March 12-16 and I'm speaking on March 13, co-leading a Core Conversation titled "Shameless Self Promotion Without Looking Like an @#$%^&!" at 12:30 PM. If you're at the event, I'd certainly like to meet you. You can contact me on Twitter @iFroggy.
During this time, coverage here at Bad Boy Blog should be light, if anything, due to the constant nature of the conference. I appreciate your patience.
On Twitte Yung Joc posted a free download link for "Drip" by Joc featuring Lil' Wayne. You can listen to it below. Click the arrow pointing downward, on the right side of the box, to download.
On Twitter, Yung Joc shared a free download link for "Vote 4 Me" by JC and featuring Joc. Check it out below. Click the arrow pointing downward, on the right side of the box, to download.
Here's just a taste of last night's party in Brooklyn. Rick Ross joins Diddy on stage to perform a shortened version of "Angels (Remix)" with a bit of Biggie's verse at the end. Shot by Bad Boy A&R Daniel "Skid" Mitchell.
"'Microphone Murderer' is the main demo [song]," Cee said. "It's the demo that I took to Matty C from The Source magazine for the 'Unsigned Hype' article. Diddy heard about The Source magazine 'Unsigned Hype' situation. So the 'Microphone Murderer' was the demo song Puff heard and got him signed. Besides 'Microphone Murderer,' [the demo tape included] 'Guaranteed Raw,' 'Live in Action' and another song called 'Love No Hoe.' And when we say demo, it wasn't a four-track. It was just [50] DJing on two records in his crib."
Though this quote makes it sound like "Guaranteed Raw" and "Live in Action" were separate tracks, but they were not and this is made clear in the video below.
The Source partnered with Bad Boy to stream the event live online and I watched a good chunk of it. Small issues (price gouging and a fight or two) aside, it was quite a spirited performance as Diddy took the stage and rapped, sung, hyped and danced to a medley of Biggie featured and inspired tracks.
With Mister Cee DJing, he was joined by Busta Rhymes, Fabolous, Red Cafe and Rick Ross as, decked out in shirts reading "Invisible Bully 03.09.10," they worked their way through a medley including Red Cafe's "I'm Ill" and "Paper Touching," Fabolous' "Brooklyn," Diddy's "Victory" and "It's All About the Benjamins (Remix)," Dirty Money's "Angels (Remix)," Total's "Can't You See," Junior M.A.F.I.A.'s "Get Money" and "Player's Anthem," as well as an assortment of Biggie tracks, including but not limited to the following:
Ms. Wallace declined to comment on the status of her lawsuit but issued a brief statement to MTV News: "I thank you for the opportunity to touch [my son's] fans and for the network's continued support of me and the family, but it's been 13 years, I miss my son, his children miss their father, and the murderer is still at large." ...
Poole maintains there were clues that pointed to each man that should have been looked into further. "I've put away guys for life with less evidence [than I had on Rafael Perez and David Mack]," Poole said.
Today marks 13 years since the premature passing of Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G.
Biggie's memory is kept alive by his family, fans, friends, admirers, peers, family, Bad Boy Records and, of course, Diddy. If an artist has had more impact than Biggie while finishing only two albums in his lifetime, I'd like to know who that artist is.
Rest in peace, B.I.G.
If you have any thoughts you'd like to add or share, please feel free to post them in the comments.
A new track either by or featuring Dawn Richard has appeared online, and it's a riff on the Phil Collins classic "In the Air Tonight." The song features heavy contribution from what sounds like DJ Webstar, so it's unclear if he's the featured artist or she is.
In an interview with The Hip Hop Chronicle, SRC Records founder and CEO Steve Rifkind shared a bit about his relationship with Diddy and had a lot of kind words, as well. He talked about how the "Big Mack" campaign back in the early nineties was "the most genius thing I've ever seen in my f****** life." Check it out below. The part about Diddy starts at 2:30.
Spin's William Goodman reports from a listening party held in New York for Janelle Monae's upcoming album "The ArchAndroid."
Diddy, on hand via webcam from Paris, spoke glowingly about Monae. "Janelle is my most artistic signing yet," he said. "She's not afraid to dream. I'm known for my hype, but her music speaks for itself."
"Suite II Overture" and "Mushrooms and Roses" were two of the songs played during the evening.
According to Shaheem Reid of MTV News, on March 9, the MTV Jams network (note: this is a different channel than MTV) will be playing the videos of various deceased artists, including The Notorious B.I.G. March 9 will mark 13 years since the passing of Biggie.
Following this, on March 14 on MTV2, Diddy will host a special "Sucker Free Sunday," which will serve as a tribute to Biggie. The show will air at 12:00 PM ET, according to MTV's website.
Liz Farmer of The Daily Record reports that, as part of a business themed trip to New York City, 20 high school students from Baltimore will visit the Bad Boy offices and meet Diddy.
While there, they will also present him with marketing plans that they have developed focused on micro-enterprise, environmentally conscious business ventures and a new product line for women aged 35 and up. The trip is sponsored by the Baltimore chapter of the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship.
In the two clips below, Grind Music Radio interviews Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie and he talks about several different Bad Boy related topics. This includes how D-Dot came to work at Bad Boy, how Biggie ended up being featured on "It's All About the Benjamins," Diddy's vision for The Hitmen and more. It's entertainment and a must watch for Bad Boy fans.
Regarding "Benjamins," D-Dot said that Biggie recorded his verse shortly before he died. He rhymed over the original beat, but Stevie J. put the alternate beat under his verse, the one that ended up on the finished cut, making it "epic."
Check out the clip below for a DJ Premier appearance on Grind Music Radio. Premo tells some pretty interesting stories about working with Biggie and Diddy as well as the creation of "Kick in the Door." Regarding the track, he explains how a certain line was directed at Jeru the Damaja and Premier, because of Premier's involvement in "One Day," a record that took some shots at Diddy and Bad Boy.
Fabolous is promoting a new free mixtape called "There Is No Competition 2: Funeral Service." The mixtape features two tracks with Red Cafe. The first, "Tonight," is listed as Fabolous and Red Cafe while the second, "Funeral Service," is by Fabolous and featuring Cafe, Kobe, Paul Cain and Willie The Kid. Check out an embeddable player below.
In the month of February, Gorilla Zoe released a mixtape every day - plus two on one day, for a grand total of 29 mixtapes in 28 days. DatPiff played host to this marathon and, according to the numbers provided on their website, the 29 mixtapes totaled 318,901 listens and 173,156 downloads.
According to DatPiff, a listen is counted when a user opens a mixtape player and, regardless of whether he listens to one track or all of them, it counts as one listen. They also log the IP address, so if that same user was to come back the next day, using that same IP address, they would still count as just one listen.
The most popular mixtapes were generally the ones released earliest. They capitalized off the initial buzz and have also been up the longest, providing them with the longest opportunity to have been seen by DatPiff visitors.
Within the last couple of hours, Diddy has tweeted twice making references to "6-22-10." The messages themselves are pretty cryptic (see below), but the most obvious interpretation of them is that the release date of the Dirty Money album "Last Train to Paris" has been moved up a week from the June 29 release date reported in February. Hopefully, we'll be able to confirm this soon.
On Twitter today, Diddy offered a free download link for a brand new remix to "Angels" featuring reggae artist Serani as well as The Notorious B.I.G. Diddy also said that the track was produced by Jerry Wonder.
My favorite part starts at the 1:49 mark where Diddy adds a short, laid back rap verse and introduces Biggie.
Download now (includes main, clean and instrumental versions).
Here's the single cover for Trina's "Million Dollar Girl," which features Diddy and Keri Hilson and was co-produced by Mario Winans. A music video for the track is coming soon.
Red Cafe has released a 10 minute behind the scenes clip from the video shoot for "I'm Ill," which features Fabolous. Jadakiss, Grafh, Lore'l, DJ Envy, Olivia and DJ Self, among others, make appearances. In the middle of it is an accompanying video to "Wasted (Freestyle)," which will be on his upcoming mixtape, "Hottest in the Hood, Vol. 2," being released online on March 9.
"Everybody that's on the album, it's not done in a regular appearance way," Diddy told Reid. "It's done in a very unique way that's authentic. And it's not about a single or selling. It doesn't have that behind it. And I think the way Wayne's on this record called 'Strobe Lights,' and it's like one of the first records that I'm really hearing him talking about love and how love has affected him. And that's the type of things that I wanted to get out of people if they were on the album. I wanted them to get out of their comfort zone and do something that was special."
Diddy also talks about how Wayne will be missed during the time he is in prison. Watch the clip below.
As a public service, I'd like to clear something up. Diddy has not said that Rick Ross would be the "next Biggie" or anything like that. What he said was that Rick Ross was "sounding like" Biggie on the remix to Dirty Money's "Angels." That's it. "Sounding like" him on one song. It's a nice complement from the person who was most responsible for what Biggie was as an artist, besides Biggie himself. But, that's all it is.
I mention this because some folks seem to have taken this statement to be something else, like boxer Floyd Mayweather, who said this to AllHipHop.com:
“I hear lately that Puff Daddy has been saying Rick Ross is the next Biggie Smalls. That’s not true," Mayweather told AllHipHop.com. "He’s a good artist but he’s not the next Biggie Smalls. There’s only one Biggie and there’s only one Pac. The thing is this, rap is story telling. It’s not true. If somebody had those many guns, done that much killing or sold that much work or hustled that much, of course they would be in prison."
So, I hope we're all clear now on what Diddy said. Thank you.
When submitting their material, what is the most common mistake that artists make?
The most common mistake is not following up, and also some people take it very personal if you don’t contact them back. Sometimes I meet artists and if you’re not interested they don’t hit you anymore…just follow up with people. Especially if you have contact with someone like an A&R keep them updated with your music as you progress, because you might not be hot today but you might do a song tonight that if I hear that song it could make me say ‘man, this is the person I would like to deal with,’ but if I don’t get that song then all I know is the last stuff you brought me.
According to the report, it was the second incident involving Cemelia Green, who had previously appeared at the property, claiming that she was married to Diddy. After a maintenance worker called the police, she left. But, she returned again 10 days later and that is when she was arrested and charged with criminal trespass and criminal mischief, both in the second degree.
Shaheem Reid of MTV News reports, along with the accompanying video below (warning: some inappropriate content), that Lil' Wayne was in Miami over the weekend shooting music videos parts, in anticipation of his one year prison sentence, which begins today.
One of the parts was for the music video to Diddy/Dirty Money's "Strobe Lights." In the clip below, it appears that they were preparing to tape him in front of a green screen, which would allow them to place him in front of whatever background they would like. Capricorn Clark, Global Brand & Viral Marketing Director for Sean Combs/Bad Boy and "I Want to Work for Diddy" judge, is seen during this portion.
A trio of seemingly unfinished Yung Joc songs have appeared online, titled "Meet Me in the Back," "Please Believe" and "With the Lights On." "Please Believe" is an extended (by a couple of minutes) version of "Please Believe It" by Yung Joc, which we first mentioned in September of 2008.
In the video below, Gorilla Zoe and Block discuss the 28 (really 29) mixtapes in 28 days campaign as well as how artists need to promote themselves these days, among other things.
Gorilla Zoe's month-long mixtape onslaught has reached it's conclusion and, in it's wake, we have 29 new mixtapes and a whole lot of new Gorilla Zoe mixtape. If you missed any of it, you can catch up by visiting the links below.
After you’re done with theses mixtapes, when can we expect an album?
That’s a label thing right now. Basically, my situation is in the middle of negotiating as far as that one album a year. I’m signed to Block Ent. and Bad Boy for life. Bad Boy isn’t with Atlantic anymore, but Atlantic decided to keep me. So, Block and Atlantic are going through negotiations right now.
Do you think you’ll eventually make a move to a solo career?
Most definitely—maybe five or six albums in. Who knows? I’m not going to retire. Who says the rest of the members don’t want to do a couple solo albums & then reel it back in? It depends on what we’re doing. I’d love to do something under my own imprint, that’d be great.
