Tai Saint Louis and Nolan Strong at AllHopHop.com have a brief interview with Diddy, talking about his move to Interscope.


This gives the impression that all artists currently signed to Bad Boy will remain so, but any albums they release will go through Bad Boy/Atlantic Records. Any artists that are signed from this point forward will be put out through Bad Boy/Interscope.

Interscope has issued a press release announcing the signing of Sean "Diddy" Combs, as Combs himself revealed today.

The signing is not only of Diddy the recording artist, but the deal gives Combs a Bad Boy imprint under the Interscope label family. His future artist signings will be to Bad Boy/Interscope, but the current Bad Boy artists and catalog will remain at Atlantic/Warner Music.

"My previous catalog; I'm still in business with Atlantic Records and I appreciate those guys letting me make a smooth transition and also giving the opportunity to keep my name," Diddy said during an interview with Ryan Seacrest. "That was very important to me. You know, Lyor Cohen, he let me keep my name and I was able to have my name go with me over to Interscope Records, so it'll be Bad Boy/Interscope."

"Puff is a rare person in the music industry today, that can move the culture in many areas - fashion, TV, music - as well as making records," Interscope Chairman Jimmy Iovine said in the press release. "Whenever a free agent like him comes along, which is rare, you grab him."

"I am excited to be partnering with Jimmy Iovine and the Interscope Records family on all my future music ventures which include my career as a recording artist and upcoming record label," Diddy added. "With this new deal, I look forward to signing music's next great superstars to the label and continuing the legacy of making great music at my new home. This is the beginning of a new musical era for Bad Boy."

Check out the full press release below.

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Updating a previous story, Diddy posted the following on Twitter:


This would seem to indicate that Diddy will not leave Bad Boy at Warner/Atlantic. But, questions remain. Hopefully more details will be forthcoming.

Update: In a second message, he mentioned that he just saw the promotional CD for "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money and it reads "Bad Boy/Interscope." "The 1st one!," he says.

Check out the Y98 interview of Todd Sarvies from "P. Diddy's StarMaker." Starvies talks about the show's format and says he'd be the first rock act signed to Bad Boy if he wins. Actually, Bad Boy has previous signed a rock act - the group fuzzbubble.

Earlier this month we mentioned a Vibe report that indicated that Diddy would sign with Interscope Records. Just Diddy. At the time, I was incredulous that he would not take the whole label with him, wherever he went.

But, Billboard is reporting that, according to a spokesperson, Diddy will leave his record deal with Warner Music Group/Atlantic Records, accepting a new deal that is already in place. The spokesperson would not confirm who the new deal was with.

"Now that the term of the Warner deal has ended, I have elected to accept an opportunity to move my recording career and future label venture to another company," they quote Diddy as saying, in a statement.

The emphasis is mine. Recording career and future label venture? Is the future label venture bringing Bad Boy to someone else? Or is it a new label altogether? Remember, earlier this week, we reported remarks from music producer Damon Thomas who said he had a joint venture label deal with Interscope and Diddy (the video has since been removed).

This statement raises more questions than it answers. Namely:

1. Is it possible that "Last Train to Paris" may not be released on Bad Boy? That seems unlikely. Maybe he just didn't want Warner distributing his album and promoting it. But, if that's the case, it gives the appearance that it isn't good enough for Diddy, but it is good enough for his artists, which isn't a good perception to create.

2. If Bad Boy is remaining under Warner/Atlantic, what will Mr. Combs' role be at the company? Will he continue to sign acts and release albums under Bad Boy/Warner/Atlantic?

3. What does he mean when he refers to a "future label venture?" Is this a new joint venture for Bad Boy or a new label that he will be heading?

I am sure that, in time, all will be answered. But, right now, there is a lot of uncertainty.

Via ForeverPDiddy.

Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. Day26's "So Good," Dirty Money's "Angels" and Cassie's "Let's Get Crazy" all make incremental gains while Dirty Money's "Love Come Down" makes it's first chart debut.

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

81. "Don't Feed Da Animals" by Gorilla Zoe (down from 58).

Songs

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles

5. "So Good" by Day26 (a new high, up from 11).
17. "Angels" by Dirty Money (up from 18).
21. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (debut).

Rhythmic Top 40

33. "Let's Get Crazy" by Cassie (a new high, up from 34).

Over on the redcafetv YouTube channel, a video was posted featuring Diddy, Red Cafe, music producers Rob Holladay and Damon Thomas and others in a private jet on their way to Las Vegas for the last Saturday's boxing match between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Juan Manuel Marquez.

The video features two potentially newsworthy, though unverified bits of information. First, Diddy refers to Holladay as the "newest member of The Hitmen." Holladay produced Dirty Money's "Love Come Down" and "half" of the "Last Train to Paris" album, according to Diddy. Technically, members of The Hitmen are signed to Bad Boy as producer management - however, it has been used previously to refer to producers who were not signed to Bad Boy. I'm attempting to confirm this story with Holladay on Twitter.

During the video, Diddy introduces Damon Thomas, formerly of The Underdogs. When Diddy urges Thomas to tell the camera about his label, Thomas says "the new label's The Pentagon. I'm doing it with Interscope and Puff." Diddy then says that he's been trying to work with Thomas "for years, years."

"So, everything's coming up full circle right now," Diddy continues. "Very, very, very happy- this guy's a beast." It sure sounds like they're working together. And the mention of Interscope will only fuel rumor that Diddy is taking Bad Boy over there, as well.

Talking to MTV, Raekwon discussed the rumor that Diddy wanted to sign him and Ghostface Killah to Bad Boy, way back when. Check it out below.

To sum it up, Diddy was at a Ghost and Rae show and they supposedly ran into someone who was working security for Diddy. This person told them that Diddy was talking about how he wanted to sign them. There's more in the article, as well, regarding Diddy hosting his album release party and how it came about.

Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. Day26's "So Good" makes it's first appearance on any chart as "Let's Get Crazy" moves up.

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

58. "Don't Feed Da Animals" by Gorilla Zoe (up from 72).

Top Rap Albums

25. "Don't Feed Da Animels" by Gorilla Zoe (re-entry).

Songs

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles

11. "So Good" by Day26 (debut).
18. "Angels" by Dirty Money (down from 14).

Rhythmic Top 40

34. "Let's Get Crazy" by Cassie (a new high, up from 38).

Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. "Angels" and "Let's Get Crazy" make their debuts.

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

72. "Don't Feed Da Animals" by Gorilla Zoe (down from 71).

Songs

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles

14. "Angels" by Dirty Money (debut).

Rhythmic Top 40

38. "Let's Get Crazy" by Cassie (debut).