On Thursday, Justin Bieber was a guest on "Jimmy Kimmel Live," promoting his new film "Never Say Never." During the show, Diddy stopped by to hang out and have some fun. Watch below.
L.A. Reid, the chairman of Island Def Jam Music Group, who signed Beiber to a 360 deal in 2008, shared an interesting story about Usher and how, when his voice changed due to puberty, he wanted to drop the singer. But, someone convinced him not to. Diddy.
Reid says he doesn’t live with regret, but dig a little deeper, and it becomes clear that one major hurdle from Reid’s past is coming into play with Bieber. Weeks from turning 17 on March 1, Bieber and his $100 million voice are changing. When this natural process of human development occurred with Usher, Reid, by his own admission, “lost it.” He recounts those trying months back in 1994: “I wasn’t there for Usher. I heard him at a showcase, and he couldn’t sing. I was embarrassed. It was like: ‘Damn, where’s the voice? What happened to his tone? Where’s the power and the range?’ It was all gone. I wanted to drop him. I wanted to be out of business with him. I broke his heart. I broke his mother’s heart. It was a very tough period in both our lives. Then someone said to me: ‘Don’t be a fool. Don’t sell your stock in Usher. He’s still going to be a star. He’s everything you thought he was the day you signed him.’ And that person was Puffy.” Says Usher: “No man is perfect and no executive knows how to make all the right decisions. I was shielded from a lot of it. My mother felt it more than anything. But losing my voice f---ed me up. I had to figure it out.”
It should be no surprise, then, to learn that the person hired to help Bieber navigate the tricky world of puberty is vocal coach Jan Smith, who got Usher through his early performances. “She has me doing vocal conditioning exercises regularly,” Bieber explains. Today Reid, a father of five, says he’s better prepared to handle Bieber’s maturation. “I know how to be encouraging now,” he says. “I wasn’t that way to Usher. I didn’t give him the same kind of love and support at the time. But Puffy was right.”
The last few months have been a little crazy and, as such, we have been focusing on high level stories - or stories that happened to cross my desk - here at Bad Boy Blog. At the same time, being a comprehensive source, I at least wanted to summarize some of the stories that fell through the cracks during this time. Check out some of them below.
Diddy/Dirty Money Interview with WTAM 1100 Cleveland
In December, Dirty Money was interviewed by WTAM 1100 in Cleveland. They talk about the formation of the group, the development of "Last Train to Paris" and more. One of the more interesting parts was Diddy's answer when asked how Skylar Grey came to be featured on "Coming Home."
TB: Skylar Grey is featured on that track – she was pretty much unknown before this. How did she become a part of it?
Diddy: Yeah, she was writing, she wrote the song, with the chorus. Jay-Z helped me write the rest of the song, and Alex da Kid - who did "Airplanes," and “"Love The Way You Lie" - that's one of his main writers that he works with. I just loved her voice on the intro. We don't have egos, we have an allegiance to the song, and we also had a lot of different featured but we didn't have anybody that was kind of unknown, so we were like, "Hey let's keep her on the front, it sounds good." That's what music is about sounding good – let's leave it like that.
Video: Diddy and Rick Ross Being Interviewed... and then Dwayne Wade Happens
In the clip below, posted on the official NBA YouTube channel, Diddy and Rick Ross are being interviewed courtside at a Miami Heat game last month. And then Dwayne Wade dunks. And the interview ends.
The last few months have been a little crazy and, as such, we have been focusing on high level stories - or stories that happened to cross my desk - here at Bad Boy Blog. At the same time, being a comprehensive source, I at least wanted to summarize some of the stories that fell through the cracks during this time. Check out some of them below.
Karl Lagerfeld Calls Janelle Monae a "New Revelation
According to her MySpace, this continued during a television interview where he referred to her as a "new revelation' - "anointed of Prince" and "heiress of James Brown."
Janelle Monae Delivers Symphonic Version of "BabopByeYa" with Emory Symphony Orchestra
In October, Janelle Monae performed with the Emory Symphony Orchestra at the Schwartz Center for the Performing Arts in Atlanta. She did a special symphonic rendition of "BabopByeYa." Metromix Atlanta has pictures.
Rapper Trina has released her own unofficial remix of Dirty Money's "A** on the Floor." In 2010, she collaborated with both Diddy and Dawn Richard, officially - with Diddy on her own "Million Dollar Girl" and on Richard's "Bottles."
He said that, at first, Diddy asked him to do a remix album of Dirty Money's "Last Train to Paris." But, Gerber wanted to "make something deeper musically. He liked what I did and now it's a whole project with him."
Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. Dirty Money's "Coming Home" falls slightly while "Last Train to Paris" gains.
Albums
The Billboard 200
62. "Last Train to Paris" by Dirty Money (up from 73).
Top Current Albums
61. "Last Train to Paris" by Dirty Money (up from 71).
Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums
16. "Last Train to Paris" by Dirty Money (unchanged).
73. "The ArchAndroid: Suites II and III" by Janelle Monae (down from 66).
Advertising Age reports that, for the year ending January 23, Ciroc sales totaled $8.8 million, a gain of 71%. This moved the vodka ahead of competitor Belvedere, as the second best selling vodka in the U.S.
In the same period, Belvedere saw sales growth of 7.8% to $7.8 million. This was below the average for the super-premium vodka product category, which grew almost 14%, according to numbers provided by the Distilled Spirits Council.
On Wednesday, Janelle Monae was honored by ESSENCE and Diddy at the magazine's annual "Black Women in Music" event before the GRAMMYs. Prince, Big Boi, Mary Mary, Leona Lewis and others were also on hand.
"He's a very nice guy and supportive of my ideas and my label, The Wonderland Arts Society," she said of the Bad Boy CEO. "He's very funny and is really inspired by what it is that we are doing. It means a lot to me because he is also a person that I have looked up to. I admire the longevity that he has and all the many businesses that he has and still oversees. Whenever I need advice, he's just there. And him just being there is enough."
The Hollywood Reporter spoke with Diddy, who talked about his state of mind when he gave Monae the stamp of approval.
Rap-Up.com reports that Cassie will play the love interest to Wiz Khalifa in the rapper's "Roll Up" music video. It was shot in Venice Beach, CA on Wednesday.
They also spoke with Khalifa and asked him how she came to be involved. Watch below, starting at the 0:47 mark.
