I’m 17 and currently live in Swindon in the UK. I would say I was a “Bad Boy fan” by default in that it was my older brother who followed the label faithfully throughout the 90s. Throughout my youth, due to the label’s success, there would always be a release out, yearly, even monthly, making it eventually impossible to ignore. The first Bad Boy album I ever heard was Total’s debut, which has now come to be one of my favorites of all time. When I started buying CDs, it was also the first Bad Boy release I purchased, although, unknowingly, I had racked up many Puff Daddy productions on various other albums and singles.

I wouldn’t like to say I’m a collector of Bad Boy releases, but I suppose through addiction to the label’s legacy, now I have become one. One of my favorite things about the label is the constant links between albums. Particularly at the start, artists wrote on each other’s albums (112’s Mike & Q co-wrote Total’s “When Boy Meets Girl”, for example) and producers (becoming The Hitmen) made appearances on every release and there was a real feeling of collaboration between label mates and associates like I’ve never seen with any other of the label’s contemporaries.

If I had to choose a favorite Bad Boy artist it would be Total. Although they only stayed around for two albums, the girls were different, their arrangements and harmonies not typical in the slightest and, although their voices were completely out of the ordinary, they merged perfectly.

Of course, this legacy is all thanks to Diddy. Critics say he can’t produce or he can’t rap. Although I disagree with this, the fact he allowed the world to hear albums by such fantastic artists as Faith, 112, Total, Mase, The Notorious B.I.G. and Black Rob sets him apart from the rest. He has also introduced me to such great producers as Stevie J., Chucky Thompson and Mario Winans. All of these people owe their success and impressive resumes to the man himself. He’s brought (either directly or indirectly) so many fantastic tracks to the 90’s R&B and rap music movement in particular, and I think for these reasons alone he deserves respect. People are also saying Bad Boy has gone down the drain, but I think there have been strong releases from Diddy, Danity Kane and Cassie this year and can’t wait for a new decade with the label.

Outside of my obsession with Bad Boy, I am currently studying English Literature, Philosophy and Religion at higher education and will go on to a 3 year degree in English Literature (possibly combined with journalism) next year at Manchester University with a view to eventually becoming a journalist. I love music (R&B from the 90s and alternative rap in particular) writing and TV (obsessed with [adult swim] on Cartoon Network at the moment) and generally just being young and having fun!