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Sean “Diddy” Combs Says Bad Boy Records Will Not Be Disrespected

 

When Sean “Diddy” Combs talks, people still listen. The Hip-Hop mogul spoke with DJ Whoo Kid and spent a significant portion of the interview dispelling notions that his Bad Boy Records isn’t the best label for artist to align with.

“Over the last couple of years there’s been a strong propaganda movement that has been brewing in the negative sense against Bad Boy,” Diddy told Whoo Kid. “Against what it is to sign to the Bad Boy label; is it a detriment to your career.”

Diddy shared his theory on the root of the “propaganda.”

“Just hate,” said Diddy. “Just regular hate and also a lot of people not understanding how this industry works. This is a hard industry, this is not for kids, this is not for the weak. This is not a PG-rated industry. If you are weak you’ll get eaten alive in this industry. This industry has a life expectancy of like two years.”

It is true many artists who began their careers on Bad Boy are no longer affiliated with the label. Just a handful include Black Rob, Loon, Shyne and the LOX (Styles P, Jadakiss, Sheek Louch). All left via less than ideal circumstances, but according to the Diddy,the frequency of artists moving on from Bad Boy is no different than at any other label.

“It started a couple of years ago, ‘Ok what happened with this artist, why isn’t this artist still on the label, why isn’t that artist on the label,’ so people started to try give us a bad rap and spread that propaganda with the new generation,” Diddy said. “Honestly, nobody that was on Def Jam still on Def Jam, nobody that was on Rocafella still on Rocafella. There’s not even still a Rocafella…Ruff Ryders. We the last crew standing. I’m not saying that with any disrespect to anybody’s name I just said, I’m just stating a fact. We’re here for a reason.”

Bad Boy is indeed still in business, recently signing French Montana, whose “Shot Caller” single also reportedly had G.O.O.D. Music and  Maybach Music Group seeking his rap services. It seems like inking the Bronx repping  rapper to a deal, as well as the currently bubbling Red Café, has boosted Diddy’s eternally competitive juices.

“Anybody coming after us is mimicking what we’ve done,” Diddy said. “And that’s good. Just like we mimicked what Motown and what Def Jam did. But we gonna give that respect. We not going to go and disrespect Motown and Def Jam. And we at Bad Boy, since we’re still here, we’re not going to be disrespected, and we not gonna not be competitive. When it comes to anything that’s moving that hot out there in 2012 and it fits our DNA of flyness, we want to be in business with it.”

The veteran record executive noted that he finds inspiration in newer labels like Young Money, G.O.O.D. Music and all his “friends and competitors.” Diddy also started puffing his chest out, no pun intended, about Bad Boy’s accomplishments in Hip-Hop.

“We the leaders,” said Diddy. “We was the first on Twitter, we was the first on Facebook. We was the first in St. Tropez, south of France, Ibiza, St. Barts. We was the first making dance music. The first making progressive music. We was the first with the bad Beyotches and the fly cars and jewelry. We was the first, and there ain’t nothing wrong with that.”

Of course, he didn’t want to stunt for the sake of just stunting.

“If anything I want people to be inspired by my hard work,” he said. “Be inspired that if I can do it, you can do it.”

 

Listen to the full interview below.