When Puff Daddy was fired at Uptown Records, Biggie had already recorded half of his debut album “Ready To Die”. Puffy had to pay upwards of $500,000 to buy back the original records that Biggie had recorded while at Uptown Records.
Shyne had recorded around 40 songs prior to his debut release “Dear America” in 2000. Shyne had a whole bunch of tracks that didn’t make the album, some made their way onto mixtapes and some Puffy released himself.
And speaking of Shyne, Shyne had been recording reference tracks for Puffy from 1998 to 2000. Many of the tracks that Puffy had made for Biggie’s “Born Again” and his own album, “Forever”, were originally recorded by Shyne rapping Puffy’s verses.
Back in 1998, Puffy tried to break a pre-teen R&B act named Lil’ Jerome who was 11 years old. Puffy released his single and remixed it two separate times. Jerome recorded a full album, but was dropped from the label when his single didn’t chart as high as planned and was never heard from again in the music business.
Craig Mack is not the only Bad Boy Records artist to release a gold debut album and never have another release. In 2004, R&B singer Mario Winans, released “Hurt No More” which charted great all over the world and also received Grammy nominations, but that would be Winans only chance to release an Bad Boy Records. He had a gold selling album, but Puffy never released a follow up album.
The Bad Boy rapper with the shortest stint on the label was Queens white MC Kain. Kain officially only appears on one song and also performed on a freestyle live on the radio.
Puffy claims that he was the inventor of the remix on Bad Boy Records but Puffy was not the inventor of the remix. Although a bunch of artists have done something similar to the remix, singer Kevin Saunderson is credited with the being the inventor of the Remix by remixing the song “Heat It Up” in 1988.
Puffy tried signing DMX to Bad Boy Records two separate times before he became a Ruff Ryder. Puffy first told X that his voice was too rough and was not marketable. X then went on to signing with Ruff Ryder Records. After signing the contract, Puffy changed his mind and wanted to sign the Yonkers rapper after all. He told X that whatever Ruff Ryder Records had signed him for, that he would double the contract. X was not interested at that point.
Puffy was so upset by the murder of Biggie and also very nervous about his own safety, that Puffy threatened to shut down Bad Boy records completely just days after Biggie’s death. He said he was going to shut everything down and not release Biggie’s album, his own upcoming album and also Mase’ album that they were already recording.
After Shyne signed his first Bad Boy Records contract, he immediately went out and bought a brand new Mercedes SL 600. He was actually one of the first in the country to own that model. When he showed it to his boss, Puffy replied “I dont even have a car like this”.
Picasso Baby 