Bad Boy: The Influence of Sean Puffy Combs on the Music Industry

by Ronin Ro

This is a tale of friendship, greed, and betrayal in the music industry--and a definitive history of America's biggest rap mogul. No one knows more about creating hits than Sean "Puffy" Combs. For... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0743428234
• ISBN13: 9780743428231
• Release Date: November 2001
• Publisher: Atria Books
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 1.15 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.5" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

THE TRANSFORMATION FROM PUFFY TO DIDDY

This book offers a very detailed and accurate chronological compilation of monumental and pivotal events in "Puffy's" life and Bad Boy's history. While it often portrays Puffy as determined and focused, it also depicts him as an egomaniacal and self-serving tyrant. All the people who have played a key role in helping him build his Bad Boy Brand and near billionaire status are woven throughout this story of his meteoric rise to fame including Biggie; Craig Mack; Mase; The Lox; Black Rob; 112; Carl Thomas; Faith Evans; Mary J. Blige; Heavy D; Dream; Andre Harrell; LA Reid; Russell Simmons; and Clive Davis. You will discover things about Bad Boy that you didn't know (such as Biggie selling his publishing rights to Puffy for $150,000), things that you wish you didn't know (like how Puffy used the tired 60s tactic of buying cars for highly pursued or recently signed new artists with their own money and used it as a smokescreen to blind them to inequitable business practices), and many other serious music business lessons. Despite the fact that this book ends abruptly, it's rivetting, entertaining, and highly informative. Ronin Ro should definitely update this. There's a lot that has happened with Puffy and Bad Boy since it was written.

Best That A Book On This Subject Can Be

I read this book in about 3 days and I couldn`t put it down. Ro echoes the sentiment of a Hip Hop patriot and tells just how doctored the music that we integrate into the fiber of our egos is. I would read anything else that he writes and he has great journalism skills. It is also super educational for would be hip hop r & b artist looking to learn about the harsh realities for the music bizz without reading a dry ass law book(law books have their place) but this makes the info a lot more palatable. I feel that the material here does not deal with Puff Daddy unfairly and it didn`t make me hate him , on the contrary I actually like him a little bit more then I did before. At the end of the day hes just a guy trying to make a profit off of the kids just like all the other CAPITALIST. I no longer dichtomize him into good or bad. I salute you Ro. Keep writing good work and I wanna hear that work. Big difference between social political artistic hip hop and doctored market commidity Rap. Drop Me a Line!!!

This Book Is Incredible

Many people might not know about this book since it was released in early September of 2001. But Ronin Ro's Bad Boy is a must-read work. Instead of rehashing details about the coastal rap rivalry he already covered in Have Gun Will Travel, Ro presents an entirely different tale, in an intriguing new voice, but with the same eye for the telling detail. For the first time, a book details every stage of Puffy's career--Ro describes his days as an ambitious aspiring music executive, his first steps at R & B/rap label Uptown and his apprenticeship under Andre Harrell, his contributions to the rap remix format, his rise in the industry(precipitated by well-placed acquaintances at various rap magazines), and his relationship with the late rapper Notorious BIG (covered through a mix of Big's lesser-known interviews and compelling and exciting interviews with label insiders, associates and more). Bad Boy also reveals the creative process behind the label's string of hit albums during the 1990s, how Puffy marketed and--in some cases--watered down his artists' music and how he scrambled to save face after some, including The Lox and Mase, abruptly left the label and the man who claimed to have made them famous. Anyone expecting another book-length retread of the Bad Boy Death Row beef might want another book. Bad Boy is more than that. For a balanced look at Sean "Puffy" Combs and the empire he tried to build, the most in-depth portrait of Biggie Smalls ever offered, and a gripping account of Puffy's 2001 criminal trial, read this book.

The P. The D. The I. The D.....it's Diddy.....Hold Up!!!!!

(...) Damn Puf!!!!!This is a good insight into the Rise and Fall of Sean "Puffy", "P-Diddy" Combs. And I use to admire the guy. Despite the Haters. Read this and it may change your mind, as it did mine.