Bad Boy Entertainment

Guide Note

Bad Boy Entertainment, a.k.a. Bad Boy Records, is an east coast Hip-hop/R&B; record label founded by producer/rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs in 1993 and is a subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Fast Facts

1. Parent Company: Warner Music Group
2. Founded: 1993
3. Annual Revenue: $300 million
4. Headquarters: 1710 Broadway New York, New York 10019
5. Staff: Derek Ferguson (CFO), Jon Cropper (CMO)
6. Chairman & CEO: Sean "Diddy" Combs

For two years leading up to 1995, Death Row Records and the west coast hip hop scene that it led had largely dominated the commercial rap scene. When Bad Boy and east coast hip-hop began to infringe upon their musical dominance, Suge Knight (CEO of Death Row Records) publicly insulted Combs and the label. Tensions heightened when 2Pac signed with Death Row, after having recently forged an indignant rivalry with the Notorious B.I.G. Eventually, music fans began taking sides between Wallace and Shakur, Bad Boy and Death Row, as well as East coast-vs.-West Coast rap.

Tensions hit a boiling point in 1996 when, later that year, 2Pac was shot and killed in Las Vegas. On March 9, 1997, as the label readied for the release of Biggie’s second double album, Life After Death, he too was shot and killed. Most of the coastal tensions defused as a result of the two deaths.