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.

Diddy established Bad Boy soon after meeting and listening to legendary Brooklyn MC Christopher Wallace, also known as The Notorious B.I.G.. At the time, B.I.G. had yet to release an album, and Diddy promptly set up Bad Boy to release his material.http://www.badboyonline.com/

Combs promoted B.I.G. heavily, and it paid off massive dividends; B.I.G.'s two records, "Ready To Die" and "Life After Death", were among the most successful records ever produced in the hip hop genre, and catapulted Bad Boy Entertainment to mainstream recognition. At this time, Bad Boy was the most prominent, arguably, it has ever been.

Biggie released singles such as "Mo Money Mo Problems", "Hypnotize", and "Big Poppa" which were all produced by Diddy and dominated the airwaves and the charts. http://www.badboyonline.com/

Since B.I.G.'s murder in 1997, Bad Boy has waxed and waned in chart success. Diddy himself was fairly popular as a solo artist, with singles such as "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" and "I'll Be Missing You" becoming quite popular, and his most recent album, "Press Play", achieving considerable success as well. However, Diddy struggled at times to find artists under his wing, and none of ever been as famous as B.I.G.http://www.badboyonline.com/ Rapper Yung Joc, with his single "It's Goin Down", is perhaps one of the few Bad Boy rappers besides Diddy with a chart topping hit.

Bad Boy now incorporates more R&B artists in their lineup, with the group Danity Kane, having been created under Diddy's TV show "Making the Band", achieving mainstream success with their single "Damaged." Bad Boy also signed Cassie, who had a hit single Me & U. As a result, they have still managed to be a relevant label in the music industry, despite lacking rappers of B.I.G.'s clout.http://www.badboyonline.com/

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.

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.