BADBOY+3

P.Diddy started his climb from a non-paying internship to becoming an A&amp;R executive at Uptown Records, Sean ("Puffy") Combs was abruptly terminated in 1993 by the then CEO Andre Harrell — reportedly due to his own difficulty to work with. Upon his firing, Arista Records chief Clive Davis took advantage of Combs' free agent status and agreed to bankroll him his own vanity label to be operated through Arista and its BMG parent.

Bad Boy Entertainment was quickly established. A handful of the acts who had been signed to Uptown via Combs just prior to his dismissal were dropped from the label; among them were Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.), and Craig Mack — both of whom Combs would take with him to his new company.

The label's first release was Craig Mack's "Flava In Ya Ear," followed quickly by Mack's debut album, Project: Funk Da World. On the heels of these releases came 1994's "Juicy" and Ready To Die, the lead single and debut album from The Notorious B.I.G. (who would also be referred to as "Biggie"). Both albums achieved multi-platinum success. The latter, however, went on to become a monster hit — dominating the charts into 1995, making B.I.G. the label's premier star. Also in 1995, the label continued its success with platinum releases by Total and Faith Evans. The label, meanwhile, staffed a bevy of in-house writer/producers, including: Chucky Thompson, Easy Mo Bee, Nashiem Myrick and D Dot — all of whom were instrumental in producing many of Bad Boy's most noted releases during this time.