Diddy to give publishing rights to Bad Boy Records artists Notorious B.I.G., Mase, Faith Evans

For Sean “Diddy” Combs, there’s no price tag on artistry.

The rapper and music mogul, who founded Bad Boy Records in the ‘90s, has agreed to give the label’s publishing rights back to all artists and writers who worked with the company, a source close to the situation but not authorized to speak publicly told USA TODAY in an email Monday.

Bad Boy artists such as Faith Evans, Mase, The Lox, 112 and the estate of The Notorious B.I.G. have signed agreements to receive their publishing rights.

The estate of The Notorious B.I.G. declined to comment on Combs’ deal when contacted by USA TODAY.

USA TODAY has reached out to representatives for Evans, Mase, The Lox and 112 for comment.

Despite receiving multimillion-dollar offers to purchase Bad Boy’s publishing, Combs chose to reallocate publishing rights to the label’s artists and songwriters in an effort to promote the financial mobility of artists, especially within the Black community.

Since its founding by Combs in 1992, Bad Boy Records has sold over 500 million records, produced 38 platinum singles and earned multiple Grammy Awards, according to the official website for Combs Global.

“Ready to Die,” the 1994 debut album by The Notorious B.I.G., sold 2 million copies by 1995 and went on to be certified six times platinum. Biggie’s labelmates Evans and Mase sold 1 million and 4 million copies, respectively, with their first albums “Faith” and “Harlem World.”

In 2020, Mase criticized Combs’ businessman ethics in an Instagram post, days after the “I’ll Be Missing You” emcee received the Industry Icon award at the Clive Davis pre-Grammy gala in January. The rapper, born Mason Durell Betha, accused Combs of ripping artists off who signed with Bad Boy Records.

"Your past business practices knowingly has continued purposely starved your artists and been extremely unfair to the very same artists that helped (you) obtain that Icon Award on the iconic Bad Boy label," Mase wrote in the since-deleted post.

Recent Bad Boy Records artists include rapper French Montana, R&B singer Janelle Monáe and pop-punk rapper Machine Gun Kelly.

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Contributing: Morgan Hines, USA TODAY