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- Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was indicted on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering in September.
- His record label, Bad Boy Records, is one source of his wealth.
- Musicians including Janelle Monáe, French Montana, and Machine Gun Kelly were signed to Bad Boy.
Before Sean Combs, also known as Diddy, was sued by more than a dozen people, alleging sexual misconduct, he was a powerful music tastemaker, creating his own record label.
Diddy founded Bad Boy Records in 1993 and went on to sign major musicians such as The Notorious BIG, Mase, and Faith Evans. It’s impossible to think of ’90s and ’00s rap without also thinking of Bad Boy, which released 13 No. 1 albums from 1997 to 2022.
Over the years, Bad Boy and its founder gained a reputation for being difficult to work with, highlighted by multiple public instances of friction between artists and the label.
In a statement provided to Business Insider, a representative for Combs said, “It’s easy to reduce a 30-year legacy to a few negative statements, but that doesn’t capture the full story.”
“Sean Combs and Bad Boy Records were more than just a label — they were a cultural movement that shaped music, launched careers, and produced iconic hits,” they said. “Focusing only on grievances distorts the narrative. The label’s contributions remain an essential part of music history.”
Before the criminal charges in September 2024, including charges of racketeering and sex trafficking, Diddy had begun the process of reverting the publishing rights of many of Bad Boy’s most famous songs to their original artists, provided they signed agreements, as reported by Billboard.
Now, multiple celebrities are named in the lawsuits against him, and dozens more have been scrutinized for their relationship with Diddy over the last few months.
“Mr. Combs and his legal team have full confidence in the facts, their legal defenses, and the integrity of the judicial process,” his lawyers said in a statement after new lawsuits were filed in New York in October. “In court, the truth will prevail: that Mr. Combs has never sexually assaulted anyone — adult or minor, man or woman.”
Bad Boy is still in existence today and remains one source of Diddy’s wealth. Here are 16 of the biggest acts that have released albums through Bad Boy since its inception.
