Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs bridged the gap between hip-hop and R&B when he created Bad Boy Records more than 20 years ago. Celebrating two decades, Puff Daddy together with Lil’ Kim, Mase, Faith Evans, The Lox, Mario Winans, 112, Total, Carl Thomas and French Montana come together for a tour like no other.
Take it back to the mid-’90s where it all started: Craig Mack and the late great Notorious B.I.G. dominated the rap scene; but the record label also saw the rise of the first lady of Bad Boy Faith Evans (“You Used to Love Me”), and groups Total (“Can’t You See”) and 112 (“Only You”). Bad Boy artists became more like family, sparking the Grammy-winning Puff Daddy & The Family compilation No Way Out in 1997, the same year as Biggie’s posthumous album Life After Death and Mase’s Harlem World.
Evans, Total and 112 were on their sophomore albums by 1998, the year The Lox debuted its first album. A new wave for Bad Boy continued with Carl Thomas and Mario Winans in the early 2000s and more recent artists like French Montana. After the standing ovation Puff Daddy received at the 2015 BET Awards during the Bad Boy medley, it was only right that he turned that moment into a Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour for fans ... ’cause it’s Bad Boy for life.
MGM Grand, 8 p.m. Oct. 1, $39.50-$150 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
