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Sean “Diddy” Combs’ employees and artists at Bad Boy Records haven’t always had good things to say about him. Some accused him of trapping them in unfair contracts, while others said he was a volatile presence in the office. Mase, a former Bad Boy artist, admitted Combs could also just be petty. He recalled a time when this type of behavior was on full display.
A Bad Boy artist said Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs behaved childishly
Early in Mase’s time as an artist with Bad Boy, he walked inside wearing clean, white Nike shoes. Combs was wearing a similar pair, and Mase accidentally got dirt on them.
“I made a mistake and stepped on his sneaker,” Mase said on the podcast It Is What It Is. “And dirt was on his laces, on his white Airs.”
Mase apologized, and Combs left the room, only to return shortly afterward. He’d gone outside and gotten dirt all over his shoes, and he proceeded to step “all over” Mase’s shoes.
“I said, ‘Yo, what are you doing?’” Mase recalled. “He said, ‘My bad.’”
Mase was happy to leave behind his contract with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and Bad Boy
In 2009, Combs was being interviewed by a radio station when Mase surprised him in the studio. On air, he asked Combs to release him from his contract. During a break, Combs signed the paperwork. Mase celebrated afterwards.
“Took me 10 years to get this paperwork right here,” Mase said, per XXL Magazine. “I had to put this in UPS; I don’t want nothing to spill on it. I don’t even know what I’mma put out now. Oh my goodness. We good…I got my official papers right here from Puff Daddy. It was love. So I guess we don’t have no problems after all. I don’t even know how to take that. I ain’t used to Puff doing good stuff.”
While Mase felt trapped in the contract, Combs claimed that this hadn’t been the case.
“Just be clear [Mase] has the freedom to do whatever he want to do,” Combs said. “People have felt like our situation I may have stopped him or whatever, he can do whatever he wanna do. I’m tryna make sure everyone is crystal clear. If you want those Mase verses, getcha hustle on. He gotta slick tongue though, he’s a mean negotiator so you better come with that guap.”
His former employees shared what he was like as a boss
Some of Combs’ behavior at Bad Boy Records was less comical. He could be a frustrating presence for employees, at least partially because he craved attention.
“I distinctly remember the day that Clive Davis called and asked me to start garnering press for Puffy just as if he were the artist,” Bad Boy employee LaJoyce Brookshire told Rolling Stone. “Behind his back, I used to call him my problem child, the Notorious V.I.P.”
Others said people were scared of him, which he used to his advantage.
“He was so volatile,” a source who worked with Bad Boy said. “He’s always on the edge of snapping and being scary. People did whatever he said to stay in his good graces … and Puffy exploited people’s desires to be in those environments.”
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