As part of a feature story for Variety, Sean “Diddy” Combs spoke in detail about the issues currently plaguing the black community. During the conversation, the Hip Hop entrepreneur addressed the lack of business investments, the impact of gentrification and much more.
Having founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, Diddy demonstrated his expertise as he discussed exclusion at the hands of record companies who make money off black culture.
“You have these record companies that are making so much money off our culture, our art form, but they’re not investing or even believing in us,” Diddy said. “For all the billions of dollars that these black executives have been able to make them, [there’s still hesitation] to put them in the top-level positions.”
He continued, “They’ll go and they’ll recruit cats from overseas. It makes sense to give [executives of color] a chance and embrace the evolution, instead of it being that we can only make it to president, senior VP … There’s no black CEO of a major record company. That’s just as bad as the fact that there are no [black] majority owners in the NFL. That’s what really motivates me.”
Diddy later touched on the downside of gentrification and its aftermath, specifically in New York City.
“Gentrification is heartbreaking,” he said. “When I go back to New York, the energy doesn’t feel the same — the nightlife, the excitement, the provocativeness. In Harlem you still feel that, even though the community has gotten displaced and shrunk.”
Check out Diddy’s entire discussion with Variety here.
Diddy. It’s about money. Not helping out a culture lol. If anything, popularizing rap music hurts the culture. Funk, rock, n blues helped it.
They aren’t here to invest in you. They are here to use you for their own gain. No superstar or celebrity was ever more well off than the people who signed them…
Which is why the talent can create their own movement now without the record labels. Record Labels as we know it will be a thing of the pass in 10 years. The days will be over where the label gives the artist 30% of their own art.
Diddy stopped half the artists who was signed to him from becoming bigger & better off, half of them wasn’t happy but he was unhappy to let them go & eat.
Jay-Z was well off when he left Def Jam and So will Drake be when he leaves Cash Money/Universal …. I Forgot About Cole Who Is Doing Well Without Columbia
Hell yeah Jay is well off! But universal music groups owned Def jam. The one who signs ALWAYS makes more. Simple business. Most artists sign when they are coming up though, so understandably. Are hungry for money. None of us commenting could even imagine making $2 million I’m a year lol.
Did i just hear knowledge and interview with variety in the same sentence? The fuck?
Didn’t this guy fuck over basically every artist he ever signed… don’t even get me started on all the black lives that were lost on his behalf
A Black culture vulture discussing white jewish culture vultures. Black New York had the chance to invest in real estate and clean up the crime but most did not seize the opportunity..
All the 90’s cats should’ve been thinking about this when they gave hiphop away cuz they thought it was a race thing…nope , parents just didn’t want their kids listening to to vulgar stories of black kids fuckin up their life. The grammys didn’t not feature Hiphop becuz it was black music, they didn’t feature it cuz it was too raw for their audience. Hiphop disregarded all the black people honored at the grammys for different genres, and made it about race. Now hiphop is the same as all the “white” music, its pop and the “culture” of it is making money for big business. Classic case of “be careful what you wish for”…I watched it happen in real time, this is what went down no matter what they try to tell you. Plus Puff one of the biggest crook record execs in hiphop history, fuck outta here wit that shit