Former Bad Boy Rapper Mark Curry Rips Diddy Over Publishing Gesture: 'It Has No Value'

Mark Curry, best known for his time on Bad Boy Records, has said that Diddy giving his artists back their publishing rights isn’t the grand deed it’s made out to be.

On Tuesday (September 6), the New Jersey native posted a lengthy video on Instagram addressing his former label boss’ decision to give musicians full control over their catalogs, pointing out that it is still in Puff’s best interest.

“What’s it worth now?” he asked. “He gave me mine back a long time ago … That’s disrespectful — I said why don’t you just keep it and pay me? I don’t want the publishing; I want the money.”

The caption of the Instagram clip read: “Diddy gave the publishing back.:. So what.. it has no value… I want him to give me a million cash and then I can plan the rest of my life out well.”

In the comments section, Curry put things in perspective by adding: “Ever had somebody owe you 50 dollars.. when you needed it back.. they didn’t pay you.. then by the time they do pay you.. the 50 dollars doesn’t mean the same as it did when you needed it?

“That’s how I feel… I wanted that when it was making money.. not after it’s all gone.. what ima do with that? I’m fact.. it’s an insult.”

Mark Curry, who notably appeared on Biggie’s posthumous track “Dangerous MC’s” and Diddy’s 2001 hit “Bad Boy For Life,” ironically left Bad Boy in 2005 and has since worked a range of jobs outside the entertainment industry.

In 2009, he released a book titled Dancing with the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip Hop. As evident from the title, it details the Harlem mogul’s shrewd and exploitative business practices as well as his shady financial tricks. Hence, the recent criticism by him isn’t exactly out of character.

To most others, Diddy has proven himself to be much more generous than was previously believed by returning Bad Boy’s publishing rights to their rightful owners: the artists.

Artists such as Ma$e, The LOX, and the estate of The Notorious B.I.G. all now have the rights to their own music, as do the songwriters on several of their biggest hits. Faith Evans and 112 have also reportedly been given back their publishing.

Sources with direct knowledge of the deal told TMZ that Puff was offered “nine figures” for the catalogs, but chose instead to revert the publishing rights back to the artists.

“We’re told the rationale for this boils down to wanting to revolutionize the industry with this to empower artists and to switch up the dynamic — which has been a certain way for a long time. As part of his legacy, Diddy’s hoping to enrich others in his community,” reported the outlet.

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While this new, more artist-centric approach seems to be Diddy’s calling card as of late, things weren’t always this way. Back in January 2020, Ma$e took to Instagram to blast his ex-boss’ way of doing business.

He claimed that Puff took advantage of him by giving him just $20,000 for his publishing rights when he first joined Bad Boy and later turned down his $2 million offer to buy back his catalog.

His outburst came after Diddy gave a lengthy speech at Clive Davis’ pre-Grammys gala, in which he scolded the Recording Academy for not “respecting” Black Hip Hop and R&B artists.

“I heard u loud and clear when u said that u are now for the artist and to that my response is if u want to see change you can make a change today by starting with yourself,” Ma$e wrote.

“Your past business practices knowingly has continued purposely starved your artist and been extremely unfair to the very same artist that helped u obtain that Icon Award on the iconic Badboy label.”