Diddy talks ‘The Four,’ squashing beef with Drake, and $5 million Joe Budden rumors
Diddy stops by The Breakfast Club to discuss his new hit show, clear up rumors, and revisit the timeless Bad Boy legacy.
“Just call me L O V E,” said Diddy, as he opened this morning’s interview with the Breakfast Club. Following last night’s appearance on Late Night with Seth Myers, the Bad Boy stopped by the house that Angela Yee, Charlamagne tha God and DJ Envy built to discuss his latest hit, The Four: Battle for Stardom. “It’s like vocal Game Of Thrones” said the REVOLT Chairman, as he described the talent show, which airs Thursday nights on the Fox network. The six-week special, which also features DJ Khaled, pop star Meghan Trainor and record exec Charlie Walk on the judges panel, pits four contestants against challengers vying for their spots. The winner gets a deal with Universal Republic, and the privilege of the four judges helping to guide their career.
“The first four we started with – they are already gone,” said Diddy. “That’s what makes it such interesting TV. It’s not the regular format. The genre is thoroughly disrupted. We have hip hop on there. I made sure that was in the contract. We have diversity, R&B. It just feels like it’s us.”
During the candid conversation with The Breakfast Club, Diddy also touched on the $5 million Joe Budden rumors, squashing his beef with Drake and being with Mary J. Blige as she received her star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
On Joe Budden’s rumored $5 million deal with REVOLT: “No. I don’t know where these numbers are coming from [laughs]. That didn’t happen. I’m trying to get it together. You know sometimes it just takes time. It’s not like you can just do a deal overnight. I mean you can, but it’s best to make sure everything is right. If it works out it works out. I hope it works out.”
On knowing French Montana’s “Unforgettable” would be a hit: “French has really been searching for a hit for a minute. When I heard “Unforgettable,” I was like he finally got one. This is going to get him where he wanted to be. I told him he’s going to go all over the world with this one. And it worked out.”
On patching things up with Drake: “We just bumped into each other, sat down and kicked it like two men and kept it moving. It wasn’t no need to be the end of the world. I didn’t have no malice towards him. It was just one of those nights. And we were cool before, that’s why everything went down. Sometimes brothers have scraps. And we have to be able to move past it.”
On Mary J. Blige receiving her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: “People are going to say what they want to say, but me and Mary’s thing is a little sacred. That’s something she asked me to do. It’s something that I would’ve been there with her regardless. That’s my sister. We have a close relationship. That’s not just an artist I worked with.”
On Mase Being a top 5 lyricist on Bad Boy “Yes, he’ll be in the top 5. That’s it.”
On Mase saying his pen kept Bad Boy alive following the lost of Biggie “I think it was a combination. He came up with “Been Around The World,” “Mo Money, Mo Problems” and “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down.” That’s definitely true. I tell him that all the time. He’s one of the people responsible for my artistic career. That’s what it was about. That’s his strength.
“We didn’t know if the vibe was going to be right, because we definitely had a quality control. Even myself, I had to put myself through quality control. And after “All About The Benjamins” I knew I could do it. Just the way me and Mase talked back and forth. We both was from Harlem. We slurred our words sometimes. I knew there was a cadence and vibe and DNA that could be developed from the producers we had. Mase stepped up and knocked them things out of the park.”
On the continued fascination with the stories of Biggie and 2Pac “I mean, it was a movie. I ain’t going to lie. The movies aren’t even exaggerating. It was such a crazy time. I think that’s really intriguing to people, because it was so real. It was so dangerous. We were all living on the edge that I don’t think people got the stomach for right now.”
On not being bitter after being fired from Uptown Records “I wasn’t bitter. I just knew it was a life lesson I needed to learn. I was scared if anything, because you know, losing your job is kind of scary. But I was able to bounce back, get on my feet and get the deal with Arista. As he said in the documentary, he fired me and made me rich, so I didn’t have nothing to be mad about. He gave me my freedom. He saw what was coming down the pipe before I saw it, and he let me get out of there with Biggie and Craig Mack. I could do nothing, but love him. He’s been a great mentor to me and somebody I’ll always love and be indebted to.
On losing $30 million during the recession “I had taken a bloodbath with Sean John during the recession. It was time to tighten up. That was a crazy time, but we made it through. You have to recalibrate. It was about a good six months. I had to get out of a hole. And that’s part of it. You have good days, you have bad days. I had lost 30 [million].**
Diddy’s full interview with The Breakfast Club can be watched above.