Summary

The web content reflects on the author's experience at a 1997 Puff Daddy and the Family concert, its impact on his youth, and the subsequent realities of the music industry.

Abstract

The article recounts the author's memorable experience as a young music enthusiast attending a Puff Daddy and the Family concert in 1997, which significantly influenced his aspirations. The narrative captures the excitement of the event, featuring artists like Lil Kim, Ma$e, and Busta Rhymes, and its poignant tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G. with the song "I'll Be Missing You." However, the author also contrasts the idealistic view of hip-hop camaraderie with the later industry conflicts and personal struggles faced by the artists involved, such as contract disputes, legal issues, and financial disparities. The piece serves as a reflection on the evolution of the author's musical tastes and the music industry, while also acknowledging the enduring legacy of that era's hip-hop culture.

Opinions

The author initially prioritized Puff Daddy's music over more critically acclaimed artists like Mos Def and Talib Kweli, a preference he later regretted.
The concert was a formative experience for the author, inspiring his future endeavors in music and performance.
The author nostalgically views the '90s as a golden era of hip-hop, despite the East Coast/West Coast beef and other industry conflicts.
There is a sense of disillusionment regarding the music industry, as the author notes the disconnect between the perceived unity of artists on stage and the real-life disputes and hardships they faced.
The author recognizes Sean 'Love' Combs' business acumen in leveraging the success of his artists and brand partnerships, leading to his significant wealth.
The article suggests that the author has since developed a more mature appreciation for different music genres and the complexities of the music business.

The Legend of Puff Daddy, Ma$e, Notorious B.I.G. and Everybody Else

The time Mike and Lee saw “P. Diddy and the Fam, Who You Know Do It Better?”

Here is how it was for young Michael Bridgett to be a music appreciator. I like to think back to this moment:

In 1999, the man who’d one day become Austin’s Biggest DJ, Chorizo Funk, stopped me on the 14th floor of Jester West to ask me if I’d ever heard of Mos Def and Talib Kweli. They’d just released their epic Black Star album in September of 1998. I looked at Chorizo, shook my head, and told full-throatily said, “They sound cool, but did you know Puff Daddy had his new record coming out this year?”

I look back now and literally want to die having ever said such a thing.

Of course, part of the reason why I felt that way is that two years earlier on Dec 11, 1997, my best friend Lee’s mother Maria and her friend Vickie had taken us to see our very first concert. We all went to The Summit in Houston, Texas to see Puff Daddy and the Family play a show that knocked my socks off so hard, I am still performing to this day.

Mike… you rock. Never change you badass…

Looking back, I can only remember tiny bits of this epic night. Too focused on the show to see much else happening, I can remember Puff Daddy making everyone do the wave, Busta Rhymes asking everyone to take their pants off, or those two women in catsuits going back and forth about which one of them was going to have sex with Ma$e that night. Other than that silly “East Coast/West Coast Beef” the ’90s were pretty awesome.

Everybody We Knew Was There

We already know that Puff Daddy was in the building that night, but we also got to see Lil Kim, Ma$e, Busta Rhymes and Spliff Star, 8ball and MJG, 112, Black Rob, and The Lox, all done under the auspices of recently deceased Notorious B.I.G. He’d been killed in California earlier this year and had three verses on Puff Daddy’s album, No Way Out. One of those verses was with the bulletproof vest-wearing version of Jay-Z who’d just dropped out of the show before it showed up in my town. Plus, it was December 1997… who was this Jay-Z guy getting all up in my Biggie Smalls and Puff Daddy drama anyway?

Ask me this in 1999, and I’d say something about how post-Big Pimpin Jigga is the best Jigga we’ve ever seen. God someone help young me, please!

For the boy that’s still young enough to think he’s watching best friends get together and come to town to play a little show that happens to be about guns and money, this was really the best element of the proceedings. Particularly when everyone came out at the end to sing their version of I’ll Be Missing You (sampled by Sting and the Police), the song written for the death of Biggie Smalls himself. What a moment.

Hip Hop When You’re Still Young Enough To Believe In It

Once you get to a certain age, you learn that a lot of the men and women you’ve watched over the years don’t really know each other or even like each other at all. The Lox wanted out of their Bad Boy contract minutes after doing Honey for Mariah Carey. Mase and Diddy have been beefing every year since Mase retired in 1999. Mase kept saying something about old, unpaid royalty contracts at Puff’s mom’s house. Black Rob died in 2021 due to homelessness after celebrating the death of DMX. Messing with Puff and J.Lo got rapper, Shyne sent to prison from 2001 to 2009 after a shootout they were all involved in. He was released and deported back to his home in Belize where he’s now a politician like his father Dean Barrow, Belize’s first Black Prime minister.

Sean ‘Love’ Combs is worth $900 Million on the back of Ciroc vodka, while everyone that works for him seems to sign historically bad contracts.

Little to none of this even mattered when watching the show at the Summit though. All I could think about was how badly I wanted to make people do the wave at my concerts one day. I wanted to write anthems for my friends that suddenly passed away. There’s such little love lost for the people that seem to matter even less now. It’s just a good lesson to remember if we can. ’97 Puffy was barely dope enough to put out a record we could cry over after Biggie died. ’23 Sean ‘Love’ Combs is a billionaire to hate on for getting money from all the work gangs of kids probably do to make his citrus vodka.

Old Me to the New Me

Let me say I’ve matured quite a bit since listening to Puff Daddy, Lil Kim, and them. I like jazz now, I take pages from songwriters and build up my own little legacy writing articles for other people. It doesn’t change anything that was hot in ’97 though. I wanted to be less the kind of rapper that created change in his community, and more the one getting argued about being slept with during the greatest show in my life.

If Puff Daddy managed to teach me anything it was that you don’t have the be the best songwriter, hottest singer, or make untouchable albums. All you need to do is get Mike and Lee to come to your show, get ready to take their pants off, and spy on women in catsuits talking about having sex with your label mate. That will lead to all the profit you need as long as you can get it out when the best rapper alive happens to be killed while being signed to your label mere months before. Then you can be “all in the videos…all on the record…dancin’” just like Suge Knight said.

That is the hot-handed magic I went looking for originally. I’m glad I’ve changed since then.