Diddy Gives Ma$e & All Bad Boy Artists Their Publishing Rights Back

Diddy has returned the publishing rights of all of his Bad Boy artists after he declined to sell them for millions of dollars.

On Monday, September 4, Billboard confirmed that numerous artists from the iconic record label born in New York City have signed agreements to obtain their publishing rights from Sean "Diddy" Combs. The Notorious B.I.G.'s estate, Ma$e, Faith Evans, 112 and others have all signed off on the terms, but the search for other eligible artists and writers is still ongoing. The details about these agreement have not been revealed. Nonetheless, it's an unprecedented move from the music mogul, who had previously been criticized for his business practices.

Combs reportedly began the process of returning his former artists' publishing rights back in May 2021 after he began to turn down multimillion-dollar offers to sell Bad Boy's catalog. Instead of accepting a nine-figure sum for the record label's historic works, Diddy decided to kick it back to his artists who helped make Bad Boy the powerhouse brand it is today.

The discourse surrounding Combs' business practices in regards to Bad Boy has been going on for years, especially after select artists called out their former boss. Ma$e moved to the forefront of the criticism when he put Diddy on blast in a scathing social media post before the Grammys in 2020. He continued to fire shots at Diddy over the next couple years in his music and online. Fans hadn't heard much about the status of Diddy and Ma$e's feud until Cam'ron revealed that Ma$e had gotten his publishing back last week.

As of this report, Ma$e has not publicly commented on the new deal.