Diddy Says He Is Starting A Record Label For R&B Artists
Sean “Love” Combs, aka Diddy, is making his way back into the music industry.
In the September issue of Vanity Fair, the Bad Boy founder shared his plans to start a new record label exclusively for R&B artists.
“I feel like R&B was abandoned and it’s a part of our African American culture,” the 51-year-old mogul.
Although, according to Billboard, Bad Boy Entertainment has had "a trail of unhappy, messy or downright tragic artist relationships and breakups," Diddy says that he wants to do things differently. This time around, he will not be signing artists. Instead, he plans to do a 50/50 partnership with "pure transparency."
“[The new label is so that] we can own the genre; we don’t own hip-hop right now,” he said. “We have a chance to –and I’m going to make sure that–we own R&B.”
In addition to his new label, Diddy is scheduled to release his latest album, Off the Grid, Vol. 1, on Sept. 24. Rolling Stone reports that the industry heavyweight has not put out an album since his 2010 Last Train to Paris project.
BET previously reported that Diddy partnered with WME, a leading entertainment, and media company, to create "The Excellence Program," which was scheduled to debut on July 12.
The six-week program is free for eligible students interested in entertainment, marketing, fashion or music and will include sessions that cover touring, performing, professional development, entertainment business and storytelling that will be taught by an array of experienced and well-known people within the entertainment industry, Variety notes.
Celebrity instructors are scheduled to include Joey Bada$, Cari Champion, Victor Cruz, Bill Duffy, Desiree Gruber, Terrence Jenkins, Reggie Love, Marshawn Lynch, French Montana, Guy Oseary, Rajon Rondo, Lindsey Vonn, Gus Wenner and Jeff Burroughs.
