Diddy Brings Out DMX, Fabolous and Desiigner at Bad Boy Reunion Show
Bad Boy for life! In a hip-hop super show more than 20 years in the making, Diddy and friends took over Barclays Center in Brooklyn for the second night (May 21) of the highly anticipated Bad Boy Reunion Show.
When the Bad Boy head honcho announced the star-studded show back in March, he promised a full-on family reunion from Bad Boy's heyday plus a slew of surprise guests in addition to a showcase from his hit-making roster. Puff was accompanied by nearly the entire Bad Boy family including Ma$e, 112, Total, The Lox, Faith Evans, Cassie, Lil’ Kim, Carl Thomas, Mario Winans, French Montana, Mary J Blige and Black Rob. Even Shyne, who has been exiled to Belize since 2009, made an appearance via satellite to perform his signature hit "Bad Boyz."
But while Diddy brought out OGs like Jay Z and Nas the night before, last night's set brought out a healthy mix of old and new school. During Lil' Kim's energetic set, one of standout moments of the night, the Queen Bee commanded the crowd, running through everything from "Big Mama Thang" to "Lighters Up." But in between her hits, Kim proved she kept it "sturdy" for Brooklyn by inviting Brooklyn's 2 Milly and Desiigner on stage to each perform the respective singles that made them viral sensations, "Milly Rock" and "Panda." Not to be pegged as a hype beast, Kim also brought out Fabolous for "Ball Drop."
Toward the middle of the night, Puff, already on his fifth outfit change, began to intro an artist not on the Bad Boy roster but close to his heart. Audio of dog growls began to blare throughout the arena and Dark Man X galloped across the stage while the shocked crowd did most of the work for him, screaming the choruses to "X Gon' Give It to Ya" and "Party Up in Here" as if it were still 1999.
Faith Evans, Total and 112 held it down to the R&B side of things for the evening with Faith looking godly in her all-white fur coat and jumpsuit. But nobody got the crowd quite in their feelings like the Queen of Hip-Hop Soul, Mary J. Blige, who not only got lit with Puff during a little dance breakdown and shed a tear when the place belted "I'm Going Down" word for word, but also thanked Combs for, as she put it, "believing in me when I didn't believe myself."
"We pride ourselves on being known as the hip-hop Motown," said Puff toward the end of the show after proving his label's hitmaking caliber. With the date of the night's show falling on what would have been Notorious B.I.G.'s 44th birthday, the night ended with a montage of the first hits that put Bad Boy on the map, "Warning," "Juicy," "Big Poppa," "Hypnotize," "Mo Money Mo Problems" and more. Amid balloons and confetti, three generations of Diddy-associated hip-hop royalty toasted to their accomplishments (with Ciroc bottles in hand).
Much of the night felt straight out of a time capsule, bridging the past and present to create a new moment in time. For '80s babies who grew up during Bad Boy's primetime, the night held immeasurable nostalgic value and for '90s babies who do their homework, they got a glimpse of Diddy and the gang in their former glory.
For those who missed out on the two nights at the Barclays Center, catch the family when the Bad Boy Reunion Tour hits 25 U.S. cities this summer -- full tour dates here. Check out some of the coverage from last night's epic Brooklyn show below.
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