Craig Mack Was Reportedly in Talks With Suge Knight to Join Death Row Records, Which ‘Enraged’ Diddy: ‘Puff Was Pissed’
Late rapper Craig Mack tried desperately to get out of his Bad Boys Record deal and sought refuge at Death Row Records.
According to a new investigative Rolling Stone report, Mack, who died from congestive heart failure in March 2018–although it was alleged that he suffered from HIV/AIDS, was in talks with Suge Knight to join Death Row. In the mid-‘90s, the rapper’s career was floundering despite his breakout hit being “Flava In Ya Ear,” also the introductory smash of Bad Boy Records.
The report claims that Mack initially tried to file for bankruptcy to leave his Bad Boy deal, as his sophomore album, Operation: Get Down, was shelved until 1997. But due to constant disputes with Bad Boy founder Diddy, and an ironclad bankruptcy law, Mack and Knight reportedly discussed him joining Death Row’s East Coast division.
Knight flew Mack to Los Angeles, reportedly offering him a $200,000 advance and a $1.25 million recording budget. When Bad Boy was notified about the dealings, in order to have permission to leave the label, Mack withdrew his bankruptcy filing and had to give a portion of his Death Row deal.
But plans to move forward with Death Row went sour upon the September 1996 murder of Death Row artist 2Pac.
“He was scared,” said Mack’s ex-wife Roxanne Alexis Hill-Johnson. “Puff was pissed [Mack was] leaving Bad Boy and the fact that he was going to go with Suge. From what I understand, Puff was enraged.”
She continued, “Puffy became a vindictive bastard and really stuck it to him for doing that.”
But a Bad Boy spokesperson dismissed Hill-Johnson’s claims in a statement, saying that “Mack had his own vision for his career.”
“While Mr. Combs brought him many opportunities and encouraged him, their creative differences led them to part ways,” they continued. “Craig chose to leave Bad Boy to pursue his own interests and was free to sign with any label, which he did with his second album. We wished him nothing but the best, and he was unrestricted in pursuing all opportunities. Up until his untimely passing, Mr. Combs remained supportive of him, and any other narrative is simply false.”
From 2012 until his death, Mack retired from mainstream music to be a member of South Carolina-based religious cult Overcomer Ministry. But similar to other former Bad Boy artists, like Mase and Aubrey O’Day, Diddy was alleged to have sabotaged his career.
“I do feel like Puff’s the trigger — he fucked my family up,” Hill-Johnson says. “Puff kicked it off; he was the catalyst.”
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