Report: Craig Mack Sought to Exit Deal With Bad Boy Records, Almost Signed to Death Row

An extensive report published by Rolling Stone examines the relationship between the late rapper Craig Mack and Bad Boys Records.

According to the report, Mack was in talks with Suge Knight to join Death Row Records. Per the report, the “Flava In Ya Ear” rapper was flown out to Los Angeles by Suge Knight in the waning days of his deal with Bad Boy. Knight allegedly offered him a $1.25 million recording budget as well as a hefty $200,000 advance.

Mack reportedly tried to file for bankruptcy to leave his Bad Boy deal, as his sophomore album, Operation: Get Down, was shelved until 1997.

"Puff was pissed [Mack was] leaving Bad Boy and the fact that he was going to go with Suge," Roxanne Alexis Hill-Johnson told Rolling Stone. "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.