Los Signs With Bad Boy Records. . .Again
The news of Los returning to Bad Boy, then, is both exciting and surprising, and perhaps should be greeted with some healthy skepticism. After all, Los leaving Bad Boy four years ago was arguably the best thing that ever happened to his career; it was only after he went independent that he began giving away tons of mixtapes and freestyles online and building the estimable fan base he has today. And though Bad Boy has been one of the most famous brand names in urban music for nearly two decades, it’s had a shaky history with rappers since the late ’90s, after it experienced the tragic death of its marquee star, Notorious B.I.G. Soon after, Craig Mack disappeared, the LOX defected, Ma$e retired, the then Puff Daddy became more of a professional celebrity than a rap star, Shyne went to jail, and the label was kept afloat mainly by R&B acts like 112, Faith Evans, Carl Thomas, and Cassie.
Around the time of Los’ initial 2005 signing, Bad Boy’s hip-hop roster was enjoying a resurgence with the success of southern acts like Yung Joc, Boyz N Da Hood, and 8Ball and MJG. Since then, however, things have been relatively quiet; Bad Boy released two critically acclaimed R&B albums, by Janelle Monae and Diddy-Dirty Money, in 2010, but last year marked the first in the label’s history that it didn’t drop a single full-length. Last year was a rebuilding year, as Diddy started signing buzzed-about new rappers like French Montana and Machine Gun Kelly who, along with the label’s longtime also-ran Red Café, are set to drop debuts in 2012. So Los is not only returning to Bad Boy with the leverage of an actual following, but is now part of a roster that he fits in with a little better, one that’s set to actually make some noise this year. In hip-hop, getting “signed” is often looked at as a goal in and of itself, the reward for a rapper’s hard work rather than the opportunity to work even harder for a more concrete type of success. But we know better than that, and more importantly, so does Los.
