Clive Davis says that Bad Boy boss Diddy helped him change his opinions on Hip Hop.
“Puffy was 23 years old and I knew the artists that I had– Aretha, Dionne, Whitney–was one kind of music,” Davis said on the Rock & Roll High School With Pete Ganbarg podcast. “LaFace ushered in blue collared R&B at its height. But, sensing the Hip Hop revolution, both LA and I agreed that we could use someone really attuned to the street. You gotta know what you can do for yourself, and you gotta know when you need to look to other people.”
He continued: “When I met with Puffy, he articulated that Hip Hop should be part of the Top 40 mainstream, and that the business would change in the future. And I said ‘What have you got to illustrate that point?’ and he played me Craig Mack’s ‘Flava in Your Ear’ and he played me the then unknown artist that he felt and believed so strongly. He played me four or five cuts from Notorious B.I.G.”
Listen to the full interview below.
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