Bad Boy Records to release anniversary box set featuring Notorious B.I.G., Danity Kane and others

Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs continues the 20th anniversary celebration of his influential Bad Boy Records imprint by announcing the label’s first retrospective box set.

Curated by label president Harve Pierre and executive produced by Pierre and Combs, the “Bad Boy 20th Anniversary Box Set Edition” will will feature 80 tracks spread across five discs.

Set for release on Aug. 12, the collection boasts remastered hits from Puff Daddy (and his various monikers), the Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack, Faith Evans, Total, Carl Thomas, Mase, 112, the Lox, Cassie, Janelle Monáe, Danity Kane, Machine Gun Kelly, French Montana and more.

“I Need a Girl,” “Juicy,” “I Don’t Wanna Know,” “Hypnotize,” “Money, Power, Respect,” “Peaches & Cream” and “Can’t You See” are all there. So is “Flava in Ya Ear (Remix),” “Love Like This,” “Feel So Good,” “Pop That,” “Damaged,” “I’ll Be Missing You” and a sampling of deep-cut favorites that hardcore fans of the pioneering label will appreciate.

The box set comes with a 64-page history of the label and foreword penned by rap journalist Michael A. Gonzales.

Combs has spent the past year celebrating the rap empire he built in the early ‘90s.

A medley of Bad Boy hits performed by Combs and some of the label’s biggest stars was the highlight of last year’s BET Awards. The performance kicked off an ongoing celebration of its milestone anniversary.The label was relaunched under a new deal that will see Epic Records introduce a new generation of artists and provide services such as promotion, marketing, sales and distribution to the imprint.

And Combs has built the summer’s most ambitious arena package with a reunion tour that for the first time brings together the original roster of multi-platinum acts affiliated with Bad Boy.

Combs, who reverted to his Puff Daddy moniker for the occasion, previewed the highly anticipated tour in May with two nights of sold-out shows in New York City.

Mase, Faith Evans, Lil’ Kim, Total, the Lox, 112, Carl Thomas and Mario Winans are on the bill for the tour, which launches in late August and will stop at the Forum on Oct. 4.

“Bad Boy helped make hip hop what it is today – and this collection highlights all the music, history and vision that made Bad Boy No. 1,” Combs said in a statement. “We wanted to thank our fans, celebrate the music, the people, and the Bad Boy lifestyle that have defined the past two decades. We’ve always made music that makes the people dance; this collection does all that and more, and it is a celebration of all things Bad Boy.”

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