Entertainment

The Bad Boy Family Reunion Stops In Oakland

Published

8 years ago

September 30, 2016

Oakland, CA – Who needs an opening act when Puff Daddy is involved? Sean “Puffy” Combs, head honcho of Bay Boy Entertainment took us down memory lane. He brought many of the classic hits from the early 90’s. The Bad Boy Family Reunion tour was just that, a family affair.

A video montage of Puffy’s first interview on his rise to stardom from top A&R rep to a top Executive at Bay Boy Records. The video also featured classic videos over the years along with clips of Notorious B.I.G. Once the lights went out, Puffy rose from underneath the stage donned in all black with five big gold chains.

The famous producer always knew how to put on a show and tonight was no different when Ma$e, Faith, Lil Kim, Total, 112, The Lox, French Montana and a special guest took the stage. The sellout crowd rose to their feet when “Victory” video featuring Busta Rhymes came over the jumbotron.

Puffy followed with hits like “Bad Boy” and “I Get Money”. But when Ma$e came out to the top chart stopping hit “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” the crowd went crazy!!! Doing his favorite dance that he coined in many of his videos Ma$e kept the crowd going to his next hit “Been Around The World”.

112 came out after Ma$e and sung three of their top hits, “Peaches N Cream and Dance With Me” to name a few. It was almost like being back in 1996! Total now all grown up brought the fans to their feet. Oh the memories… “Kissing You” and “No One Else” were favorites among the crowd.

The Lox followed with a bevy of hip hop hits like “We Gon Make It”. While Carl Thomas slowed things down with a few of his ballads like “Emotional and ‘Wish”. But the first lady of Bad Boy had the crowd singing her songs before she opened he mouth. Faith Evans first album is still in my rotation.

Talk about crowd participation “You Used To Love Me” and “Soon As I Get Home” was sung acapella by the crowd while Faith sung backup. French Montana turned things up with an old classic “Ain’t Worried Bout Nothin” and his current hit “All The Way Up.” Miguel was the special guest and he didn’t disappoint singing his hit”Adore”.

Puffy grew his empire with talented artists all from New York. He gained his respect in the music industry as one of the best A&R reps learning the business behind Hip Hop guru Russell Simmons. Two decades of music and management, Puffy’s 24 years of hard work paid off. Which is why he wants to thank the fans with a 24-city tour.

Now he leaves his mark with the younger generation, which includes his two sons. Christian Combs debuted his new song while his brother Justin Combs joined him with various dance moves. Puffy watched with a smile before all of the artists joined him on stage to pay tribute to the Notorious B.I.G. An interview clip on how the East coast vs West coast rivalry started between him and the late Tupac Shakur appeared on the jumbotron.

Then came the finale, a series of songs to follow Biggie’s tribute. “Player’s Anthem” “All About The Benjamins” and “Mo Money Mo Problems”. Together the artists locked arms and sung ‘I’ll Be Missing You” and the crowd joined in. The Bad Boy Reunion Tour is was very entertaining, non-stop music, dancing and amazing vocals.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Activism

Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 17 – 23, 2024

Published

5 days ago

April 19, 2024

Oakland Post

To enlarge your view of this issue, use the slider, magnifying glass icon or full page icon in the lower right corner of the browser window.

Oakland Post

Posts by Oakland Post

Entertainment

O.J. Simpson, 76, Dies of Prostate Cancer

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson, who rose to fame as a college football player who went on to the NFL and parlayed his talents in acting and sportscasting, succumbed to prostate cancer on April 10, his family announced.

Published

7 days ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

Orenthal James (O.J.) Simpson. Wikipedia photo

By Post Staff

Born and raised in San Francisco, the Galileo High School graduate was recruited by the University of Southern California after he was on a winning Junior College All-American team.

At USC, he gained wide acclaim as a running back leading to him becoming the No. 1 pick in the AFL-NFL draft in 1969 and joining the Buffalo Bills, where he had demanded – and received — the largest contract in professional sports history: $650,000 over five years. In 1978, the Bills traded Simpson to his hometown team, the San Francisco 49ers, retiring from the game in 1979.

Simpson’s acting career had begun before his pro football career with small parts in 1960s TV (“Dragnet”) before “Roots” and film (“The Klansman,” “The Towering Inferno,” Capricorn One”).

He was also a commentator for “Monday Night Football,” and “The NFL on NBC,” and in the mid-1970s Simpson’s good looks and amiability made him, according to People magazine, “the first b\Black athlete to become a bona fide lovable media superstar.”

The Hertz rent-a-car commercials raised his recognition factor while raising Hertz’s profit by than 50%, making him critical to the company’s bottom line.

It could be said that even more than his success as a football star, the commercials of his running through airports endeared him to the Black community at a time when it was still unusual for a Black person to represent a national, mainstream company.

He remained on Hertz team into the 1990s while also getting income endorsing Pioneer Chicken, Honey Baked Ham and Calistoga water company products and running O.J. Simpson Enterprises, which owned hotels and restaurants.

He married childhood sweetheart Marguerite Whitley when he was 19 and became the father of three children. Before he divorced in 1979, he met waitress and beauty queen Nicole Brown, who he would marry in 1985. A stormy relationship before, during and after their marriage ended, it would lead to a highway car chase as police sought to arrest Simpson for the murder by stabbing of Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994.

The pursuit, arrest, and trial of Simpson were among the most widely publicized events in American history, Wikipedia reported.

Characterized as the “Trial of the Century,” he was acquitted by a jury in 1995 but found liable in the amount of $33 million in a civil action filed by the victims’ families three years later.

Simpson would be ensnared in the criminal justice system 12 years later when he was arrested after forcing his way into a Las Vegas hotel room to recover sports memorabilia he believed belonged to him.

In 2008, he received a sentence of 33 years and was paroled nine years later in 2017.

When his death was announced, Simpson’s accomplishments and downfalls were acknowledged.

Sports analyst Christine Brennan said: “… Even if you didn’t love football, you knew O.J. because of his ability to transcend sports and of course become the businessman and the pitchman that he was.

“And then the trial, and the civil trial, the civil case he lost, and the fall from grace that was extraordinary and well-deserved, absolutely self-induced, and a man that would never be seen the same again,” she added.

“OJ Simpson played an important role in exposing the racial divisions in America,” attorney Alan Dershowitz, an adviser on Simpson’s legal “dream team” told the Associated Press by telephone. “His trial also exposed police corruption among some officials in the Los Angeles Police Department. He will leave a mixed legacy. Great athlete. Many people think he was guilty. Some think he was innocent.”

“Cookie and I are praying for O.J. Simpson’s children … and his grandchildren following his passing. I know this is a difficult time,” Magic Johnson said on X.

“I feel that the system failed Nicole Brown Simpson and failed battered women everywhere,” attorney Gloria Allred, who once represented Nicole’s family, told ABC News. “I don’t mourn for O.J. Simpson. I do mourn for Nicole Brown Simpson and her family, and they should be remembered.”

Simpson was diagnosed with prostate cancer about a year ago and was undergoing chemotherapy treatment, according to Pro Football Hall of Fame President Jim Porter. He died in his Las Vegas, Nevada, home with his family at his side.

He is survived by four children: Arnelle and Jason from his first marriage and Sydney and Justin from his second marriage. He was predeceased son, Aaren, who drowned in a family swimming pool in 1979.

Sources for this report include Wikipedia, ABC News, Associated Press, and X.