8Ball On Signing With P. Diddy's Bad Boy
(LAUNCH, 05/17/2002 5:00:00PM)
By Mark Armstrong
(5/17/02, 5 p.m. ET) -- 8Ball, of the duo 8Ball & MJG, said creative freedom and a good relationship with Sean "P. Diddy" Combs is what lured the southern hip-hop kingpins to Combs's Bad Boy records.
"There's freedom," 8Ball told LAUNCH. "I didn't want to feel like I was under an umbrella. I want to be somewhere and be the top sh-t where I'm at. And I feel like we are the top sh-t at Bad Boy."
Prior to leaving JCOR records when the label folded earlier this year, 8Ball & MJG considered releasing their subsequent albums independently or through a deal with Jermaine Dupri's So So Def records or Cash Money Records. "But I just thought about the benefits that my label would get with being with somebody like Diddy and Bad Boy," 8Ball said.
While the group is signed to Bad Boy, 8Ball and MJG are not signed to the label as solo artists. Additionally, 8Ball's label 8 Ways is not signed to Bad Boy. "[Bad Boy] has the right of first refusal in regards to their solo rights," said James McMillan, the group's attorney who brokered the deal.
The group's first Bad Boy release has not yet been determined. However, the group has completed an album called Slept On Classics that 8Ball intends to release on 8 Ways. 8Ball explained the record to LAUNCH. "It's like a compilation album with all of our songs from other people's albums," 8Ball said. "The Mase [record], the Mobb Deep song, the Heavy D and Big Pun song, we did a song with Ray Dog when Ray Dog was Ray Dog. Plus we got a new song called "Put That Thang Down" with Jagged Edge. That's going to be the single off the record."
8Ball is shopping Slept On Classics to labels, including Bad Boy. He released his solo album, Almost Famous, on JCOR last fall.
