Death Row Records vs Bad Boy Records | Ready to Die | 3

Business Wars

Wondery

History, Business, David Brown, Management

4.6 • 13.2K Ratings

🗓️ 15 September 2021

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In the 70 and 80s, the founders of Death Row and Bad Boy are coming of age. In the Los Angeles neighborhood of Compton, a young Dre is spinning records before he even learns to read. Dre desperately wants to be a hip-hop DJ, but Los Angeles barely has a hip-hop scene. In New York, on the other hand, rap is popping off. And an 18 year old called Sean “Puffy” Combs has B.I.G. plans for the Big Apple.

They don’t know it yet, but their struggles and successes have already begun to shape the egos and sounds of their multi-million dollar tug of war.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, prime members, you can listen to business wars, add free on Amazon music.
0:04.6	Download the app today.
0:06.6	A note to listeners, this episode contains adult content, language, and racial slurs.
0:17.4	It's late 1992, Raleigh, North Carolina.
0:23.3	Biggie Smalls has a recording deal on the horizon for his very own record.
0:27.7	At least that's what Sean Cones or Puffy has promised him.
0:32.5	But Biggie doubts the deal will ever go through.
0:36.2	This guy Puffy has Biggie wrapping on remixes, renting out his talent to other artists,
0:43.2	selling their records.
0:46.0	But it's taking forever to get paid.
0:48.4	And when the money does come, it's not the kind of cash Biggie needs right now.
0:54.9	He's 20 years old.
0:56.6	He just found out that his girlfriend is pregnant.
1:02.4	That's why he's in North Carolina, instead of in the booth, recording tracks like this
1:07.4	one called Warning, a song that chronicles the life of a drug deal.
1:19.2	He's got to make money fast.
1:21.8	And the only way he knows how at this point in his life is by selling drugs.
1:26.6	Selling in North Carolina is a great way to ensure that Puffy doesn't find out what
1:32.8	he's up to.
1:34.6	It's also a business decision.
1:37.8	Before Biggie even dared to think that he might be able to earn a living as a rapper, he
1:42.7	made his way as a street corner dealer in Brooklyn.
	...

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