美国国家公共电台 NPR 'Can't Stop, Won't Stop': Bad Boy Records Was A Generation's Soundtrack

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

So a lot of what we take for granted in today's culture of glamour¹ and bling can be traced back to Bad Boy Records and its founder² Sean Puff³ Daddy Combs. A new documentary that opens tomorrow tells the label's story around a concert last year that reunited some of its stars. Frannie Kelley has more.

FRANNIE KELLEY, BYLINE⁴: We know Sean Combs for grandiosity⁵. We know him by his stage names - P. Diddy, Puff Daddy. Everybody's heard Bad Boy's records.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "HYPNOTIZE")

THE NOTORIOUS B.I.G.: (Rapping) Timbs (ph) for my hooligans in Brooklyn. Dead right, if the head right Biggie there every night.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "AS SOON AS I GET HOME")

FAITH EVANS: (Singing) And if I could, with you I would be forever.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FLAVA IN YOUR EAR")

CRAIG MACK: (Rapping) Here comes the brand new flavor in your ear. Time for your new flavor in your ear. I'm kicking new flavor in your ear.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MONEY, POWER, RESPECT")

LIL KIM: (Rapping) It's the key to life - money, power, respect, what you need in life. Money, power, respect when you're eating right.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "IT'S ALL ABOUT THE BENJAMINS")

PUFF DADDY: (Rapping) Three-course meals - spaghetti, fettuccine and veal⁶. But still, everything's real in the field. And what you can't have now, leave in your will.

KELLEY: And most people can picture the parties in the Hamptons, helicopters in the videos, the choir⁷ behind him as he danced in tribute to his fallen friend, Biggie Smalls. In the documentary, called "Can't Stop Won't Stop," he will wear fur on stage. And he will demand a certain kind of lighting⁸.

SEAN COMBS: I like God light. When God's light comes through, it just hits you like it's God's lights. I don't want the Chrysler that looks like the Phantom⁹. I want the Phantom.

KELLEY: Combs didn't do all that to rub his success in your face. He did it for the kids. That's what he said when I met him at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills.

COMBS: I was going to live life the way that kings live life but, you know, as a man of color. And I'm going to let the kids and the world see that. And it's going to have an effect on them because they're constantly getting hit with images of us as African-Americans being unsuccessful, like when you watch the news, you know, to the point now where they see images of theirselves (ph) actually getting shot. I have to show them another image, no matter how it rubs people the wrong way. It's important.

JUDIKKI MAYARD: Black people are not found to be glamorous¹⁰ or famous or rich, so Puff has always been applying himself to the audience that was never considered glamorous.

KELLEY: Judikki Mayard is a writer who grew up in New York, where Combs and his label began.

MAYARD: He knew where the money was and where the value was from the very beginning, so that's pretty much why he's my hero. That's pretty much why I think he still has such respect in our community because Puffy has always found value in black dollars.

KELLEY: In the documentary, Combs describes sitting on his stoop as a kid in the summer staring at his neighbor's pool, wishing they would invite him over. And he says he never wanted to feel like that again. It tells the story of major labels rejecting musicians he later guided to platinum¹¹ sales. But Mayard says she admires him for more than his business acumen¹². Bad Boy was the soundtrack of a generation.

MAYARD: A generation that, I guess, was in between, you know, hip-hop was one thing and soul was the thing before it. And I think Bad Boy was finally the connection of all that we had heard, you know. All the samples were from our parents' time but all the artists were very much our time. So I guess when I think of Bad Boy, I just think of being black in the '90s.

KELLEY: And it's the songs that Combs puts first.

PUFF DADDY: The legacy¹³, to me, is in the bass¹⁴ line and then the beat, the pocket of the beat, and the melody and the spirit that's put in their music. That's all you're left with. Nothing could compare to that feeling, you know, that feeling that you're able to give people through music.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "FEEL SO GOOD")

PUFF DADDY: You ready, Mase? Party people in the place to be, it's about that time for us to...

MASE: (Rapping) What you know about going out, head West, red Lex (ph), TV's all up in the headrest? Try and live it up, ride true, a bigger truck, piece all glittered up.

KELLEY: The first night of the reunion does not go well. And in the film, Combs has to pysch himself up but to give it another shot. He starts singing in the shower.

(SOUNDBITE OF DOCUMENTARY, "CAN'T STOP WON'T STOP")

COMBS: Got to get into that spirit, out of my brain, into my heart. Out of my brain and into my heart.

KELLEY: In "Can't Stop Won't Stop," Combs is the great motivator. Some of his artists are anxious about performing again. Others have to resolve old disagreements before they can share a stage, but Combs gets them together. Writer Judikki Mayard saw it live.

MAYARD: It really is a pleasure to see him on stage 'cause so himself. And he really enjoys it. And he really - he's like a hype man for the artist. And he's a hype man for the audience and a hype man for himself. So it just feels like you can't be in the room with him without being happy, at least a concert room.

I don't know what it's like to be in a meeting with him. But, you know, it feels like you can't be in the theater with him and not be on his level I think is what's really dope about it. So I'm pretty sure he'll do it again like a hundred times or do it again for the 30th anniversary (laughter).

KELLEY: Right before the concert, a doctor pays a house call. He asks somebody to get Combs a tissue. It's printed with hundred-dollar bills. I asked him if the 19-year-old who started Bad Boy Records in a basement in 1993 could do it today.

COMBS: If I was 13 today, I could start Bad Boy Records just due to the knowledge that kids have due to social media. They start at the age 13 right now because the business is something that's attainable¹⁵ to them. It's something that they are allowed to be a part of. It's something that they rule. So if I was coming up, you know, at this time, I'd have more access. And I'd probably be able to build something bigger than Bad Boy Records.

KELLEY: Imagine that. For NPR News, I'm Frannie Kelley.

1 glamour   

n.魔力，魅力；vt.迷住

参考例句：

• Foreign travel has lost its glamour for her.到国外旅行对她已失去吸引力了。
• The moonlight cast a glamour over the scene.月光给景色增添了魅力。

2 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

3 puff   

n.一口(气)；一阵(风)；v.喷气，喘气

参考例句：

• He took a puff at his cigarette.他吸了一口香烟。
• They tried their best to puff the book they published.他们尽力吹捧他们出版的书。

4 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

5 grandiosity   

n. 宏伟, 堂皇, 铺张

参考例句：

• Integral designed with novelty, delicate style and comprehensive function, the hotel and considerably grandiosity. 酒店整体设计新颖，风格别致，功能齐全，无论是主题建筑，还是装饰装修，都构思巧妙，气势宏大。

6 veal   

n.小牛肉

参考例句：

• She sauteed veal and peppers,preparing a mixed salad while the pan simmered.她先做的一道菜是青椒煎小牛肉，趁着锅还在火上偎着的机会，又做了一道拼盘。
• Marinate the veal in white wine for two hours.把小牛肉用白葡萄酒浸泡两小时。

7 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

8 lighting   

n.照明，光线的明暗，舞台灯光

参考例句：

• The gas lamp gradually lost ground to electric lighting.煤气灯逐渐为电灯所代替。
• The lighting in that restaurant is soft and romantic.那个餐馆照明柔和而且浪漫。

9 phantom   

n.幻影，虚位，幽灵；adj.错觉的，幻影的，幽灵的

参考例句：

• I found myself staring at her as if she were a phantom.我发现自己瞪大眼睛看着她，好像她是一个幽灵。
• He is only a phantom of a king.他只是有名无实的国王。

10 glamorous   

adj.富有魅力的；美丽动人的；令人向往的

参考例句：

• The south coast is less glamorous but full of clean and attractive hotels.南海岸魅力稍逊，但却有很多干净漂亮的宾馆。
• It is hard work and not a glamorous job as portrayed by the media.这是份苦差，并非像媒体描绘的那般令人向往。

11 platinum   

n.白金

参考例句：

• I'll give her a platinum ring.我打算送给她一枚白金戒指。
• Platinum exceeds gold in value.白金的价值高于黄金。

12 acumen   

n.敏锐，聪明

参考例句：

• She has considerable business acumen.她的经营能力绝非一般。
• His business acumen has made his very successful.他的商业头脑使他很成功。

13 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。

14 bass   

n.男低音(歌手)；低音乐器；低音大提琴

参考例句：

• He answered my question in a surprisingly deep bass.他用一种低得出奇的声音回答我的问题。
• The bass was to give a concert in the park.那位男低音歌唱家将在公园中举行音乐会。

15 attainable   

a.可达到的，可获得的

参考例句：

• They set the limits of performance attainable. 它们确定着可达到的运行限度。
• If objectives are to be meaningful to people, they must be clear, attainable, actionable, and verifiable. 如果目标对人们是具有意义的，则目标必须是清晰的，能达到的，可以行动的，以及可供检验的。