Word Around The Way: Machine Gun Kelly Signs With Bad Boy. The Start Of His Ending?

Over the past year, Machine Gun Kelly has developed a pretty strong following with his "100 Words and Running" and "Laced Up" mixtapes. He's been getting everything from being featured in XXL Magazine, to having his song played at every home game of the Cleavland Cavaliers , as well as being featured on songs from Juicy J and Travis Porter. Now with his ball of momentum rolling, the news of Kelly signing to Diddy's "Bad Boy Records" hit the net on Wednesday. Now, with the track record that the label has had for the past couple of years, the question that's fluttered up in my noggin is:WHY? There is common knowledge that signing to Bad Boy Records is the start of the ending of your career.

 It is no secret that Bad Boy records has a fair share of artists that had a high level of potential, but were either poorly marketed and handled, or unable to remain in the industry. Seems as if Diddy has a great talent for scouting a good artist, but a terrible trait of actually utilizing them. You had Craig Mack , Mase,  Danity Kane, Faith Evans, 112,  The LOX, Shyne, and Carl Thomas. Now isn't it ironic that all of these hugely successful artists either just left or had their career mangled due to something personal? Isn't it even more ironic that it seems like all of them haven't really left on positive terms either? Now you can argue that Biggie never left, but you also have to keep in mind that he died in the prime of his career. There's a huge possibility that he eventually would've left like everybody else. After all, none of Bad Boy's original members that made them famous are currently with the label. Alot of up-and coming artists just might notice that flaw as well. Look at Jay Electronica for instance. Diddy had him in the palm of his hand and, Jay turned around and signed with Roc Nation...hmm I wonder why.

Bad Boy hasn't had a number one album since the release of Day26's debut in 2008. Hell, they haven't had a platinum album longer than that (Danity Kane's self-titled debut in 2006). At the moment, their only artists that actually seem relevant are Red Cafe, Diddy-Dirty Money, and Janelle Monae. Red Cafe's debut album was announced as far back  2007, and so far we still haven't seen that album in a stores. Diddy-Dirty Money's doing pretty well and has a solid fanbase, but that's honestly expected. Of course a person's going to put their all into them self and their own concept. As for Ms. Monae, she's been keeping the label afloat with her very critically-acclaim ArchAndroid series. Her Grammy nominations and appearances on B.O.B and Big Boi's albums have granted her a promising and potential-filled future, but it just seems like she could honestly be alot more successful under another umbrella. She's not promoted as much as she could be, and therefore she hasn't sold as many records as she potentially can.

You can argue that Diddy's other ventures over the past few years (Clothes, Television Shows, Ciroq), have helped to bring himself and his company in a larger spotlight. On the flipside, you can also argue that they have helped to put a dent in his music business. Of course all of these side hustles are bringing in money, but all of these endeavors are way too large for one person to hold. Maybe it would be best if he'd get someone to run the everyday going-on's of his label. It's not even just his other sources of income the have led to the decline in his label however. Diddy isn't the same young man that he used to be. With age, you're supposed to grow wiser, and maybe he's just at an age where he isn't hip to new things anymore. A younger person that's more adept to what the current generation of music fans like may be more acceptable for his once dominant label. It may be what he needs to at least have the opportunity to build itself up to what it was as far as actual success is concerned.

Time will tell if Machine Gun Kelly will become either a huge success, or just another one of Bad Boy's what-if stories. For his and the label as a whole's sake, lets just hope that it's the former. These day's I don't think that Bad Boy can handle another failure.

-Lloyd V.