than this room we're sitting in right now. We were on 19th St. This was in between Biggie's first and second aLbums, so he was just starting to btow. Nobody was professionat. lt was not a corporate atmosphere. But it was the hungriest group of young black executives I'd ever seen in my tife, and I fett Like I betonged. After the first day, I waLked out of the office and I knew that this is where l'd make my mark in the industry. I knew it. Here, it doesn't matter what you do. Like, I have the titte of Senior Director of Promotions, but I'm invotved in every aspect: marketing, A&R, everything, Here, everybody's invotved. You can wear as many hats as you choose to wear as long as you don't drop the batt. We're muttitaskers; sotdiers. lf you want to join an army, go to one of those other ptaces. But if you're trying to get down with the Navy Seats and green berets and you want to be on the front tines of some speciat ops mission, that's the kind of energy I fett at Bad Boy. I fit right in. There's been a Lot of peopte in and out over the years, but I knew I woutd somehow find my way through the ranks because the energy matched mine. lot of people, Bad Boy is synonymous with P Diddy. He's known as being a perfectionist; is it difficult to work for him? As a l.)ss, lthink he's a genius. ldon't have anything bad to say about him, and even if I did, I wouLdn't say it in a pubtic arena out of respect. What l've noticed about successful peopte is that it's no accident that To a
they're successfut. Whatever achievements they've made in tife, it's no accident, untess you hit the totto or something (taughing). When you took at Puff, Russell Sjmmons, Master B Dame Dash, or even someone who's not as much in the pubtjc eye tike Steve Stoute, these guys'work ethic js incredibte. I meet peopte every day who ctaim, "l want it, I'lt work hard," but they don't know the fuckin' meaning of working hard. Working hard is going days on end with no steep. lt's when a thousand watLs and obstacles are put in your way and you don't stop. lnstead of saying, "l can't do this," you just figure out a way to go through it, around it, over it, or whatever. You figure it out. lf you don't know Puff, the best way I couLd describe him is to listen to him when he says, "Can't stop, won't stop." That's who he is. lhis dude is a fuckin' machine, I mean, lwork harder than, tike, 90% of the peopte I know (shdwn turns to Power l'/'oves' publicist: "Who works harder than me? For reol?" She shoket het heod, "l con't think of anybody.'). Wett, anyway, as hard as I work, I swear to you, there's never been one day in my career that I fett like I worked harder than Sean "P Diddy" Combs. He's a beast. With all the other projects Puff works on, do you feel like the record label itself suffers? WeLt, Puff does have a lot of other thinqs going on. 2004 was a great year for him. He ran the marathon, then went on to Broadway and soLd out every night in Roiiin in the then he came off that and went on the campaign trail with Vote or'un, Die. ldon't necessarily think the tabet suffers because he chooses to grow as a cetebrity and an indivicruat, I think that the artists on the tabeL gotta step up. That's Like saying FocA-Felta can't survjve without Jay-2, But Jay-Z is one artist. lf the rest of artists don't truLy grow and do their part, you can't blame him. Who do you think is gonna step up for Bad Boy? We've got some new actsr fresh btood. I was in the studio tit 2 A.Il\ yesterday messin'with some new music. We've got a groupr Boyz r'n the Hood, which is a Southern group that's reatty startin' to pop off. I think they have something. I :hink they're bringing another side of the South. Lit Jon and what he's doing is more crunk, in-the-ctub, throw-ya-handsup type music, but these guys are more gritty and street. lf you Look at portions of the south, you can see that they don't catt it Dirty South for nothin'. Their shit is reatly street, and I think that's what they're reflecting, We atso have a group calted 85, which i5 five brothers from Attanta. Quote me on this: this group is gonna be a monster. They're
so tatented. They sing, they dance, they're photogenic, they ptay instruments, and I think they're gonna fitL that vojd of where B2K left off, cause there's reatty nobody in that space right now.
You were involved in the filming of aking the Bond. war the storylines we saw on TV accurate, as far as what actually happened? was not doctored for TV. The shit was was. Everything you saw't on /tloking the Eand was reat; it was not staged. But, I think there's a bigger picture. I don't think the group members reatty wanted it. I think they're a good exampte of what many artjsts are today. They may think they want to be the biggest artist in the world and win Grammys, but there's a work ethic and an appreciation and love for the game that comes with it. As taLented as that group was, l'm not sure that they had an intense love for the game, They I tived through /tlokiDg fhe Bond.
what
it
weren't prepared to give 200% of their lives to become superstars, and that's what it takes. li not, you're gonna be weeded out. I think what everybody saw on TV is indicative of the music business as a whote. A tot of peopte get in the musr'c business for the wrong reasons, and then they find out very quickty that tliis is a business. When you got the Ceat, you can waLk in any ctub in your city and everybody's stopping their cars, putting over to get autographs. But when you don'! have that hit record no more and your video isn't ptaying, when you get to the ctub they putting you at the back of the tine..And you've gotta pay. there any member of Da Band that you personally clicked with? Yeah, absotutety. Three of them. Probabty Choppa the most, that's tike my tittte brother. He's on Bad Boy South, and his new stuff is phenomenat. Choppa's a star, no question. latso cLicked with Ness and Babs, those were the main three. And coincidentatLy those were atso the three that ended up gettjng kept. I know for a fact that it was their work ethic that kept them around. lt wasn't Uke we just cut peopte, we actuatty sat down and had a meeting to decide who stays and who goes. It was me, Puff, Harve lPierre], Conrad [Dimanchel, and Phil lRobinson], and most of our decision was based on their work ethic. Choppa'r tike a tit Puff when it comes to his work ethic, and Ness and Babs too.
Was
Besides work ethic, what does it take to be successful in the music business in general? First and foremost, you've got to have that work ethic. SecondLy, and this is equatty important, you've got to have a love for what you do. l'm not just talking about music, I'm tatking about Ufe. lf you love doing something, you won't mind getting up in the morning.
What is it you love about the music business? I tove the fact that lwent from being an intern to being part of Puffy's management team. I tove the fact that I conquered the promotions end of it. I started on the street team, then I was running the NY street team, then I was running the national street team and deaLing with mixtape DJs. Then I became the national promotions director, and now l'm a part of Puffy's management team. Plus, the fact that I was abte to create my own company and work with other ctients, which onty enhances the strength of what we do at Bad Boy. How are you able to work at Bad Boy and run your own company? staff. i\y company is Powei Moves Marketing & Promoticns.
A good
Do you focus mainly on street teams? That is part of what we do, one of the foundations. But outside of
Bad Boy, I deal
wjth almost no record tabets. I reatty have to betjeve
in your record to get behind it. A tot of the corporate ctients we deaL with are just now being introduced to the concept of street teams. We atso do high"end pubLicity stunts. Like, for exampie, Spike TV is one of our clients, They had a show catted "l Hate My Job," BasicaLty, the premise for the show is peopLe who hate their jobs doing the regutar rigmarote, so they quit their iobs to pursue their dream job. Rev At Sharpton was their ambassadorj he was kinda like what Trump is to The Apprentice. He woutd hetp usher them into their new careers. So, we did this publicity stunt where we got a bunch of At Sharpton Lookatikes. The whote point of a pubticity stunt is to get free pubticity. 5o, on the morning the show wa5 introduced, you're watking through Times Square and you see alt these Al Sharptons. Of course, you're gonna stop and look. We got att this pubticity on Fox & Friends, ChanncL 1'l WB, and a bunch of newspapers. That was somlthing that didn't cost much in comparison to traditionaL advertising. They got an asstoad of free pubticity, which hetped launch the show in the right direction. How could someone get in contact with you to hire Power l oves? They can calt 212-381-1578 or go to www.PowerMoveslr',c.com .
there anything else you'd like to say? for Boyz in The Hood, 85, and Btack Rob has a new atbum dropping this spring. And ljust want to emphasize for anybody who's reatty struggting with where they want to go in their career that you have to beLieve in yoursetf enough that you're wiLting to burn the bridges of retreat. That might even mean quitting your job. As Long as you have something to fatl back on, you're never gonna go 200%. lf you put your tife on the tine, you'tL find a way to succeed in whatever you're tryjng to do, That's it. And shouts to OZONEI ls
Watch out
- Photos and interview by Julia Beverly, ib@ozonemag.com
OZONE MAGAZINE DEC/JAN
2OO5 25