The Bad Boy Family Tour Planning Guide
Puff, I have some great ideas and made a mandatory set list. Let’s do this.
An open letter to Puff Daddy and The Family:
I hope that Puff was serious in this tweet, because the Bad Boy reunion tour needs to happen.
The Bad Boy BET Awards performance was epic. I’ve watched it at least 12 times already. I grew up listening to all those songs. I knew all the dance moves, remembered every music videos, and I wanted to be Mase just as bad as I did back in the day. It was great to see everyone back on stage. It was also a great reminder of how much of an empire Bad Boy was at its peak.
Puff’s goal was for Bad Boy to become the Motown Records for rap and hip-hop: A label with a signature sound and a deep catalogue of inspired young artists. To say he succeeded in an understatement. Over 25 Bad Boy’s albums went platinum. With all that success, and all the hype that the BET Awards performance has received, it’s time to give the people what they want: The Bay Boy Family Tour.
The tour is actually genius. People are going crazy for old school hip-hop right now. When Katy Perry brought out Missy Elliot at the Super Bowl halftime show, people went WILD. In fact, a whole new generation of fans thought she was a new artist. And with movies this summer like Straight Outta Compton and Dope, the hip-hop from back in the day is fresh on everyone’s mind.
Tour planning suggestions:
Limited tour spots: Less is more with a tour like this. Announce New York, Los Angeles, Houston, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Chicago, San Francisco, Miami, and Philadelphia. Arrange some guest appearances based on each city. At the end of the tour, announce a surprise final stop in Brooklyn at the Barclays Center.
Smaller venue: As much as I would like to think everyone loves Bad Boy as much as I do, we are still a select group of fans. Except for the encore show at Barclays, choose venues with 10,000 seats or less. Nothing is worse than going to a concert that looks like a Marlins baseball game.
Biggie hologram: Everyone went wild for the Tupac hologram at Coachella a few years back. Why not do the same for Biggie? With a Biggie hologram, the catalogue of hits to choose goes way up.
Focus on the glory years: No disrespect to great artists like Janelle Monae and sometimes-good-but-ridiculous-artists like French Montana, but this reunion needs to focus strictly on the Bad Boy at its best. Bring us back to 1997, not 2007. If I find out Danity Kane or Chopper from Da Band is on this tour, I’m out.
The set list:
The blessing and curse of the Bad Boy discography is that there is such a wide range of songs to choose from. This isn’t the Death Row Records reunion. They can’t just alternate between The Chronic, Doggystyle, and 2Pac Greatest Hits. Puff needs to showcase the glory years, get the key artists to all commit, and not have too many people feeling “I can’t believe they didn’t play [popular Bad Boy song]” or “Where the hell was [popular Bad Boy artist]?” Here is the list of songs to perform, in order of importance.
The IF YOU CAN PULL THESE OFF, I’M WITH IT! plays:
Hypnotize/One More Chance/Big Poppa/Juicy — need Biggie’s hologram!
What About Us — Total needs to be there. No excuses
Dance With Me remix — get Beanie Sigel to come out for the Philly show
Honey remix — Diddy and Mase need to get Mariah to commit
Brooklyn’s Finest — Jay-Z and Biggie’s hologram together at Barclays!
Tell Me What You Want From Me
Lookin’ At Me
Gettin Money remix — Can we get Junior M.A.F.I.A. together again?
Satisfy You — guest appearance by R.Kelly for the Chicago show
Bad Boyz — Shyne needs to make amends with Obama first
The YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON NOT TO plays:
Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down
Been Around The World
Money, Power, Respect — if DMX commits, this becomes a MUST play
Crush On You — we know Kim’s down, but we need CEASE
Let’s Get It OR Special Delivery — we need a Harlem Shake anthem
Bad Boy For Life
Love Like This
No One Else — extra points if Da Brat comes on with Total
The MUST plays:
Flava In Ya Ear remix — need Craig Mack, Busta Rhymes, and LL Cool J
It’s All About The Benjamins remix
I’ll Be Missin You
Victory — Busta needs to come out, SCREAMING the chorus
Can’t You See
Feel So Good
Whoa! — Black ROBBBB
Only You — remix with Puff and Mase
Feel So Good
Mo Money Mo Problems
Puff, I know you’re pumping your new hit “Finna Get Loose” like it’s nobody’s business, but you gotta come through on this tour. Don’t Detox us. I gave you a game plan, so all you have to do is execute. Just make sure you fall through the floor at least once for us.
-DR
