Customer Reviews

Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hip-Hop

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(9)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

Did you ever want to know what it's like rolling with Diddy and being a part of the world-famous Bad Boy Records? Mark Curry gives you his experience with the mogul in Dancing With The Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of HipHop. Curry fans away the smoke and dismantles the mirrors with his debut release as an author. What you will find is the good, the bad and gritty lifestyle that Diddy provides to those artists unfortunate to get caught up in the Bad Boy empire.

If you grew up listening to HipHop during the Bad Boy era, Dancing With The Devil will give you an intriguing history of rap music during that time from a person lived it. Curry's attention to detail and ability to weave his personal experiences and research makes this book easy to read and hard to put down. This is more than an expose from a disgruntled artist. Dancing With the Devil is a journey that separates the fact from the fiction. This book shows you the music industry for what it is -- harsh and cut throat. If you can go online, Google and YouTube will be your best friend as you journey with Mark Curry through the maze of music, murders and mayhem.

Once you finish with this book, you will have taken a trip that few have the heart to speak about. Dancing With The Devil is more than a one-sided account of a wannabe artists mad at the world. You will have a thorough understanding of why artists such as The L.O.X., Faith Evans, 112, Total, etc. are no longer a part of Bad Boy's roster. You will hear those Bad Boy classics in a new light once you gain the understanding of why Diddy added his chatter to songs and his presence to the videos.

You might even feel sorry for current Bad Boy artists such as Danity Kane (or what's left of them), Day 26 and Da Band. The infamous contract signing scenarios take on a new meaning once you are aware of Diddy's history of jerking people with terrible deals. Curry acts more like a journalist than anything else as he sifts through tons of information and personal experiences to show how the music industry can promise you diamonds with intentions of giving you coal.

Curry's Dancing With The Devil can easily be considered Bad Boy Records' version of Fredericks Dannen's The Hit Men.

Joey Pinkney Dot Com
Book Reviewer

I really enjoyed this book. This isn't a second hand account. Curry experienced the "Bad Boy Life" first hand, for 10 years. He, like all the other artists, were in dire efforts to achieve their dreams in the music industry. Despite the constant hard work, long nights, time, energy, and money spent striving towards their "big break", they ended up with nothing. Not because of anything lacking on their part, but because of Sean Combs. I don't look at him as a good business man. He's a con artist- plain and simple. And this book is not the only thing that makes me view him that way.

Some of the stories, I have read about, based on facts and other great reads. Curry merely provided further confirmation. Also, there were a lot of stories I had not read about, but I could definitely see them as truth since Puff has a pattern of ways.

The only reason I did not give this book 5 stars is because in the beginning (7 or 8 chapters in), he talks about random events in his life before his deal. He mentioned alot of people that came from nowhere w/ nicknames and I got a bit confused. It almost made me suspicious of whether or not this book was really about Puffy, the con artist. Fast forward to Chapter 8. From that point on, every thing is smooth sailing ahead.

I totally commend and respect Curry for being so truthful and holding his head up through this entire ordeal. From the start of this book, I sense that he has a good heart. His intentions were to do the thing he loved(music), make his parents(now deceased) even more proud, and provide for his wife and son. He's not trying to slander. He's just telling facts. He's giving his life experience when he was with Bad Boy. If these truths paint Puffy as a "bad guy", then so be it. What's true is true. And besides, it's not like we didn't know that already. Think about the plethora of musicians signed to Bad Boy. Where are they? Don't worry, I'll wait.....

I finally decided to break down and purchase this book due to Bad Boys still not hiring any of the assistances from his reality show, "I want to work for Diddy." I even read just recently that the chic from the second show is now without job and broke, so that she could appear on the show. It looks like he is making all this money from the reality shows but not actually hiring them in the end. Mic Barber had his own company before the show, so the exposure really worked in his favor. Therefore, I decided to get this book and really see the man behind the myth.

Most things I already knew or suspected about Diddy so I am not surprised. The industry overall is just a snake and a very tough business regardless with what record company you sign with and Bad Boy is no exception. The key is to not be naïve and to have your own lawyers not their lawyer or a recommended lawyer read all of your contracts. I also do know that most record companies will charge and deduct whatever time you spend in studio, video, or any other associated costs, so that is a normal thing in the industry. If there is something such as creativity or other rights you want in the contract that you and your lawyer do not agree with, well you do not sign with the company. I think Mr. Curry was very green to the industry and thought quick money would come, which it does not. I wish the best for him and maybe he should try self-promoting his music as many artists are doing today. That is then when the record company will come looking for you and you can set your own terms.

The book was a page turner. It was very descriptive when explaining how Puff operated. It was upsetting how a lot of his artist, either left or did not come out with an album. I enjoyed the book because it gave you a peek at how the music world operates. How artist can be taken advantage of if they dont know what they are getting into or signed to the wrong label and influenced by the wrong people.

This book is definitely a page turner -DEFINITELY!!!! Its just amazing how many times this due fail for the "promises" made by Puff. I placed the word promises in in quotes because I have only heard the authors side of the story. Due is just as responsible as Puff for his own predicament. There are thousands of artists who have experienced this -past and present- and due to the intelligence level of many who are now, they will be many in the future. Homeboy, according his story was messed over so bad, that I feel good that I bought his book, instead of a purchase it is more like a donation to his personal charity. My favorite line if what this dude wrote is true, is what the guy from ATL name Meech told Puff. I won't say it, get the book. This should be a must for all of those who are interested in getting in the music industry.

This book while not poorly written can be a little confusing at times as it jumps around a lot, especially in the beginning. The story is not written in chronological order and some events may be difficult to follow at first. Overall, the book is a page turner and I wasn't able to put it down. The book gave some very revealing and shocking information that many fans would not have otherwise known about the real Diddy or Puff (or whatever he calls himself these days). The book also verified for me personally several lies, I've seen Puff tell in interviews, especially regarding the death of Biggie.

Mark Curry's naïveté surprised me though. As someone who reportedly hung out with gangsters and thugs long before he crossed paths with Diddy, I couldn't believe he was that naïve to keep giving Diddy chance after chance after chance to release his album and then seemed stunned after learning from a Bad Boy staffer that Diddy never intended to release his album at all. From the accounts that Curry described throughout the book, it was painfully obvious to the reader that Diddy was only using him and stringing him along from the very beginning. It's sad that it took the death of Curry's parents and him losing his home to foreclosure to finally wise up.

I also see that Curry writes this is the book's `first edition.' I would be interested in a follow up version, especially one that would give insight into Farnsworth Bentley's ties to Diddy and how he seems to be the only one who has managed to have an actual successful career after being entangled with Diddy for so many years. I would also like to see if Curry has any takes on the Shakir Stewart suicide, seeing as he revealed Stewart's romantic ties to Kim Porter and how Diddy assaulted him at L.A. Reid's wedding after finding out.

Hopefully, Curry will partner with a better editor and hopefully consider a movie based on his book. A very good summer read and it should be required reading for any one looking to go into the entertainment business.

I've been a loyal Hip Hop fan since I was a 7-year old kid (nearly 23 years now). I was especially into the Notorious B.I.G and the Bad Boy family since 1994 and I've followed them every since. After reading this book, alot of my "unanswered" questions about some of the things that happened within the label and the artists. My friends and I used to joke about the fact that Puff was the biggest "artist" on his own label (after Biggie passed) and it shouldn't be like that. When you have a pool of talented artist in your camp and your so fascinated with becoming a huge star in your own right, why waste and burn the people that are helping you achieve that? Although they say you should believe everything you read, I alomst feel compelled to believe 99.9 percent of what Mark Curry wrote in this book. It all fits together like a puzzle and it makes too much sense, especially if you've followed the Bad Boy family for as long as I have. The book was definitely a page-turner and kept my attention throughout. The only negative thing I found about the book is how the writer would jump around back and forth from timeframe to timeframe. Other than that, It was a really good book.

This is a very interesting first-hand account of the behind the scenes working of a once vibrant label. Mr. Curry is another talented young man who thought that the shark infested waters of the record industry would provide him with a legitimate means of living. Although talented in constructing lyrics and rapping, Mr. Curry's lack of formal education and being too trusting of the "home boys" code of ethics led him to sign away all of his rights as an artist in order to sign with the up & coming Bad Boy label. Unfortunately the hope that he'd eventually reap the benefits of his talent turned to ashes as time & time again he was burned by trusting Sean "Puffy" Combs. This book seems to be his last ditch effort to gain something from those lost years.

As some have mentioned, the first several chapters were badly written and not in chronological order. I found myself re-reading passages just to keep the names and relationships of individuals straight. Not until he begins to recount his initial meetings with Puffy does the story pick up and becomes a really quick read. His tales of Puffy siphoning off money from his artists by appearing in their videos & on their songs, stealing writing & production credits are extremely credible given the number of former Bad Boy artists who have made similar claims. After reading this it's easy to see how some of my favorite artists like Craig Mack, Faith Evans, Carl Thomas, Jodeci, Total & 112 careers were just allowed to wither away through Puff trying to stage his on "come up" as an artist while neglecting an entire roster of truly talented people. His cruel dismissal of Kirk Burroughs also shed light on how this label fell off so quickly under the sole rule of Puff - like Suge Knight, Puff had no business acumen to actually run a label.

As much as this book shed light on the devil that is Puff, it also opened up other questions in my mind such who was really behind Biggie's & Tupac's murders (I personally had always blamed Suge); what really caused Shakir Stewart to take his life and was Puff really instrumental in having Jake Robles murdered?

All in all, after getting through the first few chapters, this book is a very interesting read that I'd recommend to those who want info about how the Bad Boy label was built and some insight into Puff's character.

I am certainly not the typical reader for this book. I'm not a rap or hip hop fan in any way. I read this at the suggestion of a friend. I was not disappointed. Books such as this can tend to be self serving as the author is likely to attempt to cast himself or herself in the best possible light. This author admits to being artistically talented, selling drugs and stealing. In general, I would say that he goes overboard excusing the crime and murders that are fairly common to this culture. His attitude seems to be "hey, you do what you have to do to survive." But, there are a lot of people who've had things pretty tough and they haven't resorted to killing,robbing selling narcotics. In any event, it certainly seems that he has exhaustively compiled a very damming indictment against Mr. Combs, his business practices,the originality of his talent and his lack of morality. It's interesting that so many "street smart" people seemed to have been so easily scammed by Mr. Combs. By the way,in spite of all the inside juice that's disclosed, it's a quick read.

This book is great. After reading Dancing with the Devil, it just confirmed all of the negative thoughts I have had about Sean Combs, he is a joke that makes money of other people and throws them to the side after using for whatever he wants.