le with the law go hand in hand. Ever since Combs was just 21 years old he has had problems with the law. He hosted a college performance as a promoter and 9 people were killed. He is quoted about that incident in a recent paper as saying, “There is not a day that passes that I do not regret the fact that I was the promoter of this tragic event at City College. (Business Wire, Jan. 1999). I mention this to emphasize those things that he did 8 years ago still haunt him. Certainly, the trial did not represent the first time a rap star had had a highly publicized brush with the law. As head of the New York-based hip-hop empire, Bad Boy Entertainment, Combs himself had been a figure in the East Coast-vs. -West Coast feuds that allegedly led to the deaths of rappers Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G. In 1994, Shakur accused Combs and B.I.G. of being involved in an attack on him. Since then, Combs and his close colleagues have been implicated in other assault cases (AP Wire, Mar. 19). As he moved into to his new homes in the influential Hamptons, he was slapped with an arrest warrant for assaulting the Steve Stoute the head of Interscope records (AP Wire, p.8). Just days ago Combs escaped his most serious case yet. He was charged with discharging a firearm in a public place, bribery, and possession of an illegal handgun. After seven weeks of intense trial, the 31-year-old entertainment baron was freed at last. All of these events are potentially a threat to his empire. The other odd thing about the ascent of the New York based Bad Boy Records, which is affiliated with the larger Arista Records, is that it has encountered criticism not so much for its tough gangsta rap lyrics as for Combs’ fondness of interloping the choruses of old pop hits (Cox News, Nov. 28.) Still, critics have attacked Combs from all sides. Rap purists have offense at the highest level of Bad Boy’s musical interpolations, accusing Combs ...
