Few people are as successful in business and music as Sean Combs. Today, Combs (also known as Diddy) makes music fans love and still has time to succeed in business. Combs has even won an Academy Award for producing a movie. It seems there's nothing he can't do! Sean "Diddy" Combs is the story of how one boy from the projects grew up to be one of the most powerful men in hip-hop. Read about how Combs became a star in the 1990s. Learn about how important Combs has been to the history of hip-hop and how he's stayed successful over the years by trying new things.
This is a tale of friendship, greed, and betrayal in the music industry—and a definitive history of America's biggest rap mogul. No one knows more about creating hits than Sean “Puffy” Combs. For years he virtually ran hip-hop. It seemed the perfect arrangement: “Puffy” provided the sounds and obsessive attention to detail while the Notorious B.I.G. promoted an image that kept rap fans happy. It should have lasted forever, but “Biggie” was murdered at the height of his career—and “Puffy”'s ascension to superstardom ushered in an age of disloyalty and deception that exploded into one of the greatest debacles in the history of the music industry. Through interviews with label insiders, grand jury testimony, and other sources, America's preeminent rap journalist Ronin Ro -reveals the true story of “Puffy” -addresses the larger issues that shaped the man and the industry -explains how Bad Boy both helped and destroyed hip-hop and R&B music -details why some artists “Puffy” created ultimately left his Bad Boy family in disgust. At once an intimate history and a portrait of an era, Bad Boy shows readers exactly how Combs lost his strangle-hold over the multibillion-dollar rap music industry. The story of Bad Boy Entertainment is the story of the American Dream, an up-close and personal account of the people, the money, the creative process that made it all come true, and the young mogul who caused the dream to fall apart. In this hip-hop tragedy of Shakespearean dimensions, readers finally learn the story that Sean “Puffy” Combs does not want them to know.
The most successful music artist of our time, CEO of Bad Boy Entertainment, he has produced top-sellers Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin and Boyz II Men alongside underground artists The Notorious B.I.G, Faith Evans, 112 and Mase. This is his story.
His voice blaring in the recording, Sean "Diddy" Combs says, "We won't stop." He repeats the motto in many of his famous songs, three words that Diddy lives by. When it comes to his rise to superstardom in hip-hop and his pursuit of dominance in the entertainment industry, Sean Combs has never stopped. The Harlem-born music mogul has achieved success as a producer, rapper, and entrepreneur, including the massive success of his Sean John clothing line. Author Jen Jones explores the meteoric rise of this entertainment icon.
His voice blaring in the recording, Sean "Diddy" Combs says, "We won't stop." He repeats the motto in many of his famous songs, three words that Diddy lives by. When it comes to his rise to superstardom in hip-hop and his pursuit of dominance in the entertainment industry, Sean Combs has never stopped. The Harlem-born music mogul has achieved success as a producer, rapper, and entrepreneur, including the massive success of his Sean John clothing line. Author Jen Jones explores the meteoric rise of this entertainment icon.
He has recorded with the biggest stars in the music business. He wrote many of the hits that made Sean "Puffy" Combs one of the richest men alive. On the surface, the multi-million dollar empire that Puff built looks like the stuff of dreams. But after working with Puff for a decade, Curry discovered that Bad Boy Entertainment is not, as Puff promised, a place where dreams come true. No, rather it is a shell game comprised of contracts designed to rob artists of their time, dreams and publishing rights. [i]Dancing With the Devil[/i] reveals startling new details about key events in the fast paced, controversial (and sometimes deadly) world of Hip-Hop. In revealing the dark side of the industry, Curry hopes to provide a road map for reforms necessary to prevent artists ending up in poverty, in prison or in the grave.Mark Curry has appeared on the following albums:[i]Gangsta Shi-[/i][i]Dangerous MC's[/i][i]American Dream[/i]Mark Curry has appeared on the following singles:[i]Bad Boy for Life[/i]
An inside look at America's most controversial charter schools, and the moral and political questions around public education and school choice. The promise of public education is excellence for all. But that promise has seldom been kept for low-income children of color in America. In How the Other Half Learns, teacher and education journalist Robert Pondiscio focuses on Success Academy, the network of controversial charter schools in New York City founded by Eva Moskowitz, who has created something unprecedented in American education: a way for large numbers of engaged and ambitious low-income families of color to get an education for their children that equals and even exceeds what wealthy families take for granted. Her results are astonishing, her methods unorthodox. Decades of well-intended efforts to improve our schools and close the "achievement gap" have set equity and excellence at war with each other: If you are wealthy, with the means to pay private school tuition or move to an affluent community, you can get your child into an excellent school. But if you are poor and black or brown, you have to settle for "equity" and a lecture--about fairness. About the need to be patient. And about how school choice for you only damages public schools for everyone else. Thousands of parents have chosen Success Academy, and thousands more sit on waiting lists to get in. But Moskowitz herself admits Success Academy "is not for everyone," and this raises uncomfortable questions we'd rather not ask, let alone answer: What if the price of giving a first-rate education to children least likely to receive it means acknowledging that you can't do it for everyone? What if some problems are just too hard for schools alone to solve?
Prepare to be inspired by the story of Delane Parnell, the unlikeliest of CEOs now leading a gaming empire at the center of the booming, multibillion-dollar esports industry. Delane Parnell is not your typical tech entrepreneur. He was raised in a gang-riddled neighborhood on Detroit’s west side, bouncing between homes as his mother tried to make ends meet. Many of his closest friends and family members ended up in jail or dead. This makes it even more incredible that Delane became the 25-year-old founder and CEO of PlayVS, a Los Angeles company that is forever changing the gaming landscape in America. In 2018, esports— team-based competitive video gaming—became an officially sanctioned high school sport, meaning student gamers can now earn varsity letters just like their basketball and volleyball player peers. Delane’s startup is making that happen, providing the infrastructure that hosts the competitions, compiles the statistics, organizes playoff tournaments, and streams state championships for tens of thousands of students across the country. Ahead of the Game is a deeply reported narrative that tells the story of Delane, the motley group of underdogs and hustlers that helped build his several-hundred-million-dollar startup, and the previously overlooked students now participating in America’s growing esports phenomenon. It’s a tale of perseverance, courage, loyalty, race, family, tragedy, and believing you can overcome the odds—no matter how severely they’re stacked against you. Readers will also: Learn how the growing Esports industry is changing the lives of students across the country who were previously not engaged in the high school experience. Get a glimpse into a successful entrepreneur path unlike any other by following the story of how Delane Parnell created PlayVs in spite of the greatest of challenges. Be inspired that there is hope and opportunity available to people who go against conventional paths to realize their dreams. With a foreword by Sean "Diddy" Combs
Lord knows, Reverend Al has had his personal and very public ups and downs, but he's come out bigger and better than ever—though the host of MSNBC's PoliticsNation is as fiery and outspoken as ever about the events and issues that matter most, he's learned that the only way we can get right as a nation is by getting right from within. In his instant New York Times bestselling book, Rev. Al will take you behind the scenes of some unexpected places—from officiating Michael Jackson's funeral, hanging out with Jay-Z and President Barack Obama at the White House, to taking charge of the Trayvon Martin case. And he will discuss how he came to his unexpected conclusions in such areas as immigration, gay rights, religion, and family. But the heart of the book is an intimate discussion of his own personal evolution from street activist, pulpit provocateur, and civil rights leader to the man he is today—one hundred pounds slimmer, and according to The New York Observer “the most thoughtful voice on cable.” The Rev. Al you met ten years ago isn’t the same man you’ll meet today. And he has a simple promise: We can transform this nation and we can all lead better lives if we're willing to transform our hearts and transform our minds.
How Hollywood cashed in on the latest tech boom-and changed the face of Silicon Valley. When Ashton Kutcher first heard about 50 Cent's nine-figure Vitaminwater windfall in 2007, the actor realized he'd been missing out. He soon followed the rapper's formula-seeking equity instead of cash for endorsement deals-but with a twist: as the first person to top 1 million Twitter followers, Kutcher leveraged his social reach to accumulate stakes in a vast range of user-hungry tech startups. A decade later, Kutcher is perhaps the brightest in a firmament of star investors from Beyoncé and Jay-Z to Jennifer Lopez and Alex Rodriguez. Bartering credibility and connections in exchange for early (and often discounted) access to the world's most coveted investment opportunities, this diverse group changed the face of venture capital while amassing portfolios packed with companies like Airbnb, Spotify, and Uber. But how did two once-dissonant universes-Silicon Valley and Hollywood-become intertwined? Forbes senior editor Zack O'Malley Greenburg told the first chapter of Kutcher's transformation for the magazine's cover story in 2016. Now he offers a lively, page-turning account of how this motley crew of talent managers, venture capitalists, and celebrities helped the creative class forge a brand-new blueprint for generational wealth. Through extensive reporting and exclusive interviews with more than 100 key players-including Shaq, Nas, Joe Montana, Sophia Bush, Steve Aoki, Tony Gonzalez, and dozens of behind-the-scenes power brokers-Greenburg sheds light on the unlikely group that fundamentally transformed the value of fame.
