Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. This week's loan gain: Dirty Money's "Love Come Down" debuting on the Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop chart.

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums

22. "Ready to Die" by The Notorious B.I.G. (unchanged).

Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

65. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (down from 63).
96. "So Good" by Day26 (down from 87).

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay

65. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (down from 63).

Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop

39. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (debut).

Diddy gave what is perhaps his most revealing answers about the situation with Mase tonight to Funkmaster Flex on Hot 97. Recently, he had discussed the possibility of Mase returning to Bad Boy. Then, in October, video surfaced that showed Mase supposedly bum-rushing Diddy during a radio show appearance and getting the Bad Boy CEO to sign a piece of paper. At the time, it was unclear what exactly this piece of paper was - but, Diddy says that Mase is now off of Bad Boy and is free to sign wherever he wants. He also went into detail about the financial issues between them.

Diddy: "[When Mase came back for "Welcome back"] that was the second big check. Everybody was wondering 'yo, what's going on? why ain't you letting him do the 50 thing?' We just had some unfinished business after the first one when he decided to become a pastor. He had decided to become a pastor after he had just got a big check."

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Hot 97's Funkmaster Flex had Dirty Money on his show tonight and he asked about the talks with The Lox and on bringing them back to Bad Boy. Diddy told Flex that he wanted to bring them back - but only for one album.

"I just have a dream," Diddy told the DJ. "I feel like they are definitely some of the dopest emcees that are out in the game right now and I just think we were stronger together. To be honest, I just want to do one album. I don't want us to start not loving each other. I want it to be a lovefest."

A few years ago, Bad Boy utilized i-Squad, a digital street team system where fans were encouraged to promote Bad Boy artists by requesting their videos on TV, songs at radio, participating in contests and more. In exchange for this, the members of the team were given points that could be redeemed for merchandise and memorabilia. I actually participated in the Bad Boy i-Squad pages and racked up a lot of points.

However, in July of 2006, they opted to close their groups, leaving many members with unused points. It left a sour taste in my mouth and with plenty of others, I am sure. What made it particularly bad was there was no attempt to make nice - there was no warning or opportunity to use your points on whatever was available. They simply closed it.

Today, Bad Boy launched a similar effort, working with i-Squad competitor Fancorps. You can now join the Bad Boy Street Team on Fancorps (if you'd like me to get credit, please say that iFroggy referred you. I appreciate it).

Once registered, you'll be given a profile and access to a list of orders which will update over time. Orders are basically jobs or tasks that you are currently asked to do that can earn you points. Things like requesting "Love Come Down" on Hot 97 and adding "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money to your MySpace profile. I was concerned going in that some of the orders would ask members to spam or post advertisements on forums, blogs, etc. that they did not own. But, I was pleasantly surprised. The one questionable thing that is currently being asked is for people to post multiple reviews of a single song on iTunes, which is misleading and likely a violation of iTunes terms of service. So, you might want to skip that one.

In the "Propaganda" section, you'll find Bad Boy related graphics, eCards, embeddable videos and more, making it easier to share the latest label happenings. There is a Twitter background, a forum signature and some graphics advertising the release of "Angels" and "Love Come Down."

The store, where you can redeem your points, currently offers a promo CD for Dirty Money's "Angels," an audio drop or shout out from Dirty Money for your blog or website, an autographed Dirty Money poster and an unsigned one. The shout out is currently not available for purchase, however.

The "Intel" section appears to be an attempt at localizing promotional efforts, providing a list of companies, stores and venues in the area where music could presumably be promoted. Some make a lot of sense, some ("Counseling/Treatment Centers"? "Smoke Shops"?) don't.

In all, I would say that it is a worthwhile fan experience. Unfortunately, given what happened with the i-Squad, it is difficult for one to trust that the points collected will actually be redeemable. But, if you are a fan of Bad Boy or it's acts and have some time to help promote and earn some points and, hopefully, some free stuff, I'd say to at least take a look. Take it lightly and enjoy it for what it is.

Here it is: the music video for Dirty Money's "Love Come Down." I love it. The track hit a new high on Billboard's Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart earlier today and will hopefully be headed much higher.


Update: In case you can't see the MTV version, here's the YouTube one:

Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. Dirty Money's "Angels" makes a move toward the big chart, making it's debut on the Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles chart. "Love Come Down" moves up, as well.

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

94. "Don't Feed Da Animals" by Gorilla Zoe (up from 96).

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Catalog Albums

22. "Ready to Die" by The Notorious B.I.G. (re-entry).

Songs

Bubbling Under Hot 100 Singles

16. "Angels" by Dirty Money (debut).

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

63. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (a new high, up from 68).
87. "So Good" by Day26 (down from 77).

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay

63. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (a new high, up from 68).

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles

12. "Angels" by Dirty Money (a new high, up from 18).

Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop

40. "So Good" by Day26 (down from 37).

On his Twitter, Aasim posted a message saying that he was in the studio working on a remix to Dirty Money's "Angels." Here's the message:


Thanks to Theo for the tip.

Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released today. Dirty Money's "Love Come Down" moves up, as does Day26's "So Good."

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

96. "Don't Feed Da Animals" by Gorilla Zoe (down from 91).

Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

68. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (a new high, up from 74).
77. "So Good" by Day26 (up from 78).

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay

68. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (a new high, up from 74).

Bubbling Under R&B/Hip-Hop Singles

18. "Angels" by Dirty Money (re-entry).

Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop

37. "So Good" by Day26 (a new high, up from 40).

Last night, I was inspired to share some thoughts on the music industry, the mentality of blaming Bad Boy and Diddy for everything that happens to their current and former artists and the responsibility that artists have in general. I did this on the @badboyblog Twitter account. I received a lot of positive feedback and @TrueSplurge suggested that I post the stream as a blog entry here on the site. After @empirequeen asked for more details on what I posted, I decided to do so.

I recognize this isn't for everyone: it's basically a stream of my Twitter messages which are short and limited by 140 characters. So, please feel free to skip this post. But, if you'd like to hear my thoughts on these topics, please read on.

If you do choose to comment, please read my thoughts first and consider what you know as first hand knowledge and what you heard from someone else. As always, our User Guidelines apply to all comments. Here's the stream:

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Here are Bad Boy's positions on the most recent Billboard U.S. album and single charts, released last Thursday.

Albums

Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums

91. "Don't Feed Da Animals" by Gorilla Zoe (re-entry).

Songs

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs

74. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (down from 71).
78. "So Good" by Day26 (down from 77).

Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Airplay

74. "Love Come Down" by Dirty Money (down from 71).

Mainstream R&B/Hip-Hop

40. "So Good" by Day26 (debut).