At tonight’s Billboard Music Awards in Las Vegas, Sean “Diddy” Combs saluted Notorious BIG and premiered the trailer for Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, a documentary about pioneering hip-hop/R&B label Bad Boy Records. (See below.)
He also noted that May 21 would have been the 45th birthday of BIG, given name Christopher Wallace, the rapper and Bad Boy collaborator who was fatally shot in 1997. Wallace’s son, CJ, took the awards stage alongside Diddy.
“Tonight I’m here to talk about my friend, my brother, my artist,” Combs said. “In 1993, it was all a dream. That’s when God blessed me with the opportunity and the vision to start Bad Boy Records.” Because of B.I.G, he added, “it became one of the most successful hip-hop and R&B labels in history.”
Can’t Stop Won’t Stop, directed by Daniel Kaufman and produced by Live Nation, recently had a star-studded premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival. It will be released via Apple Music on June 25.
The BMAs, telecast on ABC, also featured performances by artists such as Chainsmokers, Lorde and Drake, who performed on a small island stage set up in the Bellagio fountain pool as fireworks went off behind him. Cher also performed and received an honorary award.
Here is the Can’t Stop trailer:
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