Tribeca 2017: “Can’t Stop: Won’t Stop: The Bad Boy Story” ReviewPosted by Dominga Martin
April 28, 2017
It’s Bad Boy For Life
The Tribeca Film Festival goes all out with world premiere of Sean Combs documentary + performance
“Can’t Stop: Won’t Stop: The Bad Boy Story” made it’s debut to an enthusiastic audience at the Beacon Theater in New York City, Thursday night. An audience comprising of industry tastemakers and staff which has been on the journey with Diddy since Day 1 filled the theater anticipating, what would become a night to remember.
The in depth, candid and deeply personal portrait of Sean Combs, sometimes called Puff Daddy, most recently called Diddy—a name which was given to him by the late Biggie Smalls, takes viewers inside his head as he plans the Bad Boy Reunion Tour which was held at Brooklyn’s Barclays center, a year ago and sold out in 7 minutes. The pressure to fail and bring together artists that had not seen, nor performed with each other in nearly 16 years hovered in the air, along with past resentments and grief.
What started off as a documentary chronicling the reunion turned into an expose about one of the masterminds who took hip hop culture and shaped it into what was defined as “hip hop soul”—with a dose of attitude and over the top luxury.
Director Daniel Kaufman, takes viewers behind the curtain as Puff reveals his innermost thoughts, walking us through Diddy’s rise to become one of the most forward thinking music producers, turned artist/entreprenuers, of all time.
The audience erupted and applauded with each revelation of today’s music icons, who blessed the screen in a timeline which follows the journey of Bad Boy Records, which was founded in 1993 after Puff was fired from Uptown Records. This story, we all have heard before, if you are familiar with the rise of Bad Boy, in an era where he took the New Jack Swing era and turned it on it’s head, with his debut of Jodeci…a singing group which showcased 4 young men who rocked their hats to the back, pants sagging and Timbs, yet can sing the panties off of any girl in the room. Surprisingly, Jodeci was not featured in the documentary, and we only heard the voice of Craig Mack—who bowed out of the reunion tour after turning his life over to God.
However Ma$e makes an appearance along with Mary J. Blige, Andre Harrell, Nas, Total, Lil Kim and the remainder of the Bad Boy family. Black and White portrait interviews of Bad Boy artists share insight on their rise, and downfall, which occurred after the murder of Biggie Smalls in 1997. For the first time, we see the often mythical, braggadocios persona of Bad Boy’s head honcho in charge show a bit of vulnerability—as he shares his reflection of who he was when he began vs. who he is now—yet, although his growth and transformation from bad boy to man is revealed, he admits that it was only “6 weeks ago” since he’s started growing up.
Of course, the room filled with laughter, often, for who knew that Diddy had a sense of humor? I often felt like a fly on the wall, getting to know a public figure who never let us in quite this way. Along with his strong sense of self—a strong sense of vision and direction of where he wanted to be in life, he shares his disappointment and defeat after bombing in his first comeback performance. However, in grand Diddy fashion, that sunken moment did not last for long!
Diddy shares the defining moment which set him on a path of black excellence—a day, as a child, longing to be invited to his neighbor’s house across the street to get into his pool. He decided on that scorching hot day, that he would one day have his own pool and never sit on the sidelines—wanting again. From that point on, a shrewd business man with a laser sharp vision complimented by uber creativity was born [and] there was no turning back.
Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop, is more about Sean Combs life as a music artist, less his career. He and his artists share what they want us to know. It’s not super in depth, but just enough to reinvent Puff/Puff Daddy/Puffy/P-Diddy/Diddy turned Sean Combs. We do not get to see the birth of his fashion line Sean John, his venture as a restauranteur, or his “Making Da Band Days” but what we get is a satisfying meal that pays homage to the Notorious B.I.G and a music label which not only transformed culture, but made music history as an iconic brand to reckon with.
The screening ended with the passing of the torch to Puffy’s sons Justin and Christian who stepped on stage with Laurie Anne Gibson, the Creative Director of his tour, and choreographer of his music show, to introduce the Bad Boy family. Lil Kim, Faith Evans, Carl Thomas, Diddy and Ma$e performed their most popular hits, and for a brief moment in time, as all in the audience rapped along, we remembered the famous chant that erupted across streets from east to west: “Bad Boy…Bad Boy…Bad Boy”…
A chant often heard as music began to change and reshape at the helm of this kid from Harlem. A newly termed marketing tactic was being formulated, called “street teams” as the new way of marketing artists. The Bad Boy street teams held up picket signs, announcing a new label and new artists that would take over radio and win your hearts over with thumping hip hop beats blended with R&B samples. The audience reminisced over 20 years of hits, with all the bravado of Diddy, and were reminded that it’s Bad Boy for life. We chanted along, we knew every lyric, and we paid homage to “Bad Boy….Bad Boy…”
