The LOX are working with Diddy to secure the publishing rights to their catalog, according to Jadakiss.
Jada explained the group’s plans during a conversation with Joe Budden on Amazon’s live radio app AMP on Thursday (October 27), while revealing he wants to sell their catalog as soon as possible. The Yonkers MC also talked about his own business plans after finishing his next two solo albums for Def Jam.
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“After that, I’ll probably do a partnership, somewhat independent, signed to myself,” he said. “Put out music and put my artists out freely. We just in the process of getting our catalog back from Puff, so I’m selling that immediately after the ink is dry. I’m selling shit, Joe.”
Jadakiss isn’t the only rapper looking to cash in on their catalog. In September, it was announced Future had sold the rights to hundreds of his songs for a “high eight-figure” sum. Public Enemy’s Chuck D also sold a stake in his publishing catalog in September, with the deal involving over 300 songs.
The LOX released their debut album Money, Power & Respect on Diddy’s Bad Boy Records in 1998, peaking at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 with features from DMX, Lil’ Kim, Carl Thomas and Kelly Price. The title track reached No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100, while “If You Think I’m Jiggy” cracked the top 30.
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Despite their early success, the trio soon demanded to leave the label over creative differences, sparking the “Free The LOX” campaign. It wasn’t until things escalated that Diddy finally relented.
“It was probably after the argument with Diddy when Styles threw the chair at Puff,” Kiss told HipHopDX in 2020 while reflecting on their hard-earned departure from Bad Boy. “Prior to that, there was conversation amongst the group and things of that nature but after that little incident happened, that’s when we decided to part ways.”
The LOX went on to join Ruff Ryders — the gritty New York collective led by DMX, Swizz Beatz and Eve — and released their sophomore album We Are the Streets in 2000. However, Diddy still owned a large portion of the group’s publishing, leading to an infamous argument between the two parties on Hot 97 in 2005.
Styles P Calls Throwing A Chair At Diddy 'Really Fucking Stupid'
Jadakiss also used to ghostwrite for Diddy during his time on Bad Boy in the ’90s. In recent appearance on Smoke DZA’s Personal Party Podcast, he admitted he hated the experience.
“I really hate it,” he said. “After giving [Diddy] ‘Benjamins,’ ‘Victory,’ ‘Senorita’ and a couple remixes, I used to feel like it was taking away too much of me. I didn’t know how to morph. It ain’t like he was a n-gga that I knew my whole life and I could describe him how I think he should be.
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“I ain’t feel like I could write the bars for myself and give it to him because I didn’t feel like it fit it. He had too much money. I was still extra grungy and my mind couldn’t think about that much Versace or being on that type of financial level so it used to conflict with me writing for him.”
He added: “But [Diddy] used to tell me, ‘Give me the shit that you would say for you.’ But I’m like, ‘It ain’t gonna fit for you.’ He used to know how to make it work. Until I got older and realized how easy it was.”
