An above-average rapper blessed with a bit of luck and connections as well as talent, Craig Mack practically made <a href="spotify:artist:59wfkuBoNyhDMQGCljbUbA">Puff Daddy</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a> label with a remix of his 1994 hit "Flava in Ya Ear." Based in Brentwood, Long Island, Mack cut his first single while still a teenager, though nothing came of it. He was working as a go-fer for hometown heroes <a href="spotify:artist:3zpKjsMg2gw1St5WcWoUJN">EPMD</a> when he hooked up with Sean "Puffy" Combs, who offered him a spot on a <a href="spotify:artist:1XkoF8ryArs86LZvFOkbyr">Mary J. Blige</a> remix in 1992. Impressed, Combs offered him a contract on his <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a> label, distributed through <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Arista%22">Arista</a>. What really sold the LP, however, was a platinum remix of the top single "Flava in Ya Ear." Featuring a parade of East Coast talent -- <a href="spotify:artist:5me0Irg2ANcsgc93uaYrpb">the Notorious B.I.G.</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6edzoyx2aOvZpdFeCCWU1t">Rampage</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:1P8IfcNKwrkQP5xJWuhaOC">LL Cool J</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:1YfEcTuGvBQ8xSD1f53UnK">Busta Rhymes</a> -- it ranked as one of the first posse tracks to go overground in a big way; a Top Ten pop hit, and number one on the rap and dance charts. Mack returned in 1997 (after having severed relations with Combs) with Operation: Get Down, an executive production of longtime East Coast head <a href="spotify:artist:61iqbk65wVKqPP89zO03qz">Eric B</a>. The album didn't even make the Top 40, and Mack struggled for a contract during the rest of the decade. After recording a few white labels, he returned to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a> with an appearance on Combs' We Invented the Remix LP ("Special Delivery" featuring <a href="spotify:artist:6FD0unjzGQhX3b6eMccMJe">Ghostface Killah</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2bwR166mSJEJrYJqfyust3">Keith Murray</a>). After departing <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Bad+Boy%22">Bad Boy</a>, Mack continued recording for his own Mack World Records label after the turn of the millennium. He died in March 2018 at his home in Walterboro, South Carolina; Craig Mack was 47 years old. ~ John Bush, Rovi

hip-hop/rap

us hip-hop/rap