S. Samuel
Dirty Money's Dawn Richard recently talked about recording as an artist on Bad Boy Records and why she chose to align herself with Diddy despite the rap mogul's criticized work ethics.
According to Dawn, she does not view linking with Diddy as a bad career move.
“There’s no right or wrong way to do what you love. Because of Puff’s past and his track record, people tend to think that I’m stupid and I don’t get what’s going on [think] it’s not a good look for me. I will say this: This business is extremely difficult, and you have to know who you are. The reason why I chose to stay along with Puff and Dirty Money wasn’t because I’m dumb and I’m stupid, and he pulled the wool over my eyes, and I don’t know that he’s using me, and [any other criticism]. I did it because I love the music. I did it because when I heard the tracks, Puff was like, ‘I want you to write on this. Do your thing on this. You have the opportunity to be apart of something dope,’ that’s what I wanted to be a part of.” (VIBE)
Dawn also said she is aware of Diddy’s background and past issues with Bad Boy artists.
“I have had the opportunity to work with people like Grace Jones, Justin Timberlake, Drake, Nicki Minaj, Wiz Khalifa, the name go on and on. As well as amazing producers like Swizz Beatz, Bangaladesh, Polow Da Don, Rodney Jerkins. These are names that had I said, ‘This is not a good look for me; I’ma be about myself and make this solo career,’ I wouldn’t have gotten the opportunity to do those things I wanted to do. That’s the choice that I made. I know very well who Puff is, and I know what this industry is. I think it’s a great platform for me because I’ve made great relationships. I’ve gotten to perform all across the world because I made the choice to be apart of Dirty Money. So, I do think it’s beneficial for me. If people don’t think I was smart in doing it, if they were in my position, they would have changed their thoughts about that. People always want to comment on things that they don’t know or things that they see from the outside, but it’s different from the inside. I think I’m doing the right thing.” (VIBE)
Recently, Dirty Money’s Kaleena spoke to SOHH about her chemistry with Dawn and being under Diddy’s wing.
“I just believe that we were in an embryonic state when we started Dirty Money,” Kaleena explained to SOHH. “And that’s just in a whole, because in this industry you continue to grow until you’re really old and being with Puff, it’s like we were shot up with steroids. He put us in his boot camp and it was so crazy because we knew things before but with producing the record, writing the lyrics, how to go deeper in your mind and your soul, pulling those things out and making them more vulnerable and exposed to people were all learned. I just think at this point he’s created two monsters and we’re able to go out and be with other people or be able to be seen apart and still represent who we are as Dirty Money. And I thought that was just genius, as far as our spirituality, leaning and depending on God a lot more. As a group, Dawn could be on the side of the stage and she can wink her right eye and I can wink my left and it’s so epic. We’re just so in-tune and of course with Puff, he loves the energy. He loves the Yin and the Yang. We’re real strong and vice versa.” (SOHH)
After selling over 100,000 copies of their Last Train to Paris album last December, Diddy spoke on Dirty Money’s achievement.
“Y’all already know I deal with a lot of hate and I talk about that but it’s also important to talk about when I’m dealing with a lot of love,” Diddy said in a vlog. “And the love you’ve shown me and the girls on this project, y’all made this project a success and I want to say thank you. We ain’t have no number one records — we had the Twitter support, we had one of the first albums where Twitter overrode radio, TV, anything else and y’all basically said that y’all heard the album and it’s hot. Definition of the Internet. Word of mouth, being viral, having control of what’s going on. I want to thank y’all for just helping me get to this day, helping [Dirty Money’s Kaleena and Dawn] get to this day. Y’all been riding with us, seeing us grow and evolve, but like right now, Twitter, you guys, everybody that’s in the family, that’s been down from day one, thank-you, thank-you, thank-you — The success of this album is all due to you guys. We’re gonna keep spreading the word, we’re about to go on tour, we’re about to really get this mood cracking.” (Diddy Blog #7)
Check out some recent Dirty Money footage below:
