Craig Mack, Bad Boy Records’ foundational artist, dies at 46

9:47 AMHailing from Long Island, New York, Craig Mack was actually the first star of Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy Records. The news was confirmed late Monday that Mack, 46, died after a long battle with heart failure. Lesser known to some, Mack, with his distinctive, gravelly voice, predated the label’s grandest star, The Notorious B.I.G.

The creative and innovative “B.I.G. Mack” marketing campaign, fueled by Combs, gave the label undeniable steam in the early ’90s. And it was the remix of Mack’s 1994 “Flava In Ya Ear” and “Get Down (Remix)” that became his lasting calling card. The former features a classic opening 16 bars from The Notorious B.I.G. While The Notorious B.I.G. of course skyrocketed to crossover fame during his short life, Mack (who’d found some success with his debut Project: Funk da World) eventually left the public eye altogether. He dedicated his life to church, with rumors of him joining a religious cult surfacing online several years back.

You won’t be around next year / My rap’s too severe / Kicking mad flava in ya ear … The odyssey of Combs, Notorious B.I.G. and Bad Boy have become an undeniable hip-hop curriculum. Mack, though? “Nobody got to understand his story,” said close friend and producer Alvin Toney. “I wanted the world to know the talent he had. It was something I wanted people to enjoy, but it was cut short because he was very religious and wanted to go to church.” Mack’s death comes less than a week after the 21st anniversary of The Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 murder in Los Angeles.