The former Bad Boy Records rapper Craig Mack, died Monday night at his home in Walterboro, South Carolina, Colleton County coroner Richard Harvey confirmed to Variety. Reports concluded that Mack had died of natural causes.
Diddy released a statement on Mack’s passing, saying:
\”Craig Mack, you were the first artist to release music on Bad Boy and gave us our first hit. You always followed your heart and you had an energy that was out of this world. You believed in me and you believed in Bad Boy. I will never forget what you did for hip-hop. You inspired me and will continue to inspire us. We will always love you. #badboy4life#ripcraigmack\”
Craig Mack released “Flava in Ya Ear” in 1994 and it was certified platinum and nominated for a Best Rap Performance Grammy in 1995. He followed it with the gold-certified single “Get Down”; both songs were featured on his debut album, “Project: Funk Da World.” He released a second album, “Operation: Get Down,” on the Scotti Brothers label in 1997 but left the industry soon after to focus on religion. He made several attempts to release music in the following years; a mixtape called “Operation Why2K?” emerged in 2012 and an album called “The Mack World Sessions” in 2017.
He was featured briefly in the 2017 Bad Boy Records documentary “Can’t Stop Won’t Stop” but declined to participate in the reunion tour around its release
Groove Magazine International 