The Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour is a moment to relive – or, for the young’ins, to discover – the 90s classics that have kept us Diddy bopping for the last two decades.
(see: Urban Dictionary for “Diddy bopping” if you’re not hip to the definition).
But for the women of Sean “Puff Daddy” Comb’s Bad Boy Records, the tour also is a time to reflect on the standards of beauty in pop culture and damaging stereotypes inflicted upon Black women.
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“Coming into the industry, of course, you see the people with the leotards… and I’m saying, that’s not me. That’s not my flavor,” said Pamela Long, 1/3 of Bad Boy’s R&B girl group Total.
Fan always thought of Long as the tomboy of the group. She did, too, until she had a moment with God.
“I’ll never forget when God said to me, he said, ‘you’ve never been a boy,’” Long remembered. “He said, ‘you’re athletic.’ That’s the thing. I’ve got an athletic build but I’m still a woman.”
Hours before the tour’s opening night in Chicago, Long and her bandmates – alongside Bad Boy first lady Faith Evans and legendary choreographer Laurieann Gibson – sat on a panel hosted by Black hair-care brand ORS Olive Oil for its first of seven Beauty Chronicle Empowerment series.
The series is part of the brand’s #NoStereotypes campaign, which is meant to debunk and expose hurtful beauty stereotypes placed upon people of color.
“I would love to see women love themselves more. I think a lot of women love ourselves but we love the stereotypes more,” Total’s Kima Raynor said. “Like, you bring up [VH1’s] Love & Hip Hop. Everybody’s getting their bodies done, their lips done. Love you. Be you.”