Puff Daddy's Bad Boy reunion tour ignites Newark, despite B.I.G. hole (PHOTOS)

Sean 'Puffy' Combs, Faith Evans, Lil Kim, Mase, 112 and more dropped by N.J.

NEWARK -- If Sean "Puffy" Combs' Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour accomplished anything Sunday night, the sprawling jukebox show reminded us that there are two sides to every coin in the rap mogul's pocket. 

First, there was the boisterous, impassioned artist, who for two and a half hours in Newark rocked, emceed, slinked and grinned alongside past label signees and/or friends Mase, Lil Kim, Faith Evans, DMX, The Lox and more -- virtually every popular New York-area rapper of the past two decades (not named Jay Z, Nas, Mos Def, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes, Nicki Minaj, LL Cool J or the Wu Tang Clan). 

But behind all the hype was Combs' staunch businessman persona, the stone-faced grinder who once forged an East Coast rap conglomerate from nowhere, shepherded Notorious B.I.G. to the mid-'90s mainstream, and surely saw Bad Boy's 20-year anniversary as an opportunity to re-illuminate a label that's slipped from relevancy. Here, Combs raised a bottle of his self-owned Ciroc vodka to the crowd more than once, touted his new horse -- the unimpressive Moroccan rhymer French Montana -- as "the future of Bad Boy" and urged fans to check out his son Christian "King" Combs' upcoming album. 

Sean "Puffy" Combs at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour at Prudential Center, Newark NJ, Sept. 25, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com)  

"I'm passing that torch to you, baby," Puffy told his 18-year-old boy.

Because no one else on the night's nostalgic lineup -- not the aging R&B groups 112 or Total, not past breadwinners Mase or Lil Kim, and not Puff Daddy himself (the original moniker has returned) -- seem poised to return Bad Boy to the here-and-now limelight, and outdo Lil Wayne's Young Money label or Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music anytime soon.

But none of that really mattered Sunday night, inside a packed Prudential Center where hip-hop fans paid solely for the throwback jams.

And within Combs' first-ever Newark performance, the sing- and rap-a-longs -- "hit after hit after hit after hit," as Puff described -- were ultimately electric. Check out these highlights, moments and notes from the show.

MOMENTS AND NOTES

- For some, or at least for 20-somethings like me, seeing Combs rap center-stage has almost become a novelty. It's not that the 46-year-old emcee has stopped making music -- a sequel to his gigantic 1997 debut "No Way Out" could be out before the new year. But as he said earlier this year, his focus is shifting to acting, and in the last decade, his pop-culture footprint has been more visible on TV, on MTV's "Making The Band," or in comedy films "Get Him To The Greek" and "Muppets Most Wanted" (you think Biggie was a Kermit fan?).

But in Newark, Combs was incendiary, spitting his hits through about 10 costume changes and igniting the crowd early with his original smash "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down." The track's original collaborator Mase trotted out on stage in an oversized, white mink coat, which would later be undone by a comically large fur from Combs -- complete with a 15-foot trail held by two stagehands.  

Sean "Puffy" Combs and members of The Lox at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour at Prudential Center, Newark NJ, Sept. 25, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com)  

- For all the show's intertwining, with most of the night's acts emerging regularly to provide guest vocals on each other's songs, there was still a Biggie-sized hole on the stage. A Bad Boy reunion show without The Notorious B.I.G. is a Chicago Bulls Hall of Fame night without Michael Jordan. But clips of Biggie were respectfully shown on the big screen throughout the gig, most poignantly a B.I.G. interview with a California radio station that detailed his feud with west coast hip-hop stars -- a rumored cause of his murder -- before the full-Bad Boy-cast encore of his "Mo Money Mo Problems." 

Though the Puff Daddy/Faith Evans/112 mega-hit and Biggie tribute "I'll Be Missing You" -- perhaps the most ubiquitous Bad Boy hit to date -- was left off the set list. 

- On the R&B side, Newark-raised "first lady of Bad Boy" Faith Evans was a shining, belting light in her six-song mini-set. In a beautiful white dress -- most of the acts wore pure white -- her wild, soulful runs on "Soon as I get Home" and her duet with genre also-ran Carl Thomas "Can't Believe" were terrific on a night largely dominated by rap, and when her set was over, Combs bowed down: "you sung me to my knees!" 

-  Some kudos must be given to the night's crowd. Sure, just about every track blasted Sunday was a single at some point, but still, the audience shrieked head-long at every pass, and kept to the show's bring-em-out pace. These were true, die-hard hip-hop fans and it was fun to watch. 

Members of Total, The Lox, Sean "Puffy" Combs and Lil Kim at the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour at Prudential Center, Newark NJ, Sept. 25, 2016. (Mark Brown | For NJ.com)  

THE SET LIST

• Puff Daddy
• "Victory"
• "O Let's Do It"
• "Bad Boy for Life"
• (Unknown) (Mase enters)
• "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down"
• "Been Around The World"
• 112
• "It's Over Now"
• "Dance With Me"
• "Peaches & Cream"
• "Anywhere"
• Total
• "Trippin'"
• "No One Else"
• "What You Want" (with Mase)
• "Kissin' You"
• The Lox
• "Last Day"
• "We Gonna Make It"
• "I Get High"
• "Knock Yourself Out"
• "Wild Out"
• Carl Thomas
• "Emotional"
• "Summer Rain"
• "I Wish"
• Faith Evans
• "No Other Love"
• "I Love You"
• "You Gets No Love"
• "You Used To Love Me"
• "Can't Believe" (feat. Carl Thomas)
• "Soon As I Get Home"
• French Montana
• "Hot N***a" (Remix)
• "Ain't Worried" About Nothin"
• "Loyal"
• "Same Damn Time" (feat. Puff Daddy)
• Lil Kim
• "Quiet Storm" Remix
• "Big Momma Thing"
• "No Time"
• "Magic Stick"
• "Get Money"
• "Lights Up"
• DMX
• Medley, including "Party Up," "Ruff Ryders' Anthem" and "X Gon Give it to Ya"  
• Puff Daddy w/Mase
• "Feel So Good"
• "I Need a Girl (Part One)"
• "I Need a Girl (Part Two)"
• "Only You" (Remix) (feat. 112)
• "Can't You See" (feat. Total)
• "Love Like This" (feat. Faith Evans)
• "Whoa" (feat. Black Rob)
• "All The Way Up" (feat. French Montana)
• (Unknown) (feat. King Combs)
• "All About The Benjamins"
• Encore:
• "Mo Money Mo Problems"

All about the Benjamins... #Puffy #lilkim #badboyreunion

A video posted by A.T.T. (@night_nurse) on Sep 25, 2016 at 9:17pm PDT

Bobby Olivier may be reached at bolivier@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BobbyOlivier and Facebook. Find NJ.com on Facebook.