Diddy’s throwback songstress, Cheri Dennis gets her time to shine.

Behind every bad boy, there’s a bad girl. Over in Diddy’s corner he’s got a few- from the adorable Cassie, to reality TV starlets Danity Kane, to r&b chanteuse Cheri Dennis. Cheri who? Yep, the last anchor holding down the memory of Bad Boy’s last dynasty (Black Rob, G-Dep, Faith Evans, 112) is still standing. It’s been a rocky ten years since the melody-maker’s guest spots on Ma$e’s Double Up album (1998), and Diddy’s The Saga Continues (2001). As legal controversy and record label turmoil in the late ’90s drove Cheri’s label mates away from Diddy, her debut album “In and Out of Love” collected more dust than B.I.G.’s ashes. In 2005, the Ohio native’s languid career finally grew legs when her sassy coos on “Ooh La La” became a household anthem as the intro for MTV’s “Making the Band 3.” Still, Cheri’s face remained virtually unknown to the world. With her long-awaited album on deck, we sat down with the unforgettable singer to talk about keeping Bad Boy’s history alive, an unwarranted arrest last year, and being BFF’s with Cassie. Long live the mantra, “can’t stop, won’t stop.”

By Richard “Treats” Dryden
Photos courtesy of Bad Boy Entertainment

Complex: What changes have you seen being with Bad Boy?
Cheri Dennis: I’ve seen a lot being in the industry so long, [pauses] if these walls could talk.

C: I’m all ears.
Cheri Dennis: This industry can change people’s personalities, perspectives. I’ve seen people fall to all kinds of vices. Thank God I didn’t become an alcoholic or a drug addict or a whore, just whoring around the industry because those things go on.

C: Do you pass on your wisdom to any of your label mates?
Cheri Dennis: Get back to me in a year or two and I may have passed those talks down to Cassie.

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