The Madd Rapper Uses Some Lessons From Puff Daddy

For someone who became famous for an alleged altercation with a magazine editor last year, Deric “D-Dot” Angelettie seems awfully optimistic about his future--and for good reason.

He’s produced a string of best-selling releases, has a new label deal with Columbia Records and will release his own album as his alter ego the Madd Rapper in November.

He created that character in 1996 after his friend and employer, Sean “Puffy” Combs, came under attack in songs and videos by such rivals as the Roots and Jeru the Damaja, who criticized Combs and his Bad Boy Entertainment acts, including Notorious B.I.G. and Ma$e, for creating diluted music and elaborate videos that focused on materialism.

“The goal was to embarrass the people who were making fun of us,” says Angelettie, 31, who was either the producer or executive producer on most of Bad Boy’s best-selling releases. “They were hating on us, and we’re providing jobs for so many people and we’re not really making any negative music. Being the comedian that I am, I felt that I was the best person for the part.”

The Madd Rapper quickly became one of hip-hop’s most talked-about characters when he appeared in interludes on Ma$e’s 1997 “Harlem World” and the LOX’s 1998 “Money, Power & Respect” albums, where he brazenly mocked his adversaries.

But Angelettie’s music was overshadowed in November when he and three other men allegedly assaulted Blaze magazine’s then-Editor in Chief Jesse Washington in his office. The incident reportedly left the editor with cuts and fractures to his face.

Angelettie admits he had a dispute with Washington over the scrapping of a planned feature on him, but he denies Washington’s allegations of an assault. (Washington declined to comment on the matter.)

“It messed me up publicly because with all of the accolades I’d achieved, the blemish on it was something that I had no control over,” Angelettie says. “I’m far from a thug. I went to college. It affected my family. They saw me on television in handcuffs. They’re used to Deric coming home to family reunions happy and bursting with love.”

A Brooklyn native, Angelettie met Combs while both were attending Howard University in Washington. When Combs formed his Bad Boy Entertainment, he gave Angelettie a production position at the record label.

Angelettie’s affinity for harder-edged rock, hip-hop, jazz, R&B; and salsa, as well as his appreciation for comedy, were instrumental in his musical foundation. These qualities also resonate throughout his upcoming album “Tell ‘Em Why U Madd,” a humorous collection in which he raps as both himself and raspy-voiced Madd Rapper.

“It’s not going to change your life, but it’s something that will take you away so you won’t have to make a decision about anything other than laughing and chilling,” he says of the album.

Angelettie is hardly chilling. In addition to launching his Crazy Cat Catalog label through Columbia Records, Angelettie has produced songs on forthcoming albums from Black Rob, Lil’ Kim and Goodie Mob, as well as some of the artists on his label.

“I’m trying to set an example for [the artists on my label] on what it’s going to take to be that big artist,” he says. “This is a way for me to school my new artists. . . . I’m going to be the person that’s going to set the example and they’ll follow my lead.

“What I learned from Puffy and other various people I’ve been around is how to make a record, and then take the record and turn it into a hit record,” he says. “Not every record’s going to sell 5 million, but I know the formula and how to make it click. It isn’t just about your skills.”

MILITANT MESSAGE: Angelettie may be trying to make people laugh and relax, but a new compilation helmed by one of rap’s most respected figures has a decidedly different goal: getting listeners to think.

“Chuck D Presents Louder Than a Bomb” gathers a number of politically charged songs from his own group, Public Enemy, as well as Ice Cube, Ice-T and X-Clan. The package highlights a decidedly different segment of rap from the soulless songs dominating radio and video outlets.

“I wanted to remind kids and make a statement to them that we have a party side [to the music], but at the same time that there was and still is a place for message music,” says Barry Benson, associate director of urban promotions at Rhino Records, which released the album last month. “We wanted to show the other side of hip-hop.”

Each of the songs is at least 5 years old, adding a historical perspective to the album and underscoring the dearth of message-bearing rap in the current marketplace. Only a handful of groups, notably OutKast and the Roots, is releasing commercially viable music with a political slant.

In addition to providing an alternative to fans, the album’s producers hope to spark a sort of musical revolution.

“Rap has lost its rebellious form,” Nelson says. “People need to hear these records.” *