Sean "P. Diddy" Combs Bio: Everything You Need to Know About the Entertainment Mogul - The Hip Hop Insider (2024)

P. Diddy is one of the most iconic figures in hip hop and has contributed to some of the greatest albums in music history. From helping shape the career of a young Biggie Smalls to producing seminal albums for Mary J. Blige and Lil Kim, P. Diddy helped create the sound of 90’s hip hop. Outside of music, he’s also a successful business mogul who built an impressive empire encompassing music, film, media, fashion, liquor, and more.

My favorite P. Diddy album has always been No Way Out, but I’ve always seen him more as a producer and entrepreneur who also happens to rap. He’s still created some iconic songs and deserves all the respect in the world for what he’s contributed to modern music. Here is a closer look at the life and career of P. Diddy.

P. Diddy Birthplace

P. Diddy was born in New York City, New York, on November 4th, 1969. He was born in the Harlem neighborhood of uptown Manhattan but raised mainly in Mount Vernon, NY, a city in Westchester County.

P. Diddy Parents

P. Diddy was the son of Janice Combs (neé Smalls) and Melvin Earl Combs. Janice was a former model and teacher’s assistant. With the help of her son, she later founded Janice Combs Publishing, a music label, and publishing company that owns the rights to more than 1500 recordings.

Melvin Earl Combs was in the Air Force but later became a drug dealer. He had connections to the infamous Frank Lucas, who ran the streets of Harlem in the late ’60s and early ’70s. Melvin was shot and killed while sitting in his car at Central Park West at just 33 years old. Diddy was only two at the time, and his father’s death would influence his decision to stay away from the street lifestyle as a teenager.

P. Diddy Early Life

Diddy was born in Harlem, but after his father’s death, he was raised by his mother in Mount Vernon. He attended Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx, where he played on the football team and won the division title in 1986.

Mount Saint Michael is also where he first earned the nickname “Puffy.” He used to puff out his chest to make his body seem bigger, which is where the name originated.

After graduating high school, Diddy attended Howard University, where he studied business administration. Diddy would host weekly parties and run an airport shuttle service to support himself, a work ethic that would serve him later in life. In 1990, he got an internship at Uptown Records and decided to drop out of college after his sophom*ore year to pursue a career in music.

P. Diddy Professional Career

Diddy quickly rose through the ranks at Uptown Records and was promoted to the position of Talent Director. He helped to develop major acts like Mary J. Blige and Jodeci, quickly built an impressive roster of talent, and eventually became the label’s vice president.

Bad Boy Records

He was introduced to a young Biggie Smalls in 1992 when the rapper was still just an up-and-coming local talent. He started working with Big on his debut album, Ready to Die. But during the recording, he got into a dispute with Andre Harrell, the founder of Uptown Records, who didn’t want to release Ready to Die because it was too raw and unfiltered.

Feeling stifled creatively, Diddy decided to leave Uptown and start his label, Bad Boy Records, in 1993. Biggie was one of the first acts that Diddy signed to Bad Boy, and Biggie’s debut album Ready to Die was the first release on the new label.

Ready to Die came out on September 13th, 1994, and was executive produced by Diddy. It received both widespread critical acclaim and commercial success and has gone on to be regarded as one of the most influential hip-hop albums of all time. Ready to Die is possibly my all-time favorite rap album because it has a rawness and emotional intimacy that few other artists have ever been able to capture on a record. While the album’s success had much to do with Biggie’s lyrical abilities, Puffy played a major role by channeling Big’s raw talent and teaching him how to write songs that would have commercial appeal.

The success of Ready to Die helped establish Bad Boy as one of the leading record labels in East Coast Hip Hop. The week after Ready to Die dropped, they released Craig Mack Project: Funk Da World, which featured the hit single Flava in Ya Ear.

Following the success of those two early albums, Diddy signed more talent, including Carl Thomas, Faith Evans, and 112, and produced for major acts like Usher, Lil Kim, Boyz II Men, and more.

Puff had a hand in the production of T.L.C.’s seminal album CrazySexyCool, which is now considered a classic in 90’s R&B

No Way Out

In 1997, Puff made his debut as a rapper with the album No Way Out. The project featured contributions from huge names like Biggie, Busta Rhymes, Jay-Z, the L.O.X., Lil Kim, Faith Evans, 112, and many more. It also included the hit singles Can’t No Body Hold Me Down, It’s All About the Benjamins, and Been Around the World. It was also nominated for five Grammy Awards and debuted at number 1 on Billboard.

No Way Out is my favorite Puffy album as a rapper because it showcases what he does best, bringing together some of the greatest minds in hip hop over sleek, memorable production. While I never thought Puffy was the greatest rapper, he does have a fantastic talent for creating unique song ideas and bringing excellent performances out of any artist.

Just a few months before No Way Out came out, Biggie Smalls was shot and killed in a drive-by in Los Angeles. His death deeply impacted Diddy, who had a close personal and professional relationship with the rapper.

Puff Daddy Becomes P. Diddy

Diddy returned with his second studio album, Forever, in 1999. The album also had a star-studded feature list, with appearances from Jay-Z, Redman, Lil Kim, Nas, Beanie Sigel, and even the late Biggie Smalls. But Forever received mixed reviews from critics and didn’t do as well commercially as his first album. By this point, the sound that Puffy had created was starting to sound a bit too sleek and commercial and didn’t sound as fresh and innovative as it once did.

In 2001, he changed his stage name from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy and took full control of Bad Boy after ending a joint venture with Arista Records. The last album released with Arista was The Saga Continues…, which debuted at number two on Billboard. Despite its commercial appeal, this was a lackluster Diddy album, in my opinion, and it showed that his focus was more on building his business empire than being a rapper.

In 2002, Diddy became the executive producer of Making the Band on MTV. The show was a massive hit and ran for 12 seasons, with Diddy staying on a producer until 2009. He also released two compilation tapes over the next few years, We Invented the Remix and Bad Boy’s 10th Anniversary…the Hits. He also produced the hit track Shake Ya Tail Feather with Nelly and Murphy Lee for the Bad Boyz II soundtrack, which earned them all a Grammy.

P. Diddy Become Diddy

In 2005, P. Diddy dropped the P and started going by just Diddy. He returned with the album Press Play in October 2006, which featured appearances from Christina Aguilera, Nas, Cee-Lo, Big Boi, Brandy, Mary J. Blige, and many more. In my opinion, Press Play was a bit of a return to form for Diddy and showed him doing what he did best – assembling some of the greatest minds in music to create a loosely conceptual body of work.

Throughout the 2000’s Diddy would star in several movies, including Made, Monster’s Ball, Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power and Get Him to the Greek. He also appeared in two episodes of C.S.I.: Miami, playing a lawyer named Derek Powell.

In 2010, he released the highly acclaimed album Last Train to Paris, along with his newly formed group Diddy Dirty Money, which also featured singer-songwriters Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper. The album also featured guest appearances from huge names like Drake, Lil Wayne, Swizz Beatz, Justin Timberlake, Chris Brown, Rick Ross, and more.

The project received widespread critical acclaim and debuted at number 7 on Billboard. I think Last Train to Paris is a great album and one of the most underrated albums in Diddy’s catalog.

Later Career

Over the next decade, Puffy would focus more on building his business empire and take a step back from music. But he did return with a mixtape called MMM (Money Making Mitch) in 2015, an ode to the character Mitch from the classic film Paid in Full.

The mixtape had guest appearances from everyone from Travis Scott and Big Sean to Jadakiss and Style’s P. While a bit inconsistent and not in the same league as some of Diddy’s early work, MMM was still a solid project, and it was refreshing to hear Puffy back on the mic. The mixtape was meant to build hype for No Way Out 2, the sequel to his classic debut, which has yet to materialize.

In 2017, Diddy announced that he was changing his name to Brother Love, but he later claimed he was joking. Then in 2021, he legally changed his name to Sean Love Combs, although he claims that he’s still going by Diddy professionally.

P. Diddy Video

P. Diddy Family

Diddy has a sister named Keisha Combs, who has decided to stay out of the spotlight. Diddy has never been engaged or married but has six children.

He has an adopted son, Quincy Taylor Brown, the biological son of his longtime girlfriend Kimberly Porter. Diddy legally adopted him when Quincy was four years old. He also has five biological children Justin Combs, Christian Combs, Chance Combs, and twins D’Lila and Jessie Combs.

P. Diddy Dating and Relationship History

Diddy has been involved in many high-profile relationships throughout his career. He dated major stars like Jennifer Lopez, Cameron Diaz, and Lori Harvey. He also dated actress Kim Porter for many years, beginning in the 90s, and the couple had three kids together. They originally dated throughout the ’90s before breaking up in 1999, when Puff started dating J-Lo. They reconciled in 2003 and had the two twin girls together in 2006 before splitting up for good in 2007.

After that, he began an on-again, off-again relationship with singer Cassie Ventura. The two dated for over ten years before splitting up in 2018 because Diddy felt he didn’t want to settle down.

Most recently, he’s been dating Yung Miami from the City Girls.

P. Diddy Controversies and Scandals

In 1999, Diddy was charged with second-degree assault and criminal mischief after getting into an altercation with Nas’s manager Steve Stoute over the video for Hate Me Now. Puff was featured on the song and appeared in the video, which briefly showed the two rappers getting crucified. Diddy asked him to leave that part out, but Stoute left it in anyway, leading to an altercation. As a punishment, Diddy was sentenced to one day of anger management.

The same year, Diddy was at a nightclub in Manhattan when gunfire broke out. He and one of his artists, Shyne, were arrested for weapons violations and other charges. Diddy was later found not guilty of all charges, but Shyne was found guilty of five out of eight charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison.

Over the years, there have been rumors that Diddy was involved in the 1994 robbery and 1996 murder of 2pac Shakur. In 2008, the Los Angeles Times claimed that Diddy set up 2pac the night he was robbed at Quad Studios in New York City, although they retracted the story. Then, in 2006, 50 Cent released a diss track called Hip Hop, where he implied Diddy knew who killed Biggie Smalls, although they squashed their beef just a few days later.

P. Diddy Net Worth and Career Earnings

Diddy has a net worth of approximately $900 million. He owns a vast business empire encompassing music, fashion, film, media, hospitality, technology, etc.

He owns Bad Boy Records, which includes his own projects and all the albums he produced from iconic artists like Biggie Smalls and Mary J. Blige. He is also the owner of Sean Jean, a clothing brand that, at the height of its popularity, made $525 million annually.

Throughout his career, Diddy has made frequent film, and T.V. appearances and even executive produced the hit MTV show Making the Band.

He also owns Combs Enterprises, an umbrella company that owns his many businesses.

In 2007, he helped develop the Vodka brand Ciroc in exchange for 50% of its profits, which turned into a highly lucrative deal. Plus, he owns a majority stake in Revolt T.V., a music-centric television channel.

He’s also invested in successful companies like Aquahydrate, a calorie-free beverage for athletes, and PlayVS, a company that provided the infrastructure for competitive gaming in high schools. Through all these successful ventures, Diddy has amassed a fortune just shy of $1 billion.

P. Diddy Real Estate & Residence History

1n 1998, Diddy bought a $2.45 million home in the Hamptons, which became the location of his famous White Parties, where guests are encouraged to wear white from head to toe.

In 2003, he bought a three-bedroom condo in New York City for $3.82 million and sold it for $5.7 million fourteen years later.

In 2004, he bought a luxurious $7 million home in Alpine, New Jersey, with three master bedroom suites, a sauna, a home theater, an indoor basketball court, a swimming pool, and more.

In 2014, he bought a $39 million 17,000 square foot mansion in the Holmby Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles, which features nine bedrooms, a 35-seat theater, a gym, and a wine room.

His most recent purchase came in 2021 when he paid $35 million for a luxury mansion on Star Island in Miami. The property was purchased from Gloria and Emilio Estefan and sits on 1.3 acres of land with 240 feet of waterfront. It has nine bedrooms, a swimming pool, and a private boat dock.

P. Diddy Famous Quotes

“Initiative is key. Anybody who wants to be somebody is going to work as hard as they can to fulfill that dream.”– P. Diddy

“Take the craziest dream you ever had and go after it. Make it a reality. I don’t want you to dream, I want you to do.”– P. Diddy

“My mind is always racing, and always going and always working, and it’s a gift and a curse.”– P. Diddy

P. Diddy Discography & Full Credits

• 1997 – No Way Out
• 1999 – Forever
• 2001 – The Saga Continues…
• 2002 – We Invented the Remix (remix album)
• 2006 – Press Play
• 2010 – Last Train to Paris (with Dirty Money)
• 2014 – 11 11 (with Guy Gerber)
• 2015 – MMM (Money Makig Mitch)

F.A.Q.s

Sources:

• Biography
• Britannica
• IMDB
• All Music
• Wealthy Gorilla
• Celebrity Net Worth