Rap impresario Sean "Puffy" Combs, aka "Puff Daddy" - and, lately, "P. Diddy" - grew up in Mount Vernon, N.Y. and attended Howard University, where he dreamed of becoming a rapper. Combs became an intern at Uptown Records, and was quickly promoted to A&R, where he guided the careers of future R&B megastars Mary J. Blige and Jodeci.
In 1993 Combs left Uptown to form his own label, Bad Boy Entertainment, signing Faith Evans, Craig Mack and the Notorious B.I.G. Bad Boy sold over 12 million albums by 1994, and Combs won awards for his songwriting, contributing material to performers such as Boyz II Men, TLC, SWV and Aretha Franklin, as well as his own artists; he also remixed tracks for various hip-hop groups. Combs then expanded into other businesses: a restaurant, a line of clothing and Bad Boy Films.
In 1997 "Puff Daddy" made his long-awaited solo debut, No Way Out, which featured guest appearances by Notorious B.I.G., Busta Rhymes, and Faith. The album spawned the No. 1 singles "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" and the Notorious B.I.G. tribute "I'll Be Missing You," and was a resounding success, quickly going platinum and winning the Best Rap Album category at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards in 1998.
During the next couple of years, Combs became known as much for his frequent run - ins with the law as for his musical and entrepreneurial activities. In 1999, he was brought up on assault charges for an attack on Interscope Records executive Steve Stoute; he pled guilty to lesser charges and was sentenced to one day in a court - appointed anger management program. Later the same year, he was arrested on weapons charges following an early morning shooting at a Manhattan nightclub. Somehow, as busy as he was, Combs found time the same year to release his second album, Forever.
Comb's offstage antics continued to get him plenty of ink in the new millennium. Legal troubles, most of them relating to the December 1999 shooting at the Club New York, kept him in and out of court through 2000 (he was eventually acquitted of all charges relating to the incident in March 2001). In February 2001 he broke up with his longtime flame, actress/ singer/ sex symbol Jennifer Lopez. The next month, Combs announced that he was dropping the Puff Daddy moniker - presumably in an effort to put a bit of distance between himself and his troubles of the last few years - and adopting the name "P. Diddy." His third and latest album, P. Diddy And The Bad Boy Family...The Saga Continues, is due for release in July 2001. |
