SEAN COMBS

Born: Harlem, New York, 4 November 1970

Genre: Rap

Best-selling album since 1990: No Way Out (1997)

Hit songs since 1990: "I'll Be Missing You," "It's All about the Benjamins," "I Need a Girl Pt. 1"

One of hip-hop's most durable and versatile talents, Sean "P. Diddy" Combs (formerly "Puff Daddy"), is a producer, rapper, businessman, and fashion designer. He embodies the entrepreneurial spirit and swagger that has made hip-hop one of entertainment's most profitable industries.

Sean Combs was born in Harlem, in upper Manhattan, to Janice and Melvin Combs. Melvin, a street hustler, was murdered when Combs was three years old, and his mother had to work several jobs to care for him. When Combs was twelve years old, Janice Combs managed to move the family to Mount Vernon, New York, a suburb of Manhattan. Combs played high school football for Mount St. Michael Academy, earning the nickname "Puffy" because he used to "puff" out his chest to make himself appear larger.

Combs became interested in hip-hop and began dancing in music videos. He soon convinced his fellow Mount Vernon resident and rap star Heavy D to secure him an internship at his label, Uptown Records, then run by Andre Harrell. Combs enrolled in Howard University in Washington, D.C., and began interning at Uptown Records. While at Howard, he made a name for himself as a campus party promoter and commuted to his Manhattan internship several times a week on the train.

Combs soon dropped out of Howard to focus on his career. With a knack for promoting, styling, and selecting new talent, Combs vaulted through the company ranks to become vice president of A&R (artist and repertoire) at the age of nineteen. Before Combs most R&B acts were slickly styled and dressed in formal outfits. Combs was one of the first executives to meld hip-hop styling with R&B music. The Uptown Records acts Jodeci and Mary J. Blige wore baggy jeans and backward-turned baseball caps while belting soulful, gospel-influenced vocals over hip-hop beats. The experiment worked. Jodeci and Mary J. Blige's albums went platinum.

Combs has shown as much of a talent for personal and legal controversies as for professional success. His first setback was a celebrity basketball game he and nine other promoters (including Heavy D) oversold at City College of New York in 1991. Fans without seats stampeded the arena, resulting in the deaths of nine young people. In 1999 Combs and Heavy D were found 50 percent responsible for the tragedy, sharing liability with City College of New York.

Professionally the young Combs was becoming too powerful and ambitious for the small Uptown Records. Harrell fired him at the tender age of twenty-one. Combs quickly rebounded, landing a distribution deal for his own label, Bad Boy Entertainment, backed by Arista Records. He signed a gravel-voiced rapper named Craig Mack and a quick-witted MC named Biggie Smalls from Brooklyn. Mack scored a hit in the summer of 1994 with "Flava in Ya Ear" but Smalls, later known as Notorious B.I.G. for trademark reasons, was Combs's first Bad Boy superstar. As executive producer of B.I.G.'s debut album, Ready to Die (1994), Combs melded B.I.G.'s storytelling prowess with a smooth R&B sound, sampled from records like the Isley Brothers' "Between the Sheets" and Mtume's "Juicy." B.I.G.'s materialistic lyrics reflected the Clinton-era economic boom and the consummation of the hip-hop dream. The album was a critical and commercial success, helping to establish Bad Boy as a formidable label. Combs's expanded roster included platinum R&B acts Total, 112, Faith Evans, the rap trio the LOX, and a lazy-tongued MC named Ma$e.

In 1996 Combs was named ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year. The success of Bad Boy enabled Combs to bolster his relationship with Arista Records. Bad Boy and Arista formed a joint venture, and Combs pocketed a reported $6 million and secured a $50-million line of credit for the label. Combs was also expanding his artistic horizons. He had already supported B.I.G. onstage as a "hype man," cheering on the crowd and dancing on stage, and was on the verge of becoming a rap star in his own right. B.I.G. became Combs's artist manager, and Puffy rhymed on tracks on B.I.G.'s double disc sophomore album, Life after Death (1997). On March 9, 1997, Combs suffered a devastating blow when Notorious B.I.G. was murdered in Los Angeles. Combs released a tribute song, "I'll Be Missing You," based on the Police's "Every Breath You Take." The song hit number one on the pop charts. In 1998 Combs won the Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group Grammy for the song. The album that spawned that single, No Way Out (1997), won the 1998 Grammy for Best Rap Album and confirmed Combs as Bad Boy's new superstar. Combs branched out as a producer beyond the Bad Boy family, helming hits for Mariah Carey ("Honey") and even Aretha Franklin ("Never Leave You Again"). Also that year Bad Boy created its next rap phenomenon when Ma$e's debut album, Harlem World (1998), went quadruple platinum.

But just as Bad Boy Records reached its strongest point, the empire began to crack with a string of setbacks. Combs's solo follow-up, Forever (1999), sold 1 million copies in the United States, but the media considered it a flop next to the sevenfold platinum run of No Way Out. Ma$e relinquished his rap career and moved back to Atlanta to become a preacher. In 1999 Combs faced his second major legal problem for allegedly beating Interscope Records executive Steve Stoute. The conflict centered on a music video of one of Stoute's artists, Nas. Stoute contended in court documents that Combs was angry over his cameo in Nas's "Hate Me Now" video. Combs was convicted of second-degree harassment and was sentenced to a one-day anger-management class.

At the same time his platinum act the LOX were ironically clamoring to be released from Bad Boy, complaining in public forums that Combs's and Bad Boy's image was too tame. Combs released the LOX but gained another highly celebrated rapper, MC Shyne, who was touted as the next Notorious B.I.G. With his slight lisp, he sounded like the late rapper. The music industry saw Shyne as Combs's and Bad Boy's return ticket to greatness.

Instead, Shyne was involved in one of the largest controversies of Combs's life. In December 1999, Combs, Shyne, and Combs's then-girlfriend, actress/singer Jennifer Lopez, were at the Manhattan disco, Club New York. Three people at the nightclub were shot. Police pursued Combs's car and found an unregistered gun. Shyne was convicted and sentenced to fifteen years. Combs, however, was acquitted of all charges. Within days of the decision, Combs announced that he was officially changing his stage moniker from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy.

Combs's career turned around once again. Bad Boy released a hit compilation, The Saga Continues (2001). The album includes "Bad Boy for Life," in which Combs defiantly answers criticism that he hires ghostwriters to create his lyrics: "Who cares if I write rhymes? / I write checks." The video, filled with cameos from movie actor Ben Stiller to basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, was an MTV staple. Bad Boy pulled off another hit with the brazenly titled We Invented the Remix (2002). He also reestablished himself as a solo artist. Two singles, "I Need a Girl Pt. 1," with R&B star Usher, and the remix "I Need A Girl Pt. 2," featuring Ginuwine, were major successes.

In the midst of this resurgence, Bad Boy experienced more roster and distribution challenges. Arista and Bad Boy severed their relationship, leaving Combs to search for a new partnership. In the process, Faith Evans decided to sign directly with Arista. 112 tried to sign with Def Jam, but Combs worked out a compromise in which Bad Boy and Def Jam shared the group. In 2003 Combs found a new home for Bad Boy, under Universal Records, with a roster that includes the Loon, Black Rob, singer Cherie Dennis, the pop group Dream, 112, rapper Foxy Brown, and the biggest star of all, Combs.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

No Way Out (Bad Boy, 1997); Forever (Bad Boy, 1999).

dara cook