Sean “Diddy” Combs, once hip hop’s flashy entrepreneur credited with commercializing the genre, has watched his popularity fall as federal agents raid his homes over sex trafficking allegations and assault cases.
The legal pressure and extensively publicized bicoastal operation, which saw armed officers penetrate his expansive luxury residences in Miami and Los Angeles, represent a swift demise for the powerful billionaire, who has recently vied to rebrand as “Brother Love.”
The 54-year-old established the Bad Boy record label in 1993, alongside protégés like as the late Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige, pushing hip hop into the global lifestyle brand it is today.
The singer, also known as Puff Daddy and P Diddy, was widely regarded as a significant figure in hip hop’s evolution from the streets to the bottle-service club.
He has earned great money over the decades, thanks in large part to his operations in the liquor market.
Despite his efforts to portray himself as a slick party boss and business genius, Combs has been accused in many cases of being a violent guy who preyed on his victims.
He has no serious convictions, but claims of physical violence date back to the 1990s.
Late last year, the floodgates opened as singer Cassie, real name Casandra Ventura, claimed Combs subjected her to over a decade of physical force and drugs, as well as a 2018 rape.
The couple met when Ventura was 19 and he was 37, after which he signed her to his label and they started dating.
The shocking lawsuit was immediately resolved out of court, but a slew of other vivid sexual assault accusations followed, including one in December by a woman who claimed Combs and others gang-raped her when she was 17.
Combs has adamantly refuted all allegations against him.
US Homeland Security officials have not explained why the current raids were conducted, and no federal charges have been filed against Combs, whose attorneys described the searches as a “unprecedented ambush.”
However, the synchronized operation indicates that a major case may be emerging.
Dark shadow over global fame
Sean John Combs, born on November 4, 1969, in Harlem, began his career as an intern at Uptown Records in 1990 and rose to the position of talent director later.
He developed a reputation as a party planner, which became fundamental to his brand as his renown grew.
In 1991, he arranged a celebrity basketball game and concert at City College of New York, which resulted in nine deaths due to a stampede.
The event was thousands of times over capacity, prompting a slew of lawsuits, with Combs being blamed for employing insufficient security.
He was sacked from Uptown and started his own company, Bad Boy Records.
Thus began a rapid rise to the pinnacle of East Coast hip-hop.
His protégé, The Notorious B.I.G., became hip hop’s king after releasing his momentous debut album “Ready to Die” in 1994, and remained so until his shocking death in 1997.
Combs had a number of notable contracted acts and production collaborations with Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, and Boyz II Men.
He was also a Grammy-winning rapper, having made his debut with the number-one single “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down” and the album “No Way Out.”
The single “I’ll Be Missing You” was a tribute to Biggie Smalls and an instant hit, along with other significant hits including “It’s All About The Benjamins” and “Been Around the World.”
He established himself as a boisterous hustler with unrepentant swagger, a prominent producer who also dabbled in Hollywood, reality television, and fashion, and had high-profile love relationships with celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez.
For more than a decade, beginning in 1998, his extravagant White Parties were the talk of the pop culture party circuit.
In recent years, he legally changed his middle name to Love, published “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” delved deeper into philanthropy, and launched a publicity campaign portraying himself as a wiser man in his “Love Era.”
However, his dark background of violence and criminal wrongdoing has quietly shadowed his fame, which may now overwhelm it.