He was one of the bling-bling ambassadors of the hip-hop of the “East Coast”, credited for having transformed this musical genre into a commercial machine. For eight months, P. Diddy has only appeared in court, graying hair, and has failed in life for sex for sex trafficking.
The opening on Monday of the trial in New York of the former rap magnate, which also called itself Diddy, Puff Daddy or more recently “Brother Love”, symbolizes the darkest chapter in the tumultuous life of Sean Combs -his real name -, now accused by dozens of women and men of sexual violence.
Before meeting on the accused’s bench, the native of the Harlem district in New York represented a form of American dream.
Raised by his mother after the brutal death of his father, murdered when he was only two years old, Sean Combs accompanied since the 1990s the unstoppable expansion of hip-hop, a marginal culture which has become a dominant genre and which brews billions.
He himself built a financial empire by diversifying in alcohol and fashion, stirring in cantor of a bling-bling rap which displays his ostentatious signs of wealth.
In 2019, the magazine Forbes Estimated his personal fortune at $ 740 million, which would then have melted in half under the weight of hazardous investments and a seriously tainted reputation.
P. Diddy was not sentenced for serious facts by justice, but he has been dragging accusations of violence since the early 1990s.
First drama
It was in 1990, as an intern, that Sean Combs took his first steps in the music industry at Uptown Records, record company where he became a recruiter of talent.
-The young wolf built a reputation as an organizer of evenings which will only grow with its notoriety. And this despite the drama that occurred during a concert and basketball match he supervised in New York in 1991: nine people die in a stampede because too many tickets were sold.
Accused of neglecting security, he faces a series of trials. Uptown Records separates. P. Diddy takes the opportunity to found his own label, Bad Boy Records, and launch his meteoric ascent.
Known for producing the first album (What’s the 411) of the queen of hip-hop soul mary J. Blige, he made his disciple and friend, the rapper The Notorious Big, the King of the East Coast in 1994, with his first album Ready to Die. But “Biggie” was murdered in 1997, a few months after his great rival on the west coast Tupac Shakur.
During her career, Sean Combs collaborated with many sizes including Usher, Boyz II Men, Mariah Carey or rapper Lil ‘Kim.
“Puff Daddy” is also made a name as a rapper. His album No Way Out (1997) remained a classic, with many single as Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down, It’s All About The Benjaminsor I’ll Be Missing Youtribute to “Biggie” against the backdrop ofEvery Breath You Take de The Police.
In parallel, the NABAB takes care of its bling-bling image.
Her relationship with actress and singer Jennifer Lopez in the late 90s made him even more famous. Its sumptuous “White Parties”, where you dress in white, given in your residence in the Huppée des Hamptons region, near New York, are the meeting place for all celebrities.
Again two years ago, Diddy was at the Metropolitan Museum gala, another stars meeting in New York. The 2025 edition of the worldly evening takes place on Monday, the day of the opening of his trial.
