He was hip-hop’s flashy ambassador, credited with turning the genre into a commercial powerhouse. But the image of Sean “Diddy” Combs, who was arrested Monday in New York, has been tarnished by a series of sexual assault accusations.
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Also known as “Puff Daddy”, “P. Diddy” or more recently “Brother Love”, the 54-year-old producer is accused by several women of being a violent sexual predator, using alcohol and drugs to obtain their submission.
The precise reason for his indictment has not yet been made public, but his arrest could sound the death knell for a major figure in American hip-hop, who built a financial empire by diversifying into alcohol and fashion.
With his label Bad Boy Records, founded in 1993, this New York native contributed to the inclusion of hip-hop in global popular culture by bringing to the forefront Mary J. Blige and Notorious B.I.G., who died in 1997.
The artist has also established himself as the champion of bling-bling rap, liking to appear as the king of the party with diamonds, yachts and tailor-made suits and boasting of his successes as a hip-hop businessman.
In 2019, Forbes magazine estimated his personal fortune at $740 million, which has now been halved under the weight of risky investments and a seriously tarnished reputation.
The first suspicions of sexual assault against him date back to the beginning of his rise to fame in the 1990s, but it was his ex-partner, R&B singer Cassie, who was the first to break the silence in mid-November.
In a civil complaint, she accuses him of a 2018 rape and denounces a decade of “violent behavior” and “deviant demands” on his part, such as sex with male prostitutes. That case was resolved with a financial settlement.
Meteoric rise
Since then, nine complaints have been filed against the rapper.
A former porn actress, Adria English, accuses him of using her “as a sexual pawn for the pleasure and financial benefit of other people” between 2004 and 2009. Another woman claims to have been gang raped by the rapper and two other men when she was 17.
He denies the charges and “looks forward to clearing his name in court,” his lawyers said Monday.
It was in 1990, as an intern, that Sean Combs took his first steps in the music industry at Uptown Records, a record label where he became a talent scout.
The young wolf builds a reputation as a party organizer that will only grow with his notoriety. And this despite the tragedy that occurred during a concert he supervised in New York in 1991: nine people died in a stampede, because too many tickets had been sold.
Accused of neglecting security, he faces a series of lawsuits. Uptown Records parts ways with him. He takes the opportunity to found his own label, Bad Boy Records, and launch his meteoric rise.
Nabab
Within this universe, his disciple and friend Notorious BIG became the king of the East Coast in 1994, with his first album “Ready to Die”. He was assassinated in 1997, a few months after his great rival Tupac.
During his career, Sean Combs has collaborated with many big names including Usher, Mariah Carey and rapper Lil’ Kim.
“Puff Daddy” also made a name for himself as a rapper, most notably with his Grammy Award-winning single “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down.” The album on which the song appears, “No Way Out,” remains a classic.
At the same time, this mogul cultivated his bling-bling image and his relationship with the actress and singer Jennifer Lopez between 1999 and 2001 reinforced his media coverage.
In recent years, he has dabbled in philanthropy and tried to burnish his reputation. Invited to a graduation ceremony in 2014 outside a Washington university, he, whose father was killed during a drug deal, said he wanted to “continue the entrepreneurial spirit of (his) father, but in an honest way.”
