Diddy's career went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re taking a closer look at the timeline of Sean “Diddy” Combs, charting his 1990s rise to his 2020s disgrace.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00I have different personalities, you know what I'm saying?
00:02Nobody knows who's coming downstairs in the morning.
00:04Sean Diddy Combs is one of the richest and most influential figures in music.
00:09He's a multimedia mogul with endless connections in the entertainment industry.
00:13But in 2024, his story took a much darker turn.
00:17From his $48 million Miami mansion to hell on earth where chaos reigns.
00:22Combs became embroiled in scandal as multiple allegations
00:25of historic sex offenses were leveled against him.
00:28He was arrested and charged with racketeering conspiracy,
00:31sex trafficking by force, fraud or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution.
00:37So how did he get to this point?
00:39Welcome to Ms. Mojo.
00:41And today we're taking a closer look at the timeline of Sean Diddy Combs,
00:45charting his 1990s rise to his 2020s disgrace.
00:49Combs was born in Harlem in 1969.
00:52His mother was a teaching assistant.
00:54His father was in the US Air Force.
00:56His father also had ties to a notorious New York drug lord, however,
01:00Frank Lucas, and was shot dead in 1972 when Combs was two years old.
01:05From there, Combs moved through school and attended Howard University,
01:09where he majored in business but eventually dropped out to pursue a career in music.
01:13In 2014, he returned to Howard to receive an honorary degree
01:18and to deliver that year's commencement address.
01:20That degree was revoked, though, in 2024.
01:24In 1990, Combs gained an internship at Uptown Records and quickly rose within the label.
01:29It was around this time that his reputation for hosting huge parties also emerged.
01:34In 1991, a charity fundraiser organized by Combs attracted almost double capacity for the venue,
01:40which resulted in a terrifying crush and what came to be known as the City College Stampede,
01:45where nine people were killed.
01:47The event in question was a celebrity basketball game,
01:50at first said to be an AIDS fundraiser hosted and promoted by Sean Puppy Combs.
01:55He held the event along with another well-known rapper, Heavy D.
01:59Combs was no stranger to throwing big parties and even bigger after parties.
02:03It was something he did often.
02:04In 1993, Combs was fired from Uptown but started his own label, Bad Boy Records.
02:10He signed the then-unknown rapper Christopher Wallace, the notorious B.I.G.,
02:15who would soon become one of the most iconic figures in hip-hop history,
02:19and Combs garnered significantly more fame as a result.
02:22He soon adopted the first iteration of his stage name, Puff Daddy,
02:26and in 1996, began recording for his own rap debut.
02:30His first single, Can't Nobody Hold Me Down, came in January 1997,
02:35but then in March, Biggie Smalls was infamously shot and killed.
02:39Combs released his second single, I'll Be Missing You, with Faith Evans in May
02:43and his debut album, No Way Out, in July.
02:49Biggie's murder undoubtedly shook the hip-hop community.
02:56It also impacted Combs' career, leading him to mainstream success.
03:00He won the first of his three Grammys in 1998,
03:03with the other coming six years later in 2004.
03:06It was also around this time, however, that the first widely reported controversies
03:10and legal issues involving Combs came to light.
03:13In 1999, he was charged with assault against Steve Stout,
03:17a record executive who he attacked with a champagne bottle.
03:20It was reportedly in response to a crucifixion scene that Combs didn't approve of,
03:24in the music video for a song he worked on with Nas.
03:28At the time, as part of his punishment, he was ordered to attend an anger management class.
03:39Later that year, in December 1999, Combs made headlines following gunshots at a club.
03:44He, Jennifer Lopez, and a then-up-and-coming Belizean rapper Shine
03:48are said to have been involved in an argument with others at the venue when weapons were fired.
03:53Combs was arrested and charged with weapons offenses,
03:55as well as with trying to bribe his driver to take the heat.
03:59He was eventually found not guilty, while Shine was sentenced to 10 years in prison.
04:04Today, years after serving his time, Shine is a prominent politician in Belize.
04:09Combs moved into the 21st century with another name change in 2001,
04:13from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy, and he became more than just a music mogul.
04:18His fashion brand, Sean John, picked up a slew of awards in the early 2000s,
04:22despite various controversies, including reports of unfair and illegal working conditions for
04:28employees, as well as the discovery that some Sean John clothing was made using genuine raccoon dog fur.
04:34He started acting too, including with roles in Monster's Ball in 2001,
04:39Get Him to the Greek in 2010, and Girl's Trip in 2017.
04:44From 2007 to 2023, Combs was the face of the French vodka brand Ciroc.
04:50In 2013, he co-founded the TV network Revolt.
04:54In 2015, he partnered with the actor Mark Wahlberg to buy a majority stake in a sports drinks company.
05:00Notably, after three solo records in four years at the turn of the century,
05:05his only other solo studio album throughout this time came in 2006 with Press Play,
05:10which includes a long list of high-profile featured artists,
05:14including Nicole Scherzinger, Christina Aguilera, CeeLo Green, and Jamie Foxx.
05:18Would you like me to press play?
05:21Please.
05:31Combs' business empire grew and grew, but in the background,
05:34his reputation was being shaped by other events.
05:37In 2001, the TV host Roger Mills sued Combs,
05:41alleging that he, Mills, had been assaulted by Combs' entourage on Combs' orders
05:45after an interview question about the death of Biggie Smalls.
05:48In 2003, Combs' former partner Kirk Burroughs also sued him,
05:53alleging that he had threatened violence if Burroughs didn't sign over shares in Bad Boy Records.
05:57I guess this means more money, more problems for you.
06:01Yeah, I guess so. More money, more problems.
06:03In 2008, Combs settled out of court following yet more allegations that he had punched a man,
06:09pushed a woman, and spat on another woman shortly following an Oscars afterparty in LA in 2007.
06:15Among the growing number of unsavory stories,
06:18Combs facilitated another name change in 2005, this time from P. Diddy to Diddy.
06:24But that also brought some controversy when it was legally ruled that he couldn't use
06:27his new moniker in the UK due to it already belonging to an English DJ.
06:32What is your name?
06:36No, I feel it's very important that I clear that up. I decided that I'm just
06:39going to go with the name Diddy.
06:41In 2015, Combs was arrested after fighting his son's football coach
06:45and allegedly threatening him with a kettlebell, although the charges were ultimately dropped.
06:50In 2017, Combs' former personal chef Cindy Ruetta sued him over the long hours and
06:56unfair conditions that she was made to work in. Ruetta's lawsuit also alleged
07:00continued sexual harassment carried out by Combs and his manager at the time.
07:04In 2019, Combs' former girlfriend Gina Huynh alleged via YouTube that he had before tried
07:10to pay her to have an abortion and that he had in the past hit her and stomped on her stomach.
07:16Despite all of the above, it appeared in 2023 that Combs was making a return to music,
07:21with the release of his fifth studio album, The Love Album, off the grid.
07:26It again included a lot of well-known featured artists,
07:29such as John Legend, Justin Bieber, and The Weeknd,
07:32but it didn't achieve comparable critical or commercial success.
07:40Combs was named that year's global icon at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards, though.
07:45Just weeks afterwards, and the lawsuits that have now come to define his legacy started to come in.
07:51In November 2023, Cassie Ventura, better known as Cassie,
07:55filed a lawsuit against Combs, with a long list of allegations.
07:59She had been in a long-term relationship with Combs from around 2007 to 2018.
08:04In the lawsuit, she accused him of continued serious sexual assault,
08:09sex trafficking, physical abuse, and of forcing her to be intimate with male sex workers.
08:14Cassie further accused Combs of weapons-related crimes, uncontrollable rage,
08:19and of blowing up the rapper Kid Cudi's car in 2012, at a time when she was dating him.
08:24Later, in the same week of November 2023, two further claimants came forward against Combs,
08:30also alleging that he had sexually assaulted them,
08:32and had subjected them to and blackmailed them with revenge porn.
08:36In December 2023, a fourth lawsuit was filed in New York, again for sexual offenses.
08:49In February 2024, the producer Rodney Jones filed against Combs, claiming that he had
09:06been forced by Combs to arrange and engage with sex workers while he watched.
09:11In March 2024, multiple properties owned by Combs were raided by the police and authorities,
09:17with various items, including computers, reportedly seized.
09:20In April 2024, Combs' son Christian was named alongside his father in another lawsuit citing
09:26sexual assault, as well as claims that Combs had tried to cover it up by offering to pay the victim.
09:32In May 2024, CCTV footage was released by CNN,
09:37clearly showing Combs kicking and beating Cassie in a hotel corridor and lobby.
09:47You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
09:51If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
09:57In the following weeks and months, the claims against Combs continued to mount until in New
10:02York on September 16th, 2024, he was arrested and charged.
10:06The next day, Combs pled not guilty to all charges against him.
10:11According to reports, he attempted to negotiate a $50 million bail, but it was denied.
10:17The judge was said to be concerned that Combs, if he were granted bail,
10:20would seek to threaten and intimidate witnesses.
10:23The sex trafficking case against Sean Diddy Combs moving full speed ahead.
10:27Lawyers for Combs and prosecutors set to hold a status conference to determine the next phase
10:32following the sweeping indictment alleging the music mogul leveraged his business empire,
10:37power and prestige to abuse his alleged victims.
10:40Combs has long been linked to controversy, but the true scale of his alleged crimes
10:45is only now coming to light.
10:47His timeline has taken him from those early days as hip hop's next big thing to the emerging truth
10:53that his story and lifestyle appear really to be one of the darkest and most disturbing
10:57in music history.
10:58This is quite the downfall to go from, I mean, we saw the mansions back in March
11:03that were raided by the feds.
11:05So to go from living in those mansions to being in the jail cell right now,
11:08I think it really underscores the magnitude of what he's facing
11:12and the weight of the federal government.