ARTIST

P Diddy

Perhaps the first hugely successful music industry executive to successfully jump midstream into an even more hugely successful career as an artist, Sean "Diddy" Combs rose in 1997 to become the rap world's preeminent MC with the same precision and skill he brought to his Bad Boy Entertainment behind the scenes. Though shadowed by criticism that he built a musical house of cards supported only by well-chosen samples, Diddy turned the tragedy of friend and colleague the Notorious B.I.G.'s death into a chart-topping single that captivated a nation.

Born in Harlem in 1971, Combs grew up not on those mean streets but in the New York suburb of Mt. Vernon while attending a Catholic, boys-only high school in the Bronx. While majoring in business administration at Howard...
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