Puff Daddy

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969) is a record producer, entrepreneur, and rapper more commonly known as Diddy, formerly known as P. Diddy, formerly known as Puff Daddy, colloquially known as Puffy. He is t

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969) is a record producer, entrepreneur, and rapper more commonly known as Diddy, formerly known as P. Diddy, formerly known as Puff Daddy, colloquially known as Puffy. He is the founder of Bad Boy Entertainment, one of the driving forces in hip hop music in the mid to late 1990s. Combs first skyrocketed to fame as a label executive, first for Uptown Records and later for his own label, signing and developing acts such as Father MC, Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Craig Mack, Notorious B.I.G., Faith Evans, 112, Ma$e, and Carl Thomas. His own music career, and to a lesser extent, his production, has been criticized as watered-down and overly commercialized for a mainstream market, as well as an over-reliance on obvious and lengthy samples and interpolations for the majority of his hit songs.

Born in Harlem, New York City, Combs grew up in the Westchester County suburb, Mount Vernon, New York. After completing his private secondary education at Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx, Combs attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. before becoming an intern at Uptown Records. Only a few months later, Combs was an A&R executive, and helped produce Father's Day (Father MC; 1990), What's the 411? (Mary J. Blige; 1992), and Blue Funk (Heavy D & the Boyz; 1992) before being fired in 1993. Combs set up his own label, Bad Boy Records, and soon signed Craig Mack and the Notorious B.I.G..