The Week of April 30th, 2006: IN BLACK HISTORY
SEAN "DIDDY" COMBS
CELEBRATE BLACK HISTORY EVERYDAY

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969, New York, New York) is a record producer and entertainment mogul who presides over a media empire that includes the record label Bad Boy Entertainment, the clothing lines Sean John and Sean by Sean Combs, a movie production company, and a restaurant chain. He has taken the roles of recording executive, producer, writer, arranger, clothing designer, actor, singer and rapper. His current nickname and recording name is Diddy.

As the founder and CEO of Bad Boy, he was one of the driving forces in moving hip hop music mainstream which resulted in his becoming one of the wealthiest people in the entertainment industry. Combs first gained 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, Boyz N Da Hood, and Carl Thomas. In his own music career, he has been criticized for watering-down and overtly commercializing hip-hop for a mainstream market, as well as overusing samples and interpolations of past hits for the majority of his own hit songs. Nevertheless he has been enormously successful, with a current estimated worth of nearly $315 million and growing....read more

---