P. Diddy

Born in Harlem in 1969, Sean John Combs—known as Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, and Diddy throughout his career—began an internship at Uptown Records in 1990. After working his way up at the storied hip-hop label, he formed his own imprint, Bad Boy Entertainment, in 1993. It became one of the cornerstones of East Coast hip-hop and R&B with releases by The Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans, as well as Diddy’s own debut as a rapper, 1997’s No Way Out. The album featured his biggest hits as an artist and producer—the Mase-assisted “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down,” the Notorious B.I.G. tribute “I’ll Be Missing You,” and the Missy Elliott-arranged “All About the Benjamins”—all of which spun famous pop songs from his youth into modern hits, while their flashy videos dominated television with their influential style. Diddy’s vision extended to solo cuts like the glitchy 2007 hit “Last Night” and his critically acclaimed electro-hip-hop album Last Train to Paris. But he often found success as a collaborator, producing for Kanye West and Pusha T in the 2010s and later releasing the 2023 record The Love Album: Off the Grid, which featured PARTYNEXTDOOR, Kehlani, Mary J. Blige, The Weeknd, Justin Bieber, and H.E.R., among others. While he branched out into acting, reality TV, and fashion, his early musical and business contributions to hip-hop were pivotal to it becoming the culture-dominating force it is today.