P Diddy Net worth 2020

“We used to talk about wanting to get some money, but that’s when hip-hop was based on your dream and your fantasy. The whole thing now is the dreams and fantasies were achieved, and you don’t want to make it the focal point. You can’t keep beating that dead horse.” – P. Diddy

Sean Combs aka Puff Daddy, P. Diddy or Diddy is an American rapper, singer, record producer, entrepreneur, and actor. He is the founder and owner of Bad Boy Entertainment record label, which he founded in 1993. P. Diddy initially came into limelight when he worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before he founded his own record label. He currently has a net worth of $855 million. As of 2022, his net worth has risen to $900 million with his wealth streaming in from different business sources.

Puff Daddy's Early Life and Education

Sean John Combs was born on November 4, 1969, in Manhattan’s Harlem, New York City, to mother, Janice (Smalls) and father, Melvin Earl Combs. Janice was a model and worked as a teacher’s assistant, while Melvin served in the U.S Air Force, and an associate to notorious New York drug dealer Frank Lucas, until he was shot to death at an early age of 33, and Sean was only 2 years old.

Combs attended the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Michael Academy, where he graduated in 1987. While at the academy, he played football for the school’s team, helping them to win a division title in 1986. Combs enrolled at Howard University to pursue a Bachelor’s degree in Business. He left after his sophomore year, and later returned in 2014 to receive an Honorary Doctorate in Humanities and to deliver the University’s 146^th Commencement Address.  

Combs was given the name “Puff” as a child because he would always “huff and puff” when he was angry, according to him.

Diddy's Career

In the early 1990s, Combs signed up as an intern with New York-based Uptown Records, where he worked as a talent director. He helped develop top artists like Mary J. Blige and Jodeci.

During the short time Combs spent at college, he had a reputation of throwing parties, which sometimes had a thousand people in attendance. His stay at Uptown Records was short-lived as he was fired in 1993.  Diddy went on to create his record label shortly after. 

The birth of Bad Boy records 

Following the incident with Uptown, Combs decided to start his own record label, Bad Boy Entertainment in collaboration with Arista Records in a joint venture. A little while down the line, Christopher Wallace, better known as The Notorious B.I.G., came on board. Wallace and Craig Mack were the record label’s first artists, both releasing hit songs and successful LPs. Bad Boy Records soon signed more acts including Faith Evans, Carl Thomas, Father MC, Total, and 112.  Combs had an in-house production team called The Hitmen who worked with Mary J Blige, Jodeci, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Usher, Lil’ Kim, and Boyz II Men.

Combs didn’t produce his first commercial song until 1997 under the name Puff Daddy. His debut single was titled “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down”. The song was a hit, spending 28 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100, staying at number one. On July 1, 1997, Combs released his debut album titled No Way Out. The album was released after Notorious B.I.G. was killed on March 9, 1997. No Way Out was a hit in the United States and it featured many of the record label’s artists. The album included five singles: “I’ll Be Missing You”, a tribute to The Notorious B.I.G., “Can’t Nobody Hold Me Down”, “It’s All About the Benjamins”’ “Been Around the World” and “Victory”. The album got Combs five nominations at the 40^th Grammy Awards in 1998, winning the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album.

Combs’s second solo studio album, Forever, was released by Bad Boy Records in August 1999. The album occupied the number 2 spot in the Billboard 200 and number 1 spot on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart for a whole week.

Name Change, Puff Daddy to Diddy

In 2001, Combs had his stage name changed from Puff Daddy to P. Diddy. In the same year, he released the gospel album, Thank You. Later that year, he made an appearance as a drug dealer in the film Made, and co-starred Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in Monster’s Ball.

Bad Boy Record Catalog 

In June 2001, the joint venture partnership between Bad Boy Records and Arista Records ended. Combs gained full ownership of Bad Boy Records, its catalog, and artists. Before the joint venture ended, both records produced their last studio album, The Saga Continues, released on July 10, 2001 in North America. The album was a success as it hit the number 2 spot on the Billboard 200 and the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Album charts. It was eventually certified Platinum.

Diddy was sued for the name Diddy in the UK

On August 16, 2005, Combs officially changed his stage name to “Diddy” from P. Diddy” but was sued to court by UK music artist and DJ Richard Dearlove, who had been using the name “Diddy” as his stage name since 1992. He sought an injunction in the High Court of Justice London and accepted an out-of-court settlement of £10,000 in damages and more than £100,000 in costs. Still, Combs isn’t allowed to use the name “Diddy” in the UK and is still sometimes referred to as P. Diddy.

Combs has released several albums, and feature in several films alongside famous music artists and actors. He doesn’t only have career success but his also the second richest hip-hop artist in the world, next to Jay-z. As of 2020, Combs’s net worth is $855 million.

Sean Combs' Personal Life

Combs had his first biological child, Justin (born 1993), with designer Misa Hylton-Brim. In 1994, he married Kimberly Porter, together they have a son, Christian (born 1998) and twin girls, D’Lila Star and Jessie James (born 2006). Combs also adopted and raised Kimberly’s child, Quincy (born 1991), from a previous relationship with singer and producer AI B. Sure! The ex-couple shared an off and on relationship. Kimberly died of pneumonia in 2018.

Combs also has a daughter with Sarah Chapman, named Chance, who was born five months before the birth of his twin daughters with Kimberly. He claimed legal responsibility for Chance in October 2007. He married Cassie Ventura in 2007, and the ex-couple divorced in 2018.