Sean “P Diddy” Combs Net Worth

How much is P Diddy worth?

About Sean Combs

Did someone make a movie about Diddy’s life, or is that still in production? It isn’t hard to see why Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’s life has been wracked with drama especially following his upbringing. Most people know he was close to The Notorious B.I.G., but how close most people really just don’t know.

Diddy’s dad Melvin was an acquaintance of drug lord Frank Lucas. The criminal portrayed by Denzel Washington in the Ridley Scott film American Gangster. While there is so much noise around the subject that most of us can’t see, Diddy was actually the one who discovered The Notorious B.I.G., getting himself into the spotlight as his hype man and built his empire from there.

Sean was just a child when his father Melvin was gunned down in Manhattan. The word was that he was going to rat out some fellow gangsters, but nothing else got said.

In the hopes of finding her family a place where they could thrive again, get a fresh start, give Sean and Keisha a chance to start over again, Janice moved them to Mount Vernon, New York. Sean played football through high school and after graduation enrolled at Howard University. But his college career didn’t last long it wasn’t his aptitude for he had talent for something else. Sean had met the founder of Uptown Records, Andre Hall, and started working on the label as an intern. He was smart, while he didn’t have time for school he had a mind for money and that was what he was in it for. He quickly moved up the ladder and found himself as the Director of A&R.

Diddy was Johnny-on-the-spot in those days, he even helped launch the career of Mary J. Blige and Jodeci. An entrepreneur at his core, he decided to break away from the company and launch a competing label in 1993, Bad Boy Entertainment. Based out of New York City Sean kept his ear to the ground and was already needing to watch his back, it kept his switched on though and soon he met and signed The Notorious B.I.G.

Bad Boy Entertainment became one of the hottest labels thanks to the association with Biggie. Biggie’s music was what was happening at the time and the growing tension between East coast and West cost only intensified that. A public, and violent, feud broke out between the artists on Suge Knight’s Death Row Records and Combs’s Bad Boy Entertainment.

After Death Row rapper Tupac Shakur was shot in Las Vegas (September 7, 1996) East Coast-West Coast hip-hop rivalry reached a peaking point that had everyone’s heads down. And then it was all over, Diddy’s darkest day, watching his friend gunned down in Los Angeles. There was nothing he could do, he couldn’t work, he couldn’t pray, he could only put it all out there which was what came through in the release of his own music. “I’ll Be Missing You”, a tribute to the Notorious B.I.G., was released in 1997.

With the new album, Diddy hoped to start a new direction. His debut album, No Way Out, reached number 1 on the Billboard charts and won Combs his first Grammy for Best Rap Album. Unfortunately, or fortunately, trouble was always close by.  

In 1999, Combs was charged in relation to an alleged assault on an Interscope Record executive who represented rapper, Nas.

Combs, who was dating Jennifer Lopez at the time, was also at a Bronx nightclub when gunshots were fired in December that same year. His entourage took off but when police stopped them a distance from the nightclub, a gun was found in the car. With the help of world famous attorney Johnnie Cochran, Diddy was eventually acquitted of all charges.  

Following the incident, Sean Combs reinvented himself again, he changed his name to P. Diddy and revealed in an interview with Time magazine that he had matured and wanted to get a fresh start. In 2005, he dropped the “P,” explaining that he wanted his name to be simpler for fans to chant at concerts.  

Diddy began appearing in major motion pictures in 2001 with the Jon Favreau movie Made and the Oscar-winning Monster’s Ball. He has also since appeared in the gangster film Carlito’s Way: Rise to Power and Get Him to the Greek.  

By far his most lucrative endeavors have been in business.

In 2008, he sold his record label to the Warner Music Group. He currently boasts a clothing line, men’s perfume line and is the spokesperson for Ciroc Vodka. In 2005, Time magazine named Sean Combs one of the 100 Most Influential People and in 2007, his net worth was already estimated at close to $358 million.   Making Diddy one of the richest rappers in the world at the time.

His romantic life has been as eventful as the other aspects of his life. At the start of his career, he had a relationship with his high school sweetheart that gave him his first son, Justin Dior. Following their split, he started dating Kim Porter.  

During an extended break with Kim, he embarked on a very high-profile relationship with Lopez, who came to be known as J.Lo during their romance. After their split, he went back to Porter. He admitted years later that he cheated on Lopez with Porter towards the end of their relationship. The couple, who continued an on-again, off-again relationship, went on to have a son, Christian Casey, and twin daughters, D’Lila Star and Jessie James.   They later split in 2007 and Diddy began dating Cassie until 2018.

While Diddy’s life started out close to the streets, he has since completely risen out of it and existing in a new realm. P. Diddy is counted among the richest people in America, not just one of the wealthiest rappers in the rap scene. He has spoken about those dark time and the fear is palpable.

While his past remains littered with controversy, he has built an empire and has a grasp on what it takes to be one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the music industry. Everything Diddy touches now seems to turn to solid gold.

“I am the champion of hip-hop…Hands down, undisputed, I’m the undisputed heavyweight champion of hip-hop. We are going to have to deal with those facts.”