Sean "P-Diddy" Combs

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969) is an American record producer and entertainment mogul who presides over a media empire that includes the record label Bad Boy Records, 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; previously he has been known as Puff Daddy, Puffy, and P. 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. The label rose to prominence in 1994 with the release of B.I.G.'s Ready to Die, and would continue its success into the late 1990s, although Biggie's death and the departure of several artists from the label have caused it to significantly decrease in prominence today. 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. This criticism comes not only from within the hip hop and music communities, but has spread to non musical circles. The Onion parodied this phenomenon in an article titled "New rap song samples Billie Jean in its entirety, adds nothing." Nevertheless he has been enormously successful, with a current estimated worth of nearly $315 million and growing