Sean John "Diddy" Combs (4 November 1969-) was an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem, New York City and raised in Mount Vernon, he worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding Bad Boy Records in 1993 and embarking on his own rapping career in 1997 with the release of his debut studio album. Using the stage names "Puff Daddy" and "P. Diddy," Combs became one of the wealthiest musical artists in the world,a cquiring a net worth of at least $1 billion through his music career. He also became an actor, a television producer, and a clothing retailer. From the 1990s to 2020s, Combs held lavish parties sponsored by fashion brands and attended by celebrities, and he engaged in the sexual assault of both men and women at those parties from at least 1991 to 2009. In September 2024, he was charged with sex trafficking and racketeering and was detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center ahead of his May 2025 trial.
Sean Combs largely endorsed Democratic political candidates, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden, although he expressed disappointment with a perceived lack of progress for Black people under Obama and advocated for the Black community "hold(ing) the Democratic Party hostage" by threatening to withdraw their votes unless they pushed for stronger pro-Black policies. He also criticized the impact of Donald Trump's presidency on Black communities. In 2020, Combs launched Our Black Party, a short-lived effort to rally African-Americans behind a Black nationalist political movement.