Sean “Diddy” Combs is extensively recognised as one of the vital influential figures in hip-hop, however his indictment Tuesday on intercourse trafficking and racketeering prices additional clouds his legacy. For some, it could change their relationship to his music.
The indictment, detailing allegations courting again to 2008, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing girls for years “to meet his sexual wishes, shield his repute, and conceal his conduct.”
Some specialists consider the severity of the crimes could tarnish his profession shifting ahead.
“The prospect to only be checked out strictly in musical phrases, and that being the defining a part of his legacy, is just about gone,” says Peter A Berry, a music journalist with work in XXL and Advanced.
“I’m unsure you’ll be able to play Mo Cash, Mo Issues on the barbeque now,” he says. “You may’t have a look at Diddy’s music in a vacuum the identical manner you probably did earlier than.
“He’s gone from this aspirational, go-getting music business legend to primarily, arguably, the Invoice Cosby of hip-hop.”
Berry views Combs indictment as “a continuation of a reckoning for the rap world,” which incorporates sexual misconduct allegations levelled at Russell Simmons by a number of girls, in addition to R&B-singer R Kelly who’s serving a 30-year jail sentence for utilizing his fame to sexually abuse younger followers, together with some who have been simply kids, in a scientific scheme that went on for many years.
Sowmya Krishnamurthy, music journalist and writer of Trend Killa: How Hip-Hop Revolutionized Excessive Trend, sees it otherwise.
“It is at all times a query of – are followers going to separate the individual from the artwork? Can you differentiate the nice musical contribution anyone has made, the artists they’ve launched us to, the hit songs they’ve given us, the soundtrack to our lives versus what’s happening of their private life, the authorized points that they’re dealing with?” she asks.
“In the case of Puff, similar to a whole lot of extremely gifted, profitable however problematic males, I do assume many followers will have the ability to differentiate the 2.”
She says you’ll be able to nonetheless count on to listen to Diddy’s music out on the earth – the data he made, produced, launched and past – however the results will likely be felt elsewhere.
“We’re not going to see his music synced in TV reveals and movies. You’re not going to see his music being synced, for instance, in commercials,” she says.
As for streaming platforms: “So long as folks hold streaming data, watching music movies and supporting it behind the scenes, I feel a whole lot of firms don’t have any downside quietly profiting,” she provides.
Combs is likely one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers throughout hip-hop, having gained three Grammys and labored with artists reminiscent of Infamous BIG, Mary J Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Religion Evans and 112. He based Dangerous Boy Information in 1993, the influential vogue line Sean John, a vodka model and the Revolt TV community. He offered off his stake within the latter firm in June of this yr.
Within the 2000s, he was a producer on MTV’s actuality tv sequence Making The Band, and Making His Band, launching the careers of artists just like the lady group Danity Kane whereas embodying a form of temperamental, “grandiose tv persona,” AD Carson, affiliate professor of hip-hop at College of Virginia factors out.
“Does MTV cease operating these reveals in the event that they’re operating in syndication?” he asks. “No firm that’s creating wealth off of one thing that they produce goes to willingly surrender that cash.
“I don’t assume anyone who’s nonetheless dedicated to listening to Diddy’s music in 2024 goes to be satisfied by this indictment to cease listening to it in the identical manner that anyone who’s, , listening to R Kelly in 2024,” he provides.
Diddy hasn’t persistently launched new solo music the final 20 years. Carson theorises which may make it simpler for others to cease taking part in his data. “The best place to boycott is a spot that you just have been by no means going to patronize anyway.”
It has been 17 years since Combs had a prime 10 hit – 2007’s Final Evening that includes Keisha Cole hit No 10 on the Billboard Scorching 100. Nonetheless, his profession and cultural contributions proceed to be celebrated.
In 2022, Combs obtained the Lifetime Achievement Award on the BET Awards. Final yr, he carried out on the MTV VMAs and launched his fifth studio album, The Love Album: Off The Grid, his first new album since 2006 chart-topping Press Play.
The Love Album was nominated for greatest progressive R&B album on the Grammy Awards. Combs didn’t attend.
“This time final yr, Diddy was being handed a key to the town, Berry factors out. “Now he is being indicted.”
The lawsuits Combs faces started in November 2023, when singer Cassie Ventura sued him for alleging years of sexual abuse together with rape. (New York State’s Grownup Survivors Act, enacted in 2022, permits victims to file past sure statute of limitations.)
In June, video that appeared to point out Combs attacking Cassie in a Los Angeles resort hallway in 2016 surfaced, leading to public outcry. Howard College minimize ties with Combs, rescinding an honorary diploma that was awarded to him and disbanding a scholarship programme in his identify consequently. Combs returned his key to New York Metropolis after a request from Mayor Eric Adams in response to the video. And in December, Billboard reported {that a} forthcoming Hulu actuality present following Combs and his household was now not in manufacturing.
So, what does that say of his profession?
“I do assume that sure accolades, , business awards, I might see them being rescinded,” says Krishnamurthy. “However who is aware of what the longer term holds. And I do assume as time goes on, generally the impact is that individuals do have a look at the previous with rose-coloured glasses or it turns into simpler to take away ourselves from the negativity and give attention to the music and the nice occasions.”
“I feel Diddy is mainly cancelled,” says Berry. “I do not see him making a comeback.”
“His music is just too nice to disregard,” he provides. ” quantity of individuals will nonetheless play it. However they are going to get a side-eye.”
“My hope is that people don’t use Diddy instance to scapegoat hip-hop, as a result of this isn’t an issue that’s distinctive to hip hop,” says Carson.
Moreover, he says “we focus a whole lot of consideration on the legacy on the individuals who did the hurt. The extra accountable factor to ask is: What do reparations appear to be for the individuals who have been harmed?”
