Dan's Papers - July 13, 2007

If the Hamptons' celebrity side -- the nightlife, the mansions, the gossip, the parties, and, well, the celebrities -- had a face, it would be that of Sean "Diddy" Combs, the artist formerly known as "P. Diddy" and "Puff Daddy." But this face -- affable and slightly smug, angular with a neatly trimmed goatee, both ears adorned by diamonds-- has been seen all over East Hampton since the nineties. Because Diddy isn't just a businessman, he's a boy from the Bronx, a music artist, an entrepreneurial producer, a fashion designer, a spiritual Gospel fan, a 37-year-old father, a target, an icon and your neighbor.

Combs was not born into the glamorous world in which he ended up in East Hampton. He spent his boyhood in Mount Vernon, a predominantly African American neighborhood just north of the Bronx. When Combs was only two years old, his father was fatally shot in a Manhattan park. From that day forward, Combs was raised by his mother. Janice. He graduated from a Roman Catholic high school in the Bronx in 1987 before enrolling at Howard University in Washington, D.C. and ultimately dropping out. Combs had worked his way though high school and felt destined to be successful in life, determined to show his gratitude to his mother for the sacrifices she had made while raising him. Leaving Howard had been a difficult decision for Diddy, but he felt determined to move forward in his life, sans a college degree several years before Kanye West made this same decision and subsequently recorded a hugely successful album about it, titled College Dropout.

Combs broke into the music industry as an unpaid intern at Uptown Records. Through diligence, charm and an innate sense of who and what would be successful, he worked his way up to the top position of A&R executive. It was at Uptown that he met, signed and produced a record for Mary J. Blige, who went on to become a five-time Grammy Award winner and Combs' close friend. Uptown was also the meeting place for Comb's collaboration and friendship with Christopher Wallace, better known as the Notorious B.I.G.

In 1993, Diddy was abruptly fired from Uptown Records.

The sudden split became a blessing in disguise -- taking Biggie with him, as well as an investment from Arista Records music mogul Clive Davis, Combs went on to establish his own label, Bad Boy Records, that same year. With acts including Faith Evans, The Notorious B.I.G., Craig Mack and Total, and a staff of talented writers and producers, Bad Boy became a platinum-selling label by 1995. But the road to East Hampton has been bumpy for Combs. His success garnered envy and animosity, most saliently from Suge Knight, C.E.O. of Death Row Records, Bad Boys' west coast musical rival. Combs attempted to dispel and denounce the rising tensions between the labels, but the bad blood came to a boiling point in 1997, when Death Row's 2pac and Bad Boys' Biggie were both mysteriously murdered. Combs was struck an emotional blow by the death of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, one of his best friends. Their bond and the loss felt by those who loved Wallace was immortalized in Puff Daddy's 1997 chart-topping hit, "I'll be Missing You," off of No Way Out, Combs' debut album and his first endeavor into a career as a recording artist. In the song, accompanied by Faith Evans, he sang "Every step I take / Every move I make / Every single day / Every time I pray / I'll be missing you." No Way Out went on to win the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, making Combs, then under the artistic alias Puff Daddy, a household name.

Combs went on to produce several of his own hits as well as those of 112 and Mase with Bad Boy records in 1998, he founded Sean John, his clothing line. In between all of his artistic and financial endeavors, Combs fathered four children -- Justin, now 13, with an ex-girlfriend and Christian, now 9, as well as two twin girls, with his current girlfriend, model Kim Porter. Additionally, he has used his fame to implore the lives of others. After a New York Times critique of one of his Sean John factories, Combs made a personal and deliberate effort to ensure that the conditions improved. In 2006, he was awarded the key to Chicago for his efforts in the factories.

In the late nineties, the entrepreneurial mogul marked his success with the purchase of a lakeside East Hampton mansion. It was here that he began throwing his now infamous, annual White Party, with the likes of neighbors Donna Karan, Paris Hilton, Donald Trump and Jay-Z. The party evolved into all-out bacchanal and celebration of Diddy's success -- nothing says you've made it like having Bruce Willis skinny-dip in your gunite kidney pool. Diddy has been known to party late into the night and celebrate with expensive champagne and all the St. Tropez glamour that money can buy. But neighbors and regular residents don't seem to mind, because Diddy, a father and a loyal son, a businessman who says he works "20 hours a day," a boy from the Bronx who says he has learned to "appreciate the ups, because they go by the quickest," quite frankly, deserves it.