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- [00:02]
Marjorie Hernandez
Seriously popular.
- [00:04]
Pam Lewis Rudden
The following episode explores a number of allegations regarding the artist Diddy. He denies all charges and has pled not guilty to sex trafficking, racketeering and transportation to engage in prostitution.
- [00:17]
Marjorie Hernandez
The biggest secret in the entertainment industry.
- [00:20]
Pam Lewis Rudden
That really wasn't a secret at all has finally been revealed to the world. The wall of silence has now been broken and victims are coming forward. Our team has had at this point more than 3,285 individuals contact us with people claiming people claiming to have been victimized by Sean Combs. After vetting, we now represent 120 individuals who intend to bring civil claims in civil court against Sean Diddy Combs as well as claims against many other individuals and entities that we will name as defendants as we file these individual cases.
- [01:06]
Marjorie Hernandez
At the height of his career, Sean Diddy Combs had it all. As the hip hop impresario of Bad Boy Records, he produced hits with the biggest musical artists of the 90s and aughts including Biggie, Mary J. Blige, JLo and more. After this skyrocketing success with music came lucrative business deals from liquor ventures like Ciroc Vodka to co founding cable media company Revolt, which focused on the hip hop culture he had helped cultivate. It seemed like everything Diddy touched turned to gold. Now the once untouchable hip hop mogul is fighting for his life as he faces multiple federal charges in New York York including sex trafficking and allegedly running a criminal enterprise. Federal prosecutors say he abused, threatened and coerced women and others to fulfill his violent and kinky sexual desires.
- [02:06]
Pam Lewis Rudden
Music mogul and rapper Sean Diddy Combs has faced four different lawsuits in recent weeks alleging sexual can be seen grabbing.
- [02:14]
Marjorie Hernandez
Ventura and throwing her to the six.
- [02:16]
Pam Lewis Rudden
Lawsuit alleging abuse by Combs like oh.
- [02:19]
Marjorie Hernandez
This guy in danger Only further confirmed the disturbing and predatory behavior of another woman. Has now come forward alleging Combs of sexual.
- [02:28]
Pam Lewis Rudden
This is actually coming on the heels of a lot of similar allegations. And then just last night claimed she was drugged and sexually assaulted by Combs. A federal investigation against Sean Combs involving human trafficking and other sexual assault allegations.
- [02:43]
Marjorie Hernandez
I'm DailyMail.com journalist Marjorie Hernandez and over the last six months I've been investigating this incredible story and speaking to the people and the eye of the storm. Welcome to the trial of Diddy. Biggie once predicted mo money came, mo problems.
- [03:17]
Pam Lewis Rudden
My name is Pam Lewis Rudden. I'm a music licensing specialist.
- [03:22]
Marjorie Hernandez
And Diddy's access to funding, fame and power brought out what some say was a terrifyingly abusive side that eventually led to his alleged criminal behavior.
- [03:34]
Pam Lewis Rudden
When he blew up, if somebody hadn't done something or somebody had done something that he didn't want or he might have said to do it, and then they didn't do it right, According to him, you know, all hell would break loose. You know, just screaming at the top of its lungs and calling people out in their names. You know, bitch was the term used for almost everybody, or at least all the women in the office. And he could be outside and come in and something would have happened. Outside had nothing to do with what was going on in the office. And, you know, he would just blow up.
- [04:15]
Marjorie Hernandez
In his 35 years in the game, Combs has pushed the boundaries and constantly reinvented himself, changing his stage name to Puffy, then Puff Daddy, P. Diddy Diddy, and most recently to Love. But the lines between his stage Persona and his personal life were often blurred. There were growing allegations of sexual and physical abuse from former employees and ex girlfriends. Rumors had floated for years of alleged drug binges and sexual escapades known as freak offs with prostitutes and possibly underaged girls. Meanwhile, the angry tirades he reportedly unleashed on former employees were legendary. But ultimately, it would be the now viral video of Combs brutally attacking former girlfriend Cassandra Cassi Ventura at a Los Angeles hotel that marked the beginning of the end of his Teflon don status.
- [05:16]
Pam Lewis Rudden
According to the complaint, Combs became extremely.
- [05:20]
Marjorie Hernandez
Intoxicated and punched Ms. Ventura in the.
- [05:22]
Pam Lewis Rudden
Face, giving her a black eye. He grabbed her and then took glass.
- [05:27]
Marjorie Hernandez
Vases in the hallway and threw them at her.
- [05:30]
Pam Lewis Rudden
In the surveillance video, Combs can be seen grabbing Ventura and throwing her to the ground.
- [05:36]
Marjorie Hernandez
For years, Combs lived off his reputation as hip hop's most high profile hitmaker. But those around him claim his success was brokered on the backs of his artists and employees. Now he's facing growing scrutiny as ex employees and alleged sexual assault victims are coming forward and having their claims pursued in court. In this episode, no Way out, we will speak to former bad boy artists who. Who were promised fame and success only to feel like they were taken for a ride by Combs and his empty promises. We will talk to people in his inner circle who saw Diddy's chilling history of alleged violent behaviors and how his power and celebrity shielded him for decades. And we will examine why the walls are finally closing in on Combs as his legal problems mount.
- [06:30]
Pam Lewis Rudden
My name's Greg Kading. I'm a retired LAPD homicide detective. His true character seems to be surfacing. Maybe there's another side to him that he's kept relatively well hidden until recent events are starting to expose the character that maybe he really is.
- [06:54]
Marjorie Hernandez
On Monday, September 16, 2024, Diddy was arrested at the Park Hyatt hotel in Manhattan and taken into custody by Homeland Security investigations. He now faces criminal prosecution. But many are asking, why did it take so long?
- [07:15]
Pam Lewis Rudden
So in this industry it takes a long time and it's been taking a long time for these things to come about because is the stronghold that's been on the industry and what we're yet to discover that hasn't been discovered or actually been talked about much yet is going to come to surface and we're just scratching away at it. But once we get to see the full and understand the true story of what's going on, then you kind of can understand why it took so long. Because it's not just about one person. It's about several people.
- [07:52]
Marjorie Hernandez
People. A native of Harlem, New York, Combs has admitted in interviews that he was born with a temper. His mom, Janice was a beloved kindergarten teacher, while his father, Melvin was a well known drug dealer with connections to New York cocaine kingpin Frank Lucas. Puff was just three years old when his father was fatally shot as he sat in his car in Central Park. In a revealing interview, Combs said the absence of his father impacted him throughout his life.
- [08:27]
Pam Lewis Rudden
They say, you know, you can't miss something you never had. So that's only a little, a little ways, right? You know, there's definitely been times as I've gotten older that I've missed my father and, you know, his presence not being there, having somebody not to ask, like manly advice and just things that you would ask your father. Also things that you would celebrate with him that would make him proud. You know, my father was a hustler. He was a drug dealer.
- [09:07]
Marjorie Hernandez
He was a hustler.
- [09:10]
Pam Lewis Rudden
So I learned early in life there was only two ways out of that debtor in jail, you know, made me work that even harder. So I have his hustler's mentality, his hustler's spirit, his drive, his determination, you know, his swag.
- [09:27]
Marjorie Hernandez
His mother, Janice, decided to leave Harlem after Melvin's death and move the family to Mount Vernon, a suburb about 12 miles north. Cuff attended me Mount St. Michael Academy, a Catholic school in the Bronx where he played football and was an ultra boy.
- [09:44]
Pam Lewis Rudden
I moved to Mount Vernon when I was like 12. I didn't really know anybody. I knew that I wanted to start thinking about what I was going to do with my life at 12 years old. Yeah, 12. Yeah. So you know, I started delivering papers and that's really how I started to get my hustle on. And just like I ran to get the tape, I would make sure that I put the paper inside the door so the older ladies wouldn't have to come out they house in the cold. So it was always about doing, like, the best and the greatest job I could do. Living in Mount Vernon. There was just one king of Mount Vernon. There was one guy that made it out of Mount Vernon, and it was heavy D. Just like a guy that I was like, I gotta meet this guy. You know, I would wait around the pizza shop that he would come to. I would just sit outside the pizza shop. And one day he came and he pizza shop. And I, you know, I said to him, you know, I want to talk to you about being your manager. Like, I went all the way with it. I was like, how old were you when you said that? This is like when I was like 17.
- [10:41]
Marjorie Hernandez
Coombs later attended Howard University in Washington, D.C. where he studied business. That's where the formerly scrappy student began to be recognized as a party promoter and tastemaker. Author and former Los Angeles Times report reporter Garrett Kennedy said young Sean Combs quickly stood out from the crowd because of his extraordinary taste in music, fashion, and his relentless energy.
- [11:08]
Pam Lewis Rudden
Every single college campus probably has someone like a Puff, the cool guy, the connector, all the. Every single. Every single college campus. But did all those guys have the same work ethic? Did all those same guys have the same hustle? Probably not. Puff did. So. So he made it happen. And that's just. That was part of the charm with him. One of the things about Puff that was true then is true now, always been true, is his ambition and his work ethic are just unmatched. They are how much he cares about the culture unmatched. And so when you think about a young man walking into a label in the early days of, you know, rap, becoming a little dose of mainstream, just a little tiny dose, right? And so when you think about just the fact of, like, how brilliant Uptown was, they were adding in this other element.
- [12:16]
Marjorie Hernandez
By his second year at Howard, Puff dropped out to pursue his passion, music. He landed an internship at uptown Records in 1990 and quickly made his way up the ladder, landing a position as a talent director under the guidance of Uptown CEO Andre Harrell. @ that point, Uptown had some of the best, brightest talents in America, including Mary J. Blige, Jodeci, Christopher Williams, and Father mc.
- [12:49]
Pam Lewis Rudden
At Uptown, I really learned about the culture and the lifestyle. I really didn't relate the music to a culture and a lifestyle. You know, before I started working with you. So those were terms that I started to like, learn from you. It was like going to school and it was hip hop, it was R and B. It was, it was the best of both worlds. And it was like the champagne lifestyle. Now you could have the Hennessy lifestyle, you could have had the Colt 45 lifestyle at that time, or you could have had the drug dealer baller, uptown record industry, champagne lifestyle. And it was a champagne lifestyle that was just different. You was getting money, you was conscious about what you was wearing, you liked dressing up. You probably was gonna move to Jersey and get a condo. But it was like, you know, you were thinking uply mobile. That was the term around then. You was thinking uply mobile. So you was black and you was moving, but you were still going back to the hood. You had that best of both worlds, but you was moving on up. And so I wanted to be down. What was moving on up. I wasn't down with like the gritty. Gritty, like let's keep it real. I'm mad. I wanted to like dance and celebrate and pop some bottles of champagne and get rich and buy me a mansion.
- [14:07]
Marjorie Hernandez
But those who worked for Combs during those early years said the 19 year old was often a walking nightmare. Pam Lewis Redden, who worked for Diddy as his assistant at Uptown Records in the early 90s, said no one was safe from his infamous outbursts. And their regularity ultimately caused her to leave the.
- [14:30]
Pam Lewis Rudden
He called me bitch one time too many and it might not have been me. You know, just, just that word and using it in addressing any and everybody, you know, in front of other people as well. I think that was the word. It wasn't like you were in a room and he was saying it to you one on one. It was like in front of the whole office and any of the artists and it was just one time too many. And then a friend of mine was working at or she heard about a job opening and I was like, I'm out of here.
- [15:15]
Marjorie Hernandez
Puff would butt heads with just about everyone, including Harel.
- [15:20]
Pam Lewis Rudden
When I fired him, it was like I had an artist in the building, right? Because Puff as an executive, he really is a very artistic guy. He can make videos, he can style. So I started to branch out in the movies into television. So then Puff wouldn't really listen to anybody but me. So my full time job became managing Puff. And the final straw for me was when MCA wanted me to not put out the Biggie Smalls album, because they didn't like the subject matter and they wanted me to tell him he's got to change his tone. And it wasn't up to me, I felt, to tell a generation what they could and could not do artistically. So I knew it wasn't gonna work.
- [16:12]
Marjorie Hernandez
By 1994, Puff's persistence started to pay off. Once he left Uptown, he started his own fledgling label, Bad Boy Entertainment. He released rapper Craig Mack's song Flava in Ya Ear, a defining piece of early 90s hip hop, which quickly shot to number one on Billboard's Hot Rap Songs. He went on to produce a fresh new sound by marrying the emergent new Jack Swing, already being popularized by artists like Jodeci, Keith Sweat and R. Kelly, with infectious hip hop beats. Juxtaposing the super aggressive gangster rap style that had exploded in popularity on the west coast since the arrival of N.W.A. at the end of the 80s, Cuffy handpicked artists and helped develop not only their musical style, but also their complete look and Persona. Mary J. Blige followed Puff out of Uptown, while his other developing artists, including female trio Total and all male RB group 112, made up an impressive and successful roster. But it was Puff's relationship with rapper Biggie that would catapult Bad Boy to greater heights. The Brooklyn NATIVES Debut album, 1994's Ready to Die, was a huge commercial, commercial and critical success with hit songs Big Papa, Juicy and One More Chance. Within the first three years, Bad Boy made an estimated $75 million in album sales. Says author Gary Kennedy.
- [17:57]
Pam Lewis Rudden
If we're actually being very honest here, when you think about what he did starting at Uptown with Mary, Mary J. Blige and Jodeci and Heavy D. And then you build Bad Boy and, you know, you just think from there you have Biggie, you have his work with Lil Kim, you have the things he did with Faith Evans and 112, all the way up to Danity Kane, like our last great girl group, right? So the idea of separation, that's going to be tough with Puff because again, when we're talking about all of those things and those tentacles, we're talking about someone who allegedly screwed all those people, right? All those people out of money, out of publishing, out of royalties, all these things, right? So that's already a complication that we have been talking about for as long as I can remember. I mean, even before I started writing about Puff, this was the conversation around Puff. So you have that in one bucket and then you have his contributions in terms of as a producer, songwriter, which that goes far and wide. That includes Beyonce literally almost every. I don't think you are. I don't think you're a contemporary black artist that has mattered in the last two decades and not work with Puff. I don't think you are a contemporary pop artists that has mattered in the last 25 years that I cannot trace something to Puff with you. I just don't think it exists.
- [19:33]
Marjorie Hernandez
Rapper and artist Mark Curry, who was signed by Diddy in 1997, wanted to ride Bad Boy's wave of success. Instead, Curry said Diddy allegedly took credit for songs he wrote, and he was largely cut out of the profits, a pattern that many of the Bad Boy artists claimed happened to them as well. Curry claimed that for years, Diddy promised him he would release his own album on Bad Boy. Instead, Curry ended up writing songs that Diddy took credit for. One of them was the smash hit Come With Me, which appeared on the 1998 Godzilla movie soundtrack.
- [20:14]
Pam Lewis Rudden
When I did the publishing deal, I just finished writing the Godzilla Come With Me song. And that song was gonna go big. And he knew that at the time, he didn't have a publishing situation. Puff didn't have a publishing situation with me, and I hadn't yet executed my production deal that I was going into. So when it was time to release, released the Godzilla Come With Me song, he was very adamant about making sure that I signed the contract, because once I signed the contract, that meant that I was signing over a certain portion of the publisher, and in return, he was going to give me X amount of dollars. So once I signed the contract, I signed the contract, and then that's when he released the song. But if I didn't sign the contract, he wasn't going to let me write the song because he wouldn't get the percentage that he would need out of it. So it's like, in order for us to use this song, you're going to have to sign this contract. So I'm like, okay, they had the contract. It was I signed. But then once I signed, you giving away what I think 50% of the publishing, and you're like, I'm giving away 50% of the publishing for $25,000, let's say. And you say, how you offering me $25,000 for my publishing, which in return, a year or two years down the line, could be worth 8 million or 10 million. Why don't you wait until we have a value in it and then give me an offer? Why are you offering me a Deal on something, we don't even understand its capability. And that's the foolery. The deal comes before the work. So you offer me a deal after we accomplish what we're reaching for.
- [22:13]
Marjorie Hernandez
When it was released in 1998, Come With Me was an instant hit.
- [22:19]
Pam Lewis Rudden
That song actually did with. It's so more than the actual soundtrack, just the single. I think the single alone was maybe double or triple platinum just in the single. And it was a really huge song. It was perhaps one of the biggest songs that I ever wrote. And it was a huge song. It was charted. It was crossover between. It was with Cashmere, Led Zeppelin, beautiful song. I wrote that song and everything I wrote about that song was what I was saying to Puff at that time. If you listen to that song, every word was what I was saying to him. You said to trust me. You know, you got to listen to that song, those words. So I then I realized that I wanted to start writing more songs about how I was feeling. And how I was feeling was so hurt that all my songs came out dark and I was creating real dark music.
- [23:32]
Marjorie Hernandez
But while Diddy was generating hit after hit for his artists, his label and himself as a performer, his personal life was mired in chaos.
- [23:43]
Pam Lewis Rudden
And I'm sorry for the families that suffered this, because I feel it more than I can possibly express it to you.
- [23:49]
Marjorie Hernandez
I just felt that if the doors.
- [23:51]
Pam Lewis Rudden
Were open that the children will have been able to go inside.
- [23:55]
Marjorie Hernandez
Rap star Tupac Shakur died last night.
- [23:57]
Pam Lewis Rudden
After a brief life and a rough business. He was 25. Notorious B.I.G Christopher Wallace was shot early Sunday morning and later died of gunshot wounds at nearby city Cedars Sinai Medical Center.
- [24:09]
Marjorie Hernandez
Sean Combs had a mission when he broke into the music scene to take Bad Boy into the stratosphere. His bravado and brashness changed the world of hip hop and has had a deep and lasting impression on American pop culture. But all the power, success and money came at the expense of those who were closest to him. His unwavering take no prisoners attitude had got Combs to the top of the charts and the business world. He was now a globe trotting artist, a household name, a tycoon. Meanwhile, those who worked closely with him said nothing could satiate his appetite for self destruction. In our next episode, we will delve deeper into Diddy's move from music producer to international superstar and business mogul. We will also focus on the heartbreaking losses, including a rap beef that ultimately cost the life of his friend and most lucrative artist, Biggie, and that of former friend Tupac Shakur.