PUFF DADDY

Diddy Explains His 15 Roaches Story After Skeptics Doubt His Digits

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Diddy‘s told some outlandish tall tales over the years, but recently, fans expressed skepticism over one of those stories when he claimed that he once woke up motivated to escape the hood because there were “15 roaches” on his face. Fans on Twitter doubted the digits, taking the rap mogul to task for exaggerating the numbers. However, in a new video for Vanity Fair to accompany his cover story, the man who nicknamed himself “Love” tries to set the record straight.

“One day, I woke up with, like, 15 roaches on my face,” he reiterates in the video, addressing the skeptics and reinforcing his narrative at the same time. ” “People were like, ‘How did you know it was 15?’ and I was like, ‘If you had 15 roaches on your face, you would know there was around 15 roaches on your face.’”

Diddy initially shared the story in the caption of a video of himself eating mango by a pool. In the video, he gives one of his signature motivational speeches: “You could do it,” he implores viewers. “You could be whoever you want. You could be eating mango too, with the ocean as your backdrop. I ain’t special. I just want it. I want it bad, you feel me? I won’t allow myself to not have mango. I hustle hard.”

You can watch the Vanity Fair video above and read the full profile here.

Diddy Is Starting A New, ‘All R&B’ Record Label But Isn’t Signing Any Artists

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Before he was a world-renowned hip-hop impresario and multi-hyphenate businessman with designs on starting a political movement, Sean “Puff Daddy/Diddy/Love” Combs got his start A&Ring R&B acts like Jodeci and Mary J. Blige at Uptown Records. For his next endeavor, he’s getting back to those roots, as he told Vanity Fair in the magazine’s upcoming September issue. Although he did previously announce he was putting out an R&B album, here he goes a step further, announcing that he’ll be starting a new, R&B-centric record label as well.

And before any of his many critics could point out that his previous label, Bad Boy, has a less-than-stellar record in how it treated its artists, Combs explained that he’s doing things differently this time, explaining that he wants to get back to R&B because “I feel like R&B was abandoned and it’s a part of our African American culture,” he says. “And I’m not signing any artists. Because if you know better, you do better. I’m doing 50–50 partnerships with pure transparency.”

He also elaborates that his purpose in launching such a label is so “we can own the genre; we don’t own hip-hop right now. We have a chance to — and I’m going to make sure that — we own R&B.” Although he hasn’t announced any projects or even a name just yet, it may be interesting to find out whether or not he can be the person to drive innovation in the music business.

You can read the full profile here.

Diddy Shares His Support For Runner Sha’Carri Richardson, Condemning Her Olympics Disqualification

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Although reactions to the International Olympics Committee ruling runner Sha’Carri Richardson ineligible for the 2021 Summer Games have been split, the colorful athlete has at least one powerful ally in her corner: Sean “Diddy” Combs, who tweeted his support for her and condemned her 30-day suspension for the use of marijuana.

Stating that his heart was broken for her, he noted, “I’m tired of white people sitting in a room making up decisions that affect our hopes and dreams. They will keep treating our athletes like slaves and entertainment until we shut down on these people!”

He then compared the judgment against her to the racist results of the US’s so-called War on Drugs, pointing out parallels that allow for the unfair treatment of people using a non-dangerous substance which was criminalized mainly due to its association with use by Black people. “So many of our brothers, sisters, mothers, daughters, and sons are rotting in jail for marijuana and it’s JUST NOT RIGHT,” he wrote. “Now, to see them using this against a young Black woman that is on the edge of her greatness, all because some white man decided to make it illegal, is shameful.”

He also noted that there’s no real reason for THC to disqualify anyone from competing because, as he wrote accurately, “Marijuana does not make you run faster.” He also noted a discrepancy between the treatment of Richardson, a Black woman, and Michael Phelps, a white male swimmer who was also previously allowed to compete after testing positive for THC. While the circumstances aren’t exactly apples to apples, his point still seems valid.

Richardson was determined to be ineligible for 30 days, beginning June 28, after qualifying for the Olympics with a 10.86-second 100-meter dash time. Unfortunately, most of that month overlaps with her events and she was not selected for the Women’s 4 x 100 relay. She said that she took marijuana to cope with the recent death of her mother. Other supporters have included Seth Rogen, who also pointed to the discrepancy in calling weed a performance-enhancing drug, joking, “If weed made you fast, I’d be FloJo.”

Diddy’s Recollection Of Waking Up To Roaches On His Face Has Twitter Reeling With Roasts

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Ever since hip-hop’s inceptions, rappers have been defined by their recollections of humble beginnings and their tendency to stretch the truth when they recall those humble beginnings. Drake got flamed for making “Started From The Bottom” by fans who recall him starting on Degrassi, fans on Twitter regularly question Jay-Z’s assertion that he once lost 92 bricks, and now, they’re applying heat to Diddy over a would-be motivational post that may have exaggerated a few details of his origins in Mount Vernon, New York.

On Instagram, the media mogul posted a video of himself eating fruit and dancing by his pool — a fairly typical day in the life of Diddy, I guess. But it’s the caption drawing all the attention at the moment, as Diddy insists that “one day when I was growing up, I woke up and there was 15 roaches on my face. At that moment I said hell no, I refuse to live like this. Work hard, believe in your crazy dreams… AND NEVER SETTLE!”

Unfortunately for Diddy, the clearly overestimated number of insects in his story “bugged” some fans on Twitter, and naturally, he became the subject of the latest roast session, clearing him out for his faux pas and calling cap with their own roach stories. Check out the responses below.

Yung Miami Of City Girls Stuns Fans With A Photo Of Herself Holding Hands With Diddy

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Is Yung Miami from City Girls dating Puff Daddy? That certainly seems to be the implication of the photo the Florida-born-and-bred rapper just posted to Instagram. It’s definitely caught the attention of fans who were shocked to see Miami — who was previously romantically linked to Atlanta, Georgia trap producer Southside — holding hands at Pierre “P” Thomas’s birthday party with none other than Sean “Love” Combs himself. Miami is decked out in an elegant mahogany dress while Diddy rocks one of his signature white suits, clutching her hand as they descend a staircase (scroll through the slides below).

Naturally, many were flustered to spot the new apparent couple, especially after Diddy posted a throwback photo apparently reminiscing about his ex Jennifer Lopez just last week. “Caresha,” Yung Miami’s real name, trended on Twitter as City Girls fans — who are fond of addressing their fave by her government name — expressed surprise, shock, and amusement at the thought of a possible retaliatory post from Southside. Meanwhile, Caresha’s partner-in-rhyme JT (who’s been linked to fellow rapper Lil Uzi Vert) seemed to approve of the union, commenting “expensive!” on the photo with a string of fire emojis.

Some fans also approved while others doubted that the photo meant anything deeper. Either way, it’s looking like a City Girl summer after all, as their new single “Twerkulator” climbs the charts, and fans remain fascinated by their romantic entanglements.

Diddy Posted A J-Lo Throwback After Rumors Surfaced She’d Reunited With Ben Affleck

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Well, he didn’t change his middle name to “Love” for nothing. Sean Combs — aka Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, Diddy, and Brother Love — has proven himself once again to be a masterful social media troll, keying into the renewed rumors of his ex Jennifer Lopez’s reunion with Ben Affleck to incite a little Joker-esque chaos on an otherwise quiet Thursday.

After the news broke that J. Lo — who’s had a bit of fun with the celebrity gossip industrial complex on social media herself lately — had broken up with Alex Rodriguez, the peanut gallery got a huge chunk of fat to chew as the actress/singer was later seen out with former beau Ben Affleck. Not to be outdone or forgotten, though, Diddy made sure that followers would remember that before there was “Bennifer,” Diddy was the other half of a Lopez power couple — one that had its fair share of memorable moments.

Posting a photo of the two of them together with a #TBT (Throwback Thursday) hashtag, Diddy stirred up a veritable symphony of flabbergasted fan reactions wondering whether he was shooting his shot or just kicking up dust for the fun of it. For what it’s worth, for Puff to still be in the running after all these years, J. Lo would have to have forgiven him for getting her arrested after the infamous 1999 nightclub shooting that sent Shyne to prison for a decade and contributed to the couple’s breakup. Diddy’s a notorious optimist, and it has been twenty years, but if he really is calling his shot, his odds probably aren’t great after this stunt. Check out the responses below.

J. Cole’s Manager Elaborates On The Diddy Fight: ‘It’s Not What People Say’

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One of the biggest storylines to emerge with the release of J. Cole’s highly anticipated sixth studio album The Off-Season was the North Carolina rapper’s admission that his last fight was with Sean “Diddy” Combs in 2013. Until he confirmed it on “Let Go My Hand,” the fight was one of rap’s most mysterious rumors, growing out of murky reports of a heated exchange between Cole, Diddy, and Kendrick Lamar during an MTV VMA party in 2013. Cole’s manager and co-founder of Dreamville, Ibrahim “Ib” Hamad, further elaborated on the scuffle during a recent appearance on the Say Less podcast with Hennypalooza founders Kazeem “Kaz” Famuyide and Nile “Lowkey” Ivey.

“I just remember hearing about it and laughing,” Ib says of the speculative reporting surrounding the event that emerged in its aftermath. “‘Cause I was there. I’m not gonna go into detail, but it’s definitely not what people are saying.” While the widely circulated rumor has it that a piqued Puff tried to throw a drink on Kendrick Lamar in the wake of his saber-rattling “Control” verse (in which he declares himself “King of New York” despite originally hailing from California — a lyrical homage to hometown favorite Kurupt) and Cole intervened, Ib insists things happened differently.

“It was definitely not like he was defending Kendrick or something,” he claims. “It wasn’t like, ‘Don’t talk to Kendrick like that!’ Kendrick was there, Top was there, Jay was there, Beyoncé was there. Me and Cole. Grown men got a little heated. All I remember is, me and Jay looking at each other like, ‘Oh, these n****s ‘bout to fight.’ And then just being like, ‘Oh no, this is ‘bout to happen.’ I’ll leave it at that.” He also made sure to clarify that everyone talked it out later and settled matters relatively quickly.

If nothing else, it provided good content: J. Cole was able to incorporate the story — sans details, naturally — on his album. Cole verse on “Let Go My Hand” recalls, “My last scrap was with Puff Daddy, who would’ve thought it? / I bought that n**** album in seventh grade and played it so much / You would’ve thought my favorite rapper was Puff.”

You can check out the story at around 12:00 in the video above.

Mark Wahlberg Wrecks Joyner Lucas’ Car In The High-Speed ‘Zim Zimma’ Video. With Diddy And George Lopez

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If you know anything about hip-hop at all, you’ll probably recognize the title of Joyner Lucas‘ new single “Zim Zimma” as the contorted, familiar catchphrase coined by Beenie Man on his 1998 hit “Who Am I” (repurposed from Missy Elliott’s 1997 debut single “The Rain [Supa Dupa Fly]“) in which Beenie wonders “Who’s got the keys to my Beema?” In Joyner’s case, it turns out to be none other than actor/rapper/fast-driving car enthusiast Mark Wahlberg. Like Lucas, Wahlberg hails from Massachusetts, so it’s no surprise that the two are acquainted.

Waving off Joyner’s initial concerns, Mark promises to teach him “how to drive this b*tch” before wrecking the car in a collision with a dirt pile. While Mark tries to downplay the damage, an exasperated Joyner leaves him to deal with the mess, strolling the streets of Beverly Hills to his “uncle George’s” house — who turns out to be comedian George Lopez. After some finagling, Joyner manages to borrow his Unc’s BMW — although he’s disappointed to discover it’s more “Beater” than “Beamer.” A final scene sees Joyner cruising in (or rather, on top of) a miniature version of the car for kids alongside yet another famous face: Diddy — aka “Love” — who mugs the camera as Lucas launches into a lightspeed display of multisyllabic lyricism.

“Zim Zimma” follows Lucas’ Lil Baby collaboration “Ramen & OJ” and similarly quirky, high-concept music video for “Will Smith.”

Watch Joyner Lucas’ “Zim Zimma” video above.

Diddy Has Officially Changed His Government Name To ‘Sean Love Combs’

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Whether you grew up calling him Puff Daddy, P. Diddy, or Sean “Diddy” Combs, the entertainer variously known as all three is officially “Sean Love Combs” on his driver’s license, which he shared on Instagram earlier today (forgetting to blank out his address and other identifying details — although, it’s hard to imagine he’d be hard to find if one wanted to do so in the first place). Diddy previously “joked” about changing his name to “Brother Love,” then just to “Love” a few years ago, but as it turns out, he was dead serious — in a way.

Of course, the name change to a more positive moniker hasn’t cleared up very much of the confusion around his stage name; on DJ Khaled’s recently released 12th album Khaled Khaled, Combs is still credited as “Puff Daddy” on “This Is My Year” which also features A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie, Big Sean, and Rick Ross. And while Puff Daddy closes the track with much of his signature big money talk, his trademark motivational mouthiness has drawn criticism elsewhere, as fans took issue with his open letter to General Motors chastising the auto manufacturer for exploiting Black artists — a practice he’s been accused of himself multiple times over the years.

You can see Diddy’s new license reading his updated name here.

Freddie Gibbs Is Astounded To Learn That Diddy Has Restaurant In His House

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Freddie Gibbs has been around the block in the music industry before blowing up on a greater level last year but that doesn’t mean he’s gotten used to the trappings of fame. While hanging out with Diddy at his home, Gibbs was amused at some of the house’s amenities. Posting a video to Twitter, Gibbs expressed his amazement that, among other things, the man formerly known as Puff Daddy has a full-fledged restaurant in his house.

While recording a selfie video, Gibbs gains Diddy’s attention, calling him a “fly-ass young n****” and prompting Diddy to show off a bottle of his Ciroc vodka and begin singing along to the Marvin Gaye song playing over the P.A. (It’s “I Want You,” by the way).

Freddie, who’s become one of hip-hop’s most celebrated artists over the past year thanks to his joint album with Alchemist, Alfredo, and its Grammy nomination for Best Rap Album, may be experiencing a new level of success, but clearly, he’s still humble enough to crack jokes at his own expense and use fake Instagrams to mock his rivals. His humility is one of the things that makes him so easy to root for — and his amazement at Diddy’s extravagance might just be the most relatable things he’s shared yet.

Freddie Gibbs is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.