NEW YORK (AP) — Sean “Diddy” Combs is well known as one of the crucial influential figures in hip-hop, however his indictment Tuesday on intercourse trafficking and racketeering fees additional clouds his legacy. For some, it might change their relationship to his music.
The indictment, detailing allegations courting again to 2008, accuses him of abusing, threatening and coercing ladies for years “to satisfy his sexual needs, shield his repute, and conceal his conduct.”
Some consultants consider the severity of the crimes might tarnish his profession transferring ahead.
“The possibility 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 undecided you’ll be able to play ‘Mo Cash, Mo Issues’ on the barbeque now,” he says. “You possibly can’t take a look at Diddy’s music in a vacuum the identical approach you probably did earlier than.
“He’s gone from this aspirational, go-getting music business legend to basically, 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 leveled at Russell Simmons by a number of ladies, 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 had been simply youngsters, 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’s at all times a query of — are followers going to separate the individual from the artwork? Can you differentiate the nice musical contribution any individual has made, the artists they’ve launched us to, the hit songs they’ve given us, the soundtrack to our lives versus what’s occurring of their private life, the authorized points that they’re going through?” she asks.
“In relation to Puff, similar to a variety of extremely proficient, profitable however problematic males, I do suppose many followers will be capable to differentiate the 2.”
She says you’ll be able to nonetheless anticipate to listen to Diddy’s music out on the planet — the information he made, produced, launched and past — however the results will probably be felt elsewhere.
“We’re not going to see his music synced in TV exhibits 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 individuals preserve streaming information, watching music movies and supporting it behind the scenes, I believe a variety of corporations don’t have any drawback quietly profiting,” she provides.
Combs is likely one of the best-known music executives, producers and performers throughout hip-hop, having received three Grammys and labored with artists resembling Infamous B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Religion Evans and 112. He based Unhealthy Boy Information in 1993, the influential style 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 ‘00s, he was a producer on MTV’s actuality tv collection “Making the Band,” and “Making His Band,” launching the careers of artists just like the woman group Danity Kane whereas embodying a form of temperamental, “grandiose tv persona,” A.D. Carson, affiliate professor of hip-hop at College of Virginia factors out.
“Does MTV cease working these exhibits in the event that they’re working in syndication?” he asks. “No firm that’s making a living off of one thing that they produce goes to willingly surrender that cash.
“I don’t suppose 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 approach that any individual who’s, , listening to R. Kelly in 2024,” he provides.
Diddy hasn’t persistently launched new solo music the final 20 years. Carson theorizes that may make it simpler for others to cease taking part in his information. “The best place to boycott is a spot that you just had 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 Sizzling 100. Nonetheless, his profession and cultural contributions proceed to be celebrated. In 2022, Combs acquired 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 finest 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’s 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 indicate Combs attacking Cassie in a Los Angeles resort hallway in 2016 surfaced, leading to public outcry. Howard College reduce ties with Combs, rescinding an honorary diploma that was awarded to him and disbanding a scholarship program 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 suppose that sure accolades, , business awards, I may see them being rescinded,” says Krishnamurthy. “However who is aware of what the longer term holds. And I do suppose as time goes on, typically the impact is that individuals do take a look at the previous with rose-colored glasses or it turns into simpler to take away ourselves from the negativity and deal with the music and the nice instances.”
“I believe Diddy is principally canceled,” says Berry. “I don’t see him making a comeback.”
“His music is simply too nice to disregard,” he provides. “A great quantity of individuals will nonetheless play it. However they’re going to get a side-eye.”
“My hope is that folk 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 variety of consideration on the legacy on the individuals who did the hurt. The extra accountable factor to ask is: What do reparations seem like for the individuals who had been harmed?”