Sean “Diddy” Combs he grew up without a father in his life, and his mother, Janice Combs, was determined to make sure her son knew nothing about the reality of his life. Still, despite her best efforts, the future hip hop icon was still able to piece together what happened to his father.
Diddy’s mother kept his father’s cause of death a secret, but he still knew
diddyMelvin Combs’ father was a drug dealer who made money on the streets of New York; he was murdered when Diddy was only two years old. Diddy continued to grow up in Harlem before he and his mother moved to the suburbs.
“Until I was 12 years old, I lived in Harlem. We then moved to Mount Vernon, New York. That was Mom’s way of getting us out of the city center after my father was killed. But my grandmother lived in Harlem, so she came and went,” she recounted in 2006. interview with Oprah Winfrey. “I remember the simple things in Mount Vernon: grass, trees, and being able to play baseball. There was no Little League in Harlem, no grassy front yard. But the neighborhood was multicultural, so it broadened my horizons.”
Diddy’s mother was determined to keep her outlook on life as peaceful as her surroundings, so she did everything she could to protect him. That included telling her lies about her father and her fate.
“She tried to protect me. My father was a con man who sold drugs. During his time, that was the way to get out of Harlem, either that or play basketball,” she said. “My mother didn’t want her to follow in her footsteps, so she was selective about the truths she told me: My father was in the military, ran a limo service, and was killed in a car accident. Actually, he was shot in a car. But even when he was a kid, he put two and two together. I noticed that the kids on the streets of Harlem always seemed to know my family’s last name. ‘I used to race with your father,’ they’d tell me. All my uncles were also street hustlers.
Diddy’s mother acted like a father.
Being a single parent is not easy, as one person is tasked with tasks that are normally split between two people. “My mother played the father and my grandmother played the mother,” Diddy said honestly.
Diddy’s mother often had to assume the role of father, which included teaching her son how to defend himself.
“One day, when I was about 9 years old, I went to the store to look for my grandmother and someone stole my money. I came home crying. My mother wouldn’t let me in the house. She said, ‘Go back and get that money, and if somebody ever gets their hands on you, make sure they don’t do it again,’” she recalled. “She knew the reality: if people smell weakness, they take advantage of you. You have to defend yourself. On the other hand, my grandmother would tell me: ‘Come here, honey. I’ll walk you to the store. I’m not saying my mom would never have let me in the house that day, but she was trying to teach me a lesson.”
Diddy considered Andre Harrell a father figure.
In early 2020, Diddy received the Industry Icon Award at Clive Davis’ famous pre-Grammy party. During his speech, he paid tribute to the founder of Uptown Records. andre harrell, who gave him a job at the record label and helped get his foot in the door of the music industry. He also explained that his connection to Harrell went deeper than just a professional relationship.
“I call you my big brother, but tonight I have to tell you the truth,” he said. “I told you that my father died when I was two and a half years old. Andre, you have been my father for the last 30 years. Harrell died just a few months later, in May 2020.
Diddy isn’t the only person in the music industry who considers Harrell a father figure: Mary J. Blige has expressed similar sentiments.
“Andre is really my father in this music industry. If he had not come to my apartment that day for those projects, he would not be here now, ”he said in a 2021 interview with the hollywood reporter. “There was a lot of talent [out there], and came to listen to me, that will mean something to me for the rest of my life. He showed us that there was hope. He told me that he was going to make it.”