Ross King: Sean Combs is the hip hop star they Can’t Stop

HE’S worth more than half a billion quid and has more names than the phone book.

You might know him as Puff Daddy. Or maybe Puffy. Or what about Sean Combs?

These days he goes by P Diddy, a name I am assuredly not going to take the mickey out of.

That’s because he’s a hard-nosed New York businessman as well as, of course, a wildly successful rap and pop star.

He’s worked with artists such as Mariah Carey, TLC, Boyz II Men, Aretha Franklin, Mary J. Blige and Biggie Smalls – a who’s who of soul and rap music.

If you have any interest in modern music it’s worth checking out his new documentary, Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop.

His is a remarkable story – his dad was shot and killed when he was wee but Sean went on to become an enormously successful musician and entrepreneur.

“It’s something I’ve been working on since I was 19,” he told me.

“I just felt in my heart that I should be documenting what I was doing – so we always had the cameras rolling.

“I just knew, it was something in my spirit. God was telling me, ‘We’re going to take you on a ride, son’.”

And what a ride it’s been. From his initial success, Sean watched his good friend, the rapper Notorious B.I.G., rise to prominence before being fatally gunned down in a drive-by shooting.

But what struck me is how Sean always wanted to be the best – even when he was working in a diner collecting plates.

“Whether it was delivering newspapers or cleaning toilets, I wanted to be the best,” he said.

“You get all of the different shades of who we are and how we became this legendary, historical, musical force.

“Our records defined a culture and a time and took hip hop to become a global industry. For this piece of work to educate people is great.”

It sounds like bluster but the thing is, he’s right! I wonder how Sean thinks he’s changed since the mid-’90s.

“I see growth, someone who went through the things you do with success. I spiralled out of control a couple of times but I got up.

“I got knocked down seven times, but I got up eight times.

“My family were there, picking me up through all those times.”

Join me next week as I meet up with an old pal from Panto. Here’s a clue . . .

“RICKY!”