Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs: The ups and downs of a ‘bad boy’ turned businessman

Throughout his career, the tides have changed for the man once known as Puff Daddy about as much as he’s changed his name.

Sean “Diddy” Combs once traced his success back to a pair of shoes. One day, when he was a child, he asked his mother for a new pair of sneakers, but she couldn’t afford them. He recalled in a 2016 CNN interview that his mother almost began to cry upon hearing his request. That day, he said, “my hustle was born.” The man who famously once sang about being a “bad boy for life” had it pretty good for a long time, thanks to that hustle and his entrepreneurial successes. Buying new shoes may not be a problem anymore but he has bigger ones — especially lately. This week, authorities conducted searches on two of Combs’ homes as part of a federal investigation carried out by a Department of Homeland Security team that handles human trafficking crimes, according to a senior federal law enforcement official briefed on the investigation.