Puff Daddy' a Rising Music Exec [CITY Edition]

Newsday

Print Media Edition: Combined editions Long Island, N.Y. Jan 1, 1992

Authors: By Anemona Hartocollis. STAFF WRITER Pagination: 23 Companies: Full Text: Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs, the key promoter behind the deadly basketball game at City College, is a rising New York City music executive and well-known party promoter on the downtown club scene. Combs, known to his friends as Puffy, is in his late 20s or early 30s, and one of the youngest record executives for Uptown/MCA, which represents such hot stars at Heavy D. - who co-promoted the City College show - Father MC and Jodeci. Industry insiders say Combs, a former Howard University student, is essentially the second-in-command to Uptown president Andre Harrell. Combs and Harrell did not return repeated requests for comment yesterday. In November, Combs co-sponsored a Howard University rap concert that got out of hand when hundreds of fans - some with tickets, some without - grew impatient at waiting and stormed a gate.

Police sprayed the crowd at the homecoming event with tear gas, and there were no serious injuries. Rap aficionados say that rap musicians are viewed as the gangsters of the music world, and violence has haunted hiphop - the culture surrounding rap music - almost since its inception. "Hiphop has its roots in gang warfare. You can't hold it to Wall Street standards," says Frank Owen, a freelance music writer. Rap musicians have been ostracized by the club scene because of their perceived reputation for drawing unruly, uncontrollable crowds. It has been hard for rap concerts even to get insurance since an incident in December, 1987, when two teenage girls were trampled to death at a Public Enemy concert in Nashville.

At Saturday's City College event, fans reported that some youngsters started calling for a "bum rush," just before the stampede in which eight people were crushed to death. "Bum rush," experts say, is actually a hiphop term, which developed out of the idea of storming clubs in defiance of door policies that barred rap fans because of their race - many are black or Latino - or because of their street style of dressing. Because they have been shut out of mainstream clubs, rap acts have been increasingly forced to book one-night stands, like the City College event, in unconventional forums. Ironically, Owen says, Puff Daddy and the Uptown Record label are on the more conservative end of the hiphop movement.

The performers on that label, such as Jodeci, Jeff Red, Doug E. Fresh and Heavy D., "are not hardcore street acts. They are the sort of rockers that your mom would probably like, yet the street follows them around," Owen says.

Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.

If you have articles or memorabilia you would like to have featured on this website, please contact us, and we will also include it on this page.