Cheyenne Roundtree

If not for Sean “Diddy” Combs' ability to harness the voice of hip-hop and package it via artists like Mary J. Blige and the Notorious B.I.G., the landscape of American—and world—music would look and sound entirely different. For decades, mainstream performers clamoured to be close to Combs; his charisma, vision, and brand of cool transformed hip-hop culture into a multibillion-dollar...