LOS ANGELES (AP) — In the first nine months of 2023, Sean “Diddy” Combs triumphantly performed at the MTV VMAs, released an R&B album that garnered a Grammy nomination and was a suitor to buy the BET network.
 

But several lawsuits filed late last year raised allegations of sexual assault and rape against Combs — one of hip-hop’s most recognizable names as a performer and producer.
 

The music mogul's homes in Los Angeles and Miami were searched Monday by federal agents with Homeland Security Investigators and other law enforcement. Officials said the searches were connected to an investigation by federal authorities in New York.

The officials spoke to The Associated Press on conditions of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss details of the investigation. Combs’ attorney and other representatives didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, and his whereabouts are unknown.

Although Diddy was embroiled in one high-profile business dispute for part of 2023, it was a case filed by his former girlfriend and R&B singer Cassie that opened the door to other claims of sexual violence. Combs has vehemently denied the allegations.

It is not clear whether the search is related to any of the allegations raised in the lawsuits, which include one from a woman who claims Combs raped her when she was 17.
 

Here are some things to know about Combs and the investigation.

WHO IS DIDDY?
 

Combs is among the most influential hip-hop producers and executives of the past three decades. He built one of music’s biggest empires, blazing a trail with several entities attached to his famous name. He is the founder of Bad Boy Records and a three-time Grammy winner who has worked with a slew of top-tier artists including Notorious B.I.G., Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, Faith Evans and 112.
 

The music mogul created the fashion clothing line called Sean John, was associated with a well-known vodka brand and launched Revolt TV network, which focuses on music and social justice issues targeting African Americans. He also produced the reality show “Making the Band” for MTV.
 

In 2022, BET honored Combs with the Lifetime Achievement Award for his ability to shape culture through his career.

Combs won Grammys for his platinum-selling 1997 album “No Way Out” and the single “I’ll Be Missing You,” a song dedicated to the late Notorious B.I.G. who was killed earlier that year. He won another Grammy for “Shake Ya Tailfeather” with Nelly and Murphy Lee.

Last year, Combs released his fifth studio album “The Love Album: Off the Grid,” which was nominated for best progressive R&B album at February's Grammy Awards, which he did not attend. The album was his first solo project since his 2006 chart-topping “Press Play,” which had two top 10 hit singles: “Last Night” with Keyshia Cole and “Come to Me” featuring Nicole Scherzinger.

In 2004, Combs played Walter Lee Younger in the Broadway revival of “A Raisin in the Sun,” which aired as a television adaption four years later. He’s also appeared in films including “Get Him to the Greek” and “Monster’s Ball.”

WHAT SPARKED THE LAWSUITS?

In November, Combs' protege and singer Cassie sued him for alleging years of sexual abuse including rape. The lawsuit alleged he forced her to have sex with male prostitutes while he filmed them.

Combs and Ventura began dating in 2007 and had an on-and-off relationship for more than a decade.

As her career begins to rise, Method Man‘s daughter Cheyenne Smith is receiving love from Hip-Hop veterans. Rapping under the stage name Chey, the young talent was recently brought to the stage in Detroit by Trina. Additional performers at the Midwest show included Gucci Mane, Rick Ross, Juvenile, and Plies.
 

“I always like to show love to people,” detailed the Diamond Princess rapper when introducing Chey to the audience after performing “Here We Go.” In the moment, Trina dubbed Chey an inspiration, encouraging the crowd to show love. The moment was captured and uploaded to social media sharing her backstage perspective.

An additional carousel post from the Staten Island representative features photos of Chey with the talented lineup and footage of her choreography-filled performance.

“We told y’all I was taking over right?” wrote Chey on Instagram. “@trinarockstarr thank you so much for having me!! I appreciate you and respect you so much for everything you do for upcoming artists!!! I PERFORMED FOR A SOLD OUT SHOW IN DETROIT!!!!!!! I still can’t believe it. I’m so grateful.” Earlier this year, the rising rapper shared the music video for her release “Boujee & Ghetto” following the song “Hair and Nails.” The latter was performed during the aforementioned concert.

Tyla takes on the role of both painter and muse in her new “ART” music video below.
 

Directed by Nabil, the visual takes the South African singer to an ornate gallery, where she poses freely, dancing to the upbeat track. As the artist, she paints a portrait that appears to be of herself. In the end, the painting morphs into the image of a young man, who is hypnotized by the singer. His picture joins her wall of other men who were seemingly trapped by her charm.
 

“Fresh out the gallery, Can you handle me? Handle me carefully, I’ll be yours to keep. I’m your centerpiece, make the canvas speak,” sings the 22-year-old in the song’s second verse.

“ART” is featured on Tyla’s self-titled debut album, also released on Friday. Across 14 tracks, the project features Kelvin Momo, Tems, Gunna, Skillibeng, Becky G, and Travis Scott. The album comes as Tyla continues to enlarge her profile after her breakout hit “Water” and historic GRAMMY win in the Recording Academy’s newly established Best African Music Performance category.
“People listen to my music and they fall in love with that type of Amapiano, then they go deeper and they listen to other artists back home,” she explained of her emerging career to OkayAfrica. “While I’m building my name, I’m also opening more doors for other African artists and just bringing people back to the culture.” Watch the music video for “ART” above and check out the album TYLA below.

It looks as if Erykah Badu may have been looking for some sort of credit from Beyoncé after the Renaissance icon posted her newest album cover for Act II: Cowboy Carter. However, the Beyhive subliminally told Badu to take several “window seats,” including the Houston-native’s longtime publicist Yvette Noel-Schure.

On the album cover, Bey rocks nothing but her bare skin, a pageant sash that reads “ACT II: BEYINCE,” and a beautiful braided hairstyle with beaded bangs. The hairstyle, similar to one Badu has been known to rock, inspired her to repost it to her Instagram Story with the simple, yet seemingly shady caption that read, “hmmm.”

Besides fans coming to Bey’s defense, Noel-Schure seemingly responded to Badu in an even more clever way: a history lesson.

Noel-Schure took to Instagram with a carousel of photos dating back to before the star’s Destiny’s Child days, showing Bey rocking all kinds of braided styles from childhood. “She slays. She slays. Now. Then. Always. act ii COWBOY CARTER 3.29 #criticswithoutcredentials,” she captioned the post.

See Erykah Badu’s repost of Beyoncé’s album below.

Following a sting from the Beyhive, the “Bag Lady” icon jokingly asked Bey’s husband, Jay-Z, to intervene. “To Jay Z . Say somethin Jay, ” she wrote on X. “You gone let this woman and these bees do this to me ??” Fans immediately responded to the soulful icon with one person warning her to be “careful,” as another said, “erykah checked her head and realized they snatched her wig.”

Neither Beyoncé nor Jay-Z has responded to Badu, which is something that we all know likely won’t happen. Take a look at Yvette Noel-Schure and Erykah Badu’s posts above.

Usher and Ludacris have a new shared milestone to celebrate. The two Atlanta representatives took to social media to share their reactions to their 2004 hit record “Yeah!” earning 13-times platinum status from RIAA decades after its initial release.
 

Officially reaching the sales status only two days before Usher’s headlining Super Bowl LVIII Halftime performance, the party-ready track first went platinum in 2006, just two years after its release. The Crunk-n-B collaboration also hit 1 billion streams on Spotify in May 2023, the first song for Usher, Lil Jon, and Ludacris to reach this achievement on the platform.

“That DAMN SUPER BOWL EFFECT Was The Cherry On Top,” exclaimed Ludacris Monday (March 4) on X, followed by the praying hand emoji. “CONGRATS to my brothers @usher @liljon @seangarrettpen & ALL THE FANS THAT MADE THIS ONE OF THE BIGGEST SONGS IN HISTORY!!!!” Usher reshared the post on his account and commented, “We did that bro” with muscle and fire emojis. “Thank U to everyone who ever pressed play!!” Usher shared the post, adding, ” We did that bro. Thank U to everyone who ever pressed play!!” By RIAA standards, that’s a lot of gratitude. According to Billboard, “Yeah!” accumulated 4.8 million official on-demand U.S. streams Feb. 11-12, up 105 percent from Feb. 9-10, when the song earned 2.3 million streams.

The collaboration stands as one of the 45-year-old’s biggest records. However, it almost did not turn out that way. In an interview on the R&B Money podcast, songwriter Patrick “J. Que” Smith revealed the chart-topping performer did not initially want the track. “Usher didn’t really like the song,” shared Que per Business Insider, detailing how Confessions was already finished, forcing the singer to figure out where “Yeah!” would fit in. A&R Kawan “KP” Prather is said to be the person who eventually convinced Usher to record the song. “KP’s whole thing was, ‘All I know is that sh*t feel like hella Atlanta, I f**k wit’ it, cut it, if you don’t like it, we don’t keep it. But there’s no problem with putting your voice on it, sing it, and see what happens,” explained Que.

Thousands of Bay Area fans have been preparing to see Busta Rhymes perform on his first 2024 tour stop next week. Unfortunately, per Ticketmaster, the 51-year-old rapper has canceled his entire Blockbusta trek.
 

The Brooklyn rapper was supposed to kick off his 24-date road trip next Wednesday (March 13) in San Francisco, followed by stops in Hollywood, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Denver, Dallas, Miami, Philadelphia, Boston, and more. He was going to finish up the short sprint on April 21 at the Brooklyn Paramount venue in his hometown.
 

However, the Ticketmaster website now shows all 24 dates to be canceled. Busta has yet to comment publicly on what caused this sudden change. He has not posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, since Feb. 29. As for Instagram, he has been actively posting since the start of March, but only to promote music videos and other ventures. It will be interesting to learn why the tour is no longer happening.

Busta Rhymes’ Blockbusta tour was planned to support his latest LP of the same name. The 19-track, November 2023 album featured Young Thug, Quavo, Chris Brown, Kodak Black, BIA, Coi Leray, and more. The project united legendary producers Pharrell, Timbaland, and Swizz Beatz. He made headlines toward the end of February for an altercation with Nizzle Man while the two attended French Montana’s Mac & Cheese 5 listening party. Footage showed Nizzle being dragged out of a VIP section of the club by security while Busta and the Flipmode Squad trailed them. Nizzle Man gathers himself and stands up, only for the “Touch It” rapper to step up to him. Busta and his crew then led Nizzle into another section. Though it is unclear what sparked the altercation, the legendary rapper seemingly ended it. Watch below.

Victoria Monét‘s smash hit “On My Mama” just garnered her a huge accolade. On March 10, the confident anthem officially became certified Platinum by the RIAA, signifying the song has surpassed 1 million certified units.
 

“On My Mama” was released on June 16, 2023, as the third single from her debut album, Jaguar II, via Lovett Music and RCA Records. The song samples the 2009 song “I Look Good” by American rapper Chalie Boy.
 

The mother-of-one previously detailed the creative process behind the D’Mile, Jeff Gitelman and Deputy co-produced offering. “‘On My Mama’ was the first record I did that I actually liked. But it came while I was in a place of disbelief in what I was actually saying,” she said on The Ebro Show about the affirmations within the song’s lyrics.

“It’s almost like I had to speak it into existence. And I do look good, I do feel good, and I am deserving. And so, I think of the record as an anthem for affirmations, positive self-talk, manifestations, living in abundance, speaking things into existence, all of that is kind of in the song, but in a really cool hood way.”

The new Platinum plaque is a continuation of the stellar momentum the “Party Girls” singer has been riding. In February, Monét took home three wins from the 2024 Grammy Awards — after being nominated in seven categories. That night, she also met one of her biggest inspirations, Beyoncé , and recapped the moment on Instagram afterward. “I swear I’m usually not even the type to have the courage, but as soon as we spoke I felt a calm over me,” she wrote. “You’re my Diana, my Tina, my Aretha! My Bey!!! Your legacy has absolutely been my artist development…the best blueprint any performer could ever ask for but never EVER to be compared!”

 

Beyoncé is continuing to dig into her southern roots with the name of her upcoming country album, revealing its title to be Cowboy Carter.
 

The Houston native, 42, shared the news via Instagram, initially uploading the title to her page before deleting and adding to her Instagram Stories, instead. The accompanying image is of a brown and silver horse saddle with a “Cowboy Carter” sash placed on top of it.
 

As previously announced, the album is set to drop March 29.

Bey revealed that she’d be going country for the new album in a 2024 Super Bowl commercial for Verizon, dropping singles “Texas Hold ‘Em” and “16 Carriages” on streaming services immediately after. Her more observant fans picked up hints at her new direction from her 2024 Grammys appearance, as she rocked country-inspired garb from Pharrell’s latest LV menswear collection, topped with a white cowboy hat.
 

Country music icon Dolly Parton has since congratulated Bey on the transition, sharing via Instagram, “I’m a big fan of Beyonce and very excited that she’s done a country album. So congratulations on your Billboard Hot Country number one single. Can’t wait to hear the full album!”