Spot Cat / 02 June 2025 / Categories: Music, Rap, People, Entrepreneurs, Musicians

The Fall Of Diddy Ciroc Vodka Made Him A Billionaire

Documentary series on Amazon Prime

Who is Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, P. Diddy whatever the hell he calls himself lately?

First off the French drinks brand founded in 2003 now wholly owned by British company Diageo took back control after a lengthy legal battle in 2024. No surprise P Diddy fought hard, it was a collaboration that made once co owner Sean Combs a billionaire.

So what went wrong?

In the Amazon Prime documentary series produced by David C Brown, Steven Grossman and Jason Fine, directed by Yoruba Richen, Emma Schwartz and Scott Preston we see a very different portrayal of the charismatic rapper and music mogul who appeared to effectively straddle the two very different worlds of street, gangster, drugs and violence and the elite echelons of predominately white (waspy) money and power.

Puff Daddy definitely had ingratiated himself through music initially into the world of celebrity, status, media profile moving from music, to fashion, to branding and then the vodka Ciroc that made him a billionaire.

The series which comprises 5 episode is stunning and shocking in equal measure.

The episode titles alone, The Making of a Mogul, Empire Under Fire, Untouchable, The Fall, and The Assistant map out a Rise and Fall journey we appear to be seeing repeated by men in the public eye, using money power and influence to literally get away with murder.

And we the consumers are the facilitators, aware of the exploits of not just Sean Combs, there have been many exposed for the same behaviour in recent years, yet unable to resist their charms, eager to buy in for a taste of said money and power, we the public continue to buy in to the celebrities we love. It’s hard to imagine our heroes, O.J. Simpson springs to mind or Michael Jordan, more recently Chris Brown, someone who’s music I love as murderers, misogynists and wife beaters.

As a society we are able to turn a blind eye, overlook the really bad behaviour. I can’t say if I’d been invited to one of the infamous white parties I wouldn’t have gone. Even Usher himself joked on Howard Stern about his experiences as an impressionable teenager under the wing and guidance of the mogul. In retrospect and now as a father himself he said he wouldn’t want his kids exposed in the same way. And yet would he be the superstar he is today had he not gone through the P. Diddy ring of fire to get there.

The series is eye opening and scary in equal measure. Whilst focusing on the life of one man the really interesting thing for me is it’s more a subtle look, biopic about all of us for we are the one’s that exalted him to god like status, the machine.

Twenty or more years ago I was loosely involved in the music business and came across an artist, Jamal Barrow known as S.H.Y.N.E serving 10 years for a shooting incident, he was acquitted on an attempted murder charge, imprisoned somewhere in the South, can’t remember exactly where. He had protested his innocence from the start saying it was P Diddy who fired the gun.

He said clearly that the perpetrator of the crime was Sean Combs a co defendant in the trail back in 2001 and he had been stitched up and taken the rap for something he didn’t do.

The Washington post wrote in June 2001,

“ Barrow's recent debut album sold more than 750,000 copies, but the 22-year-old rapper may be most famous for his supporting role in the highly publicized trial earlier this year. On March 17, after seven weeks of testimony, a Manhattan jury acquitted Combs and another co-defendant, Anthony "Wolf" Jones, on gun possession and bribery charges.

Barrow, however -- while acquitted of the most serious charge, attempted murder -- was found guilty on five other charges, including assault in the first degree, reckless endangerment and criminal possession of a weapon. Justice Charles Solomon sentenced Barrow to 10 years for first-degree assault, a count that could have brought up to 25 years. Barrow was also given four other, shorter sentences, but those will run concurrently. The soonest he would be eligible for release is after eight years and seven months.”

I remember thinking at the time, true or not how credible his story was.

After watching the documentary series more than 20 years later it triggered memories of this experience and made me wonder how many other people might be locked up for the dastardly deeds of one Sean Combs.

If you have ever listened to or appreciated Rap music and never really questioned the lyric or the message this series will change how you see the reality of the movement. It was supposed to be about something so much bigger and so much better.