The reason why Usher lived with P Diddy as a teenager has been revealed.
Music bigwig L. A Reid made the bold move of sending a young Usher to bunk with Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, despite his own worries about being “irresponsible”. Back in 1993, Reid had snapped up Usher for his LaFace Records when the lad was just 14, launching him with the single “Call Me a Mack”.
But finding a follow-up tune proved a tough gig, with Reid admitting he couldn’t rustle up anything “compelling enough to release” post-debut. Keen to add a bit of grit to Usher’s image, Reid roped in his mate P. Diddy or Puffy, as he called him for assistance.
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In his 2016 tell-all book, Reid penned the plea he made to Diddy: “Will you take this kid and teach him your swagger? Can you just give him some of your flavour? ” And with that, Usher was off to the Big Apple for a stint at ‘Puffy Flavour Camp’.
(Image: WireImage)
Usher himself has since spilled the beans on the “pretty wild” scenes he witnessed while shacked up with Diddy, stuff that left him very confused including witnessing adults having sex. He’s even said he wouldn’t dream of letting his own kids go through the same, reports the Mirror.
Meanwhile, Diddy was arrested on 16 September charged with racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He has vehemently denied the charges levelled against him and consistently maintained his innocence.
His trial is set to commence in May next year. The relationship between Diddy and Usher has been thrust into the spotlight amidst these allegations. Reid, in his memoir, reminisces about meeting Diddy the same year he signed Usher.
(Image: WireImage)
Reid was so impressed by Diddy’s musical prowess that he introduced him to Clive Davis, to ensure the rapper had all the resources needed to establish Bad Boy Records. In his memoir titled Sing To Me: My Story Of Making Music, Finding Magic And Searching For Who’s Next, Reid stated: “Usher was fifteen years old, but nothing about him ever seemed juvenile. I was turning him over to the wildest party guy in the country at an age when I still needed to get his mother’s permission, but he went to New York for almost a year.”
“I didn’t know whether I was being irresponsible or having an epiphany. I would never be sure flavor camp worked until he came back.”
(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Usher reflected on his time with Diddy during an appearance on The Howard Stern Show in 2016, saying: “I got a chance to see some things … I don’t know if I could indulge and even understand what I was looking at.”
“It was pretty wild. It was crazy. There were very curious things taking place and I didn’t necessarily understand it.”
When asked if he would ever send his own children to ‘Puffy Flavor Camp,’ he replied: “Hell no! ” In a 2004 interview with Rolling Stone, Usher alleged that Diddy introduced him to “a totally different set of s**t – sex, specifically.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
