Mayor Eric Adams presents Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs with a Key to the Metropolis of New York.
Photograph courtesy Mayoral Pictures Workplace/ Caroline Rubinstein-Willis
New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams on Friday, Sept. 15 awarded a Key to the Metropolis of New York to legendary musician, entrepreneur and philanthropist Sean “Diddy” Combs.
Combs has produced and launched numerous iconic songs and albums during the last a number of a long time, whereas discovering a few of hip hop’s largest names throughout his profession.
Combs has additionally expanded past music, changing into a number one Black entrepreneur and main philanthropic donor to underserved communities.
“Sean Combs is the embodiment of the New York Metropolis angle. A son of Harlem, Combs labored his option to the highest, changing into a profitable musical expertise each in entrance of and behind the mic,” stated Mayor Adams. “Regardless of all of his successes, Sean has by no means forgotten the place he got here from — giving again to New York Metropolis, donating tens of millions to underserved communities, and supporting aspiring Black entrepreneurs. ‘Each step he takes, each transfer he makes,’ Sean Combs has confirmed to be a singular, generational expertise.
“For his contributions to music, enterprise, and philanthropy, I’m honored to current Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs, with a Key to the Metropolis of New York,” he added.
“Receiving the Key to the Metropolis of New York, the very metropolis that molded me, is an honor and unbelievable second in my life,” stated Sean “Diddy” Combs. “From rising up on the streets of Harlem to the worldwide stage — New York’s power and resilience have at all times been the backdrop of my story. This metropolis has given me triumphs, life classes, and love.
“In the present day, I settle for this key not only for me, however for each dreamer, each hustler, each artist, and each child from New York who dares to dream huge,” he added. “To Mayor Adams and the Metropolis of New York: I promise to maintain giving to this metropolis that made me. Thanks for recognizing my journey and my mission to uplift and empower. Let’s proceed to make historical past collectively.”
A Harlem native, Sean Combs shortly cemented himself as one of the crucial influential voices in common leisure.
Combs based Dangerous Boy Leisure after which Dangerous Boy Information in 1993, releasing Infamous B.I.G.’s influential hip hop album “Able to Die,” the label’s first report, one 12 months later.
Whereas working Dangerous Boy Information, Combs helped launched the careers of a few of the largest names in music, together with Lil Kim, Religion Evans, Mase, and the Lox. So far, Dangerous Boy Information has bought greater than 100 million data worldwide.
Receiving worldwide acclaim, Combs’ personal first full-length album, “No Method Out,” debuted at primary on the Billboard 200 charts and earned Combs two of his eventual three Grammy Awards wins in 1997.
Combs would go on to obtain the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers’ Founders Award in 2011 and the Black Leisure Tv’s Lifetime Achievement Award in 2022.
Combs’s affect goes past music. As a number one entrepreneur, Combs received the Council of Style Designers of America Award for Menswear Designer of the Yr in 2004 for his clothes line, Sean John.
He has additionally been instrumental in schooling initiatives, serving to to open faculties in Harlem and the Bronx, and donating tens of millions in scholarships to traditionally Black Schools and Universities Howard College and Jackson State College.
The Key to the Metropolis of New York was first awarded in 1702 by New York Metropolis Mayor Phillip French, when he supplied “Freedom of the Metropolis” to Viscount Edward Cornbury, then the governor of New York and New Jersey.
By the mid-1800s, it grew to become customary to award the Key to the Metropolis of New York as a direct image of town’s want {that a} visitor be happy to return and go at will.
In the present day, the Key to the Metropolis of New York is a beloved image of civic recognition and gratitude reserved for people whose service to the general public and the widespread good rises to the best stage of accomplishment.
