Mark Ronson says he was left "deeply unnerved" by Sean "Diddy" Combs decades before the disgraced music mogul faced criminal charges for sex trafficking and prostitution.
In his new memoir, Night People: How to Be a DJ in '90s New York City, Ronson recounts spinning records at Combs' exclusive Manhattan parties in the mid-1990s and sensing a presence that was both magnetic and unsettling. "For all the gigs I played for Puff [Combs], he probably spoke five sentences to me. But even to me, the DJ, he emitted a chaotic energy that left me both starstruck and deeply unnerved," Ronson writes.
Ronson, 50, said it quickly became "abundantly clear" that Combs "wielded a tremendous amount of power and cachet" in the city's nightlife. "He made people's careers - playing gigs for him certainly helped mine - and his disapproval meant a certain kind of exile," he wrote.
The Uptown Funk producer described Combs not as a rapper but as "a force who could will anything into existence, no matter the cost." He recalled how Combs "took over downtown - and then the Hamptons - until the whole city seemed to revolve around him and his parties."
Ronson said playing Combs' events exposed him to an elite social circle that included Muhammad Ali, Martha Stewart, Denzel Washington and Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York. "Everyone went," Ronson wrote, adding that Combs' apparent approval of him likely had as much to do with optics as with talent.
At the time, Ronson said, "the only controversy surrounding Puff was around the music," but nearly three decades later "horrific allegations of what was also going on beneath the surface" emerged.
In November 2023, Combs' former girlfriend Cassie Ventura sued him, alleging rape and abuse. The case was settled within 24 hours for $20 million, but Combs was later arrested on Sept. 16, 2024, and charged with racketeering, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution.
Combs pleaded not guilty but was convicted in July on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution following testimony from Ventura, rapper Kid Cudi and 32 other witnesses. He was acquitted of the racketeering and sex trafficking charges and is currently in jail awaiting sentencing, scheduled for Oct. 3, where he faces up to 20 years in prison.
