Sean “Diddy” Combs formed the hip-hop group Da Band in the early 2000s which was later disbanded. One of its former members Freddy P recently did an interview with The Art of Dialogue, where he opened up about his experiences under the Bad Boy Records mogul.

Freddy P claimed that he witnessed Diddy “approaching” and “assaulting” men several times, especially the ones who were going through financial crisis.

“He’s literally assaulting men. It may be common nowadays, but for a man to walk up and slap you’re a*s and say ‘Let me get your number’ or ‘Come to my hotel room,’ that sh*t is not normal and I never heard no sh*t like that in my lifetime for no man to approach you like that,” Freddy P shared.

“And he’s done it several times. I could imagine that Puffy approaches these guys going through financial situations. When things ain’t hot no more, you fall back on people like him. He preys on you.”

Another member of Da Band, Chopper Young City, also got candid about his experiences during the time spent with Diddy, while speaking with RaRe Reports. He said he saw things at the infamous “parties” when he was young that “f*cked” him up.

He also accused the disgraced rapper of doing him “dirty” when he was at his “lowest,” including taking all of his cars back.

Everything you need to know about Diddy’s hip-hop group, Da Band

Sean Combs founded the hip-hop and R&B group Da Band in 2002. It was signed to his label Bad Boy Records label and comprised six members including Freddy P, Chopper Young City, Sara Stokes Rivers, Dylan Dilinjah, Babs, and E. Ness.

Da Band’s formation was part of MTV’s reality TV show Making the Band 2 for three seasons. In fact, it was during one of its episodes that Diddy reportedly asked the members to walk more than five miles from Manhattan to Brooklyn to get him a slice of cheesecake from the famous restaurant, Junior.

Da Band dropped their first studio album Too Hot for TV in September 2003. The singles Bad Boy This, Bad Boy That, and Tonight became quite popular at the time. Later, the band was dissolved by Diddy in 2004.

Following the disbandment, Sara Stokes Rivers, a native of Port Huron, Michigan, became an R&B singer and entrepreneur. Dylan Dilinjah, whose real name is Dylan John is a Brooklyn-based reggae vocalist. Babs, also from Brooklyn, is now an MC, whose real name is Lynese Wiley.

E. Ness aka Lloyd Mathis, on the other hand, is a Philadelphia battle rapper and MC who continued to maintain his friendship with Combs and worked as a songwriter on his 2006 album Press Play.

As for Freddy P, he is a Miami-based MC whose original name is Freddrick Watson.

Chopper Young City aka Kevin Barnes is a New Orleans, Louisiana rapper who recorded under the alia Rodney Hill. In 2022, he was charged with a s*x trafficking count in Las Vegas.

Exploring what Freddy P. said recently about Diddy

Recently, Freddy P. appeared for an interview with The Art of Dialogue and gave details of his accounts under the mentorship of Diddy. He claimed that the now-disgraced mogul “preyed” on young and vulnerable men, especially those having money troubles.

“It’s a lot of rappers out here that have secrets because they fell into these situations with Puffy — and I know this personally,” Freddy noted.

He further explained why he left Da Band and permanently parted ways with Diddy. He said that one day he woke up in a “mood” and didn’t want to be disturbed.

He was allegedly in the studio, “frustrated with a lot of sh*t going on” when he was confronted by Combs.

“Anyway, we get into a situation. We in front of everybody, n*gga like, ‘Man, what you think you ‘bout it or something?’ He was like, ‘N*gga, I’ll buy every house on your block, shut every light off in that b*tch, and every time you come out that b*tch you’ll get popped.’ When he tell you some sh*t like that, you go to picture him purchasing every house, you going to picture every light going off, and that sh*t silenced me,” Freddy P. mentioned.

Elsewhere, Freddy P shared that he was “shocked” to learn that Diddy was arrested, but said it was “long overdue.” He also added that “It got to the point where people were questioning if the feds were even doing their job” and how Puffy “got away with too much.”

Not only that but the former Da Band member shared that he did not “hate” Diddy, but just knew the “truth,” stating that the latter’s legal troubles were the result of his inability to “live his truth.”

“The more he tried to hide, the worse it got. A lot of stuff Puffy is going through, and I don’t wish bad on him. But it’s sensitive because there are a lot of victims here… I don’t like the man, but I still have love for him. I wouldn’t be here right now if it wasn’t for him. He saw something in me when there were 40,000 other people.” he wrapped up

Sean Combs was arrested by federal agents on September 16 on three felony charges including racketeering conspiracy, s*x trafficking by force or coercion, and transportation to engage in prostitution.

He was also indicted by a grand jury and later denied bail twice at the Manhattan Federal Court after prosecutors argued he was a “serious flight risk.”

Currently, he is being held at Brooklyn’s Metropolitan Detention Center under suicide watch, as he awaits trial. So far, he had pled “not guilty” to all three charges. If convicted, he is looking at 15 years to life in federal prison.