Why the Diddy Party Was Once the Most Coveted Invite

Years before accusations cast his lavishly produced parties in a criminal light, the Diddy bash was a cultural phenomenon, packed with stars from Anna Wintour to Trump and other eager “A-listers begging to get in.”

The venue, a downtown Manhattan club on a side street thronged with everyone from movie stars to wannabes hoping to gain entry to the party that was still raging at 3 a.m., had been at capacity since midnight. As the editor-in-chief of Honey, a prominent magazine for urban women, I’d been ushered in long before. Inside, the crowd — a mix of artists, music and media executives, fashion designers, actors, sports stars, entrepreneurs and models — lounged in their respective red leather-clad banquettes. Bursts of shimmery light would periodically illuminate corners of the dim sexy room as leggy waitresses in black barely-there uniforms lit sparklers and delivered bottles of Cristal to various VIPs. The DJ spun hip-hop banger after banger, and I hadn’t left the dance floor for hours. Suddenly, the DJ lowered the music and our host, Puff Daddy (or Diddy or Love or Sean Combs or whatever you prefer) got up on a table with a mic.

“Everybody chill out,” he yelled. “5-0 is in the house.”

I wiped a sweaty curl out of my eye to see men in uniform streaming in as Puff said pleadingly in the mic, “Please, Mr. Fire Marshal, please don’t shut down the sexy. Look at all the honeys up in here. You and your boys stay. Drinks on me.”

The fire marshal was, apparently, uninterested. The lights came up and the kickoff to New York’s 2001 party season was over.

P. Diddy & The Bad Boy Family The Saga Continues album release party. KMazur/WireImage

Now of course, Diddy’s relationship with law enforcement is starkly different, as is the once glamorous life he led until just a year ago. Charged in federal court with sex trafficking and racketeering with accusations that include kidnapping, arson, forced labor and obstruction of justice, Diddy — referred to in his indictment by his born name, Sean Combs — sits in solitary confinement in a Brooklyn detention center without bail, mere miles from where he staged some of the most memorable bashes in recent celebrity memory.

But that night remains a core early aughts memory for me. It was emblematic of a moment in time when hip-hop was at its zenith, a powerful epoch in which the urban world (music, fashion, media) drove pop culture in New York City and around the world. During that period, much of urban culture revolved around parties: They shaped clothing with high-end designers copying the looks they saw at the events and on the streets; they created opportunities for DJs who rose to prominence as they attracted coveted crowds; they changed the way music was put out as the biggest labels realized they could create buzz for their artists via album release parties that rivaled Saturday night at a hot club. That era of urban parties even changed the way we party as it further popularized roped off VIP sections, bottle service and pricey champagne sprayed over revelers. As a former lawyer for a major music label told me, “Hip-hop parties were not only an expression of influence, they were influence.”

Another look at The Saga Continues release party. KMazur/WireImage

The progenitor of party culture, no one did it better than Puff Daddy back in the day. With his entourage of ballers and video vixens, his retinue of security, his talent for curation, Puff was the ringmaster of relevancy, the pied piper of fun and the force at the very center of cultural power. 

While other people and brands threw parties, it was universally recognized that there was no party like a Puffy party. Every time he got folks together, it was a unique and, yes, legendary celebration of an amplified voice and an impactful culture.

Donald Trump. Anna Wintour. Clive Davis. Ashton Kutcher. Former flame Jennifer Lopez. Kim Kardashian. The list of stars and luminaries who held court at a Diddy bash were as impressive as any Met Gala red carpet, and the invite just as coveted.