The Man Who Made Diddy a Gatekeeper

➡ The article discusses the controversial relationship between music industry figures Diddy and Clive Davis. It suggests that Diddy’s rise to fame was influenced by Davis, who allegedly used his power to manipulate Diddy into compromising situations. The article also explores rumors of a romantic relationship between the two, and how this may have contributed to Diddy’s success. It further delves into the darker side of the music industry, hinting at a tradition of exploitation and manipulation among industry gatekeepers.
➡ Clive Davis, former president of CBS Records, was involved in a scandal involving misuse of company funds, payola (bribing radio stations for airplay), and drugola (providing drugs for industry favors). This was revealed during a federal investigation that also implicated other record company executives. Davis was also accused by several artists, including TLC, of unfair business practices and exploiting their contracts. These allegations suggest that Davis may have influenced other industry figures, like Diddy, in their controversial business practices.
➡ Clive Davis, a powerful figure in the music industry, is suspected of being involved in the deaths of artists like Lisa from TLC and Whitney Houston, who both had conflicts with him. These suspicions are based on unusual circumstances surrounding their deaths and Davis’s connections to the mob. However, there’s no concrete proof of his involvement. This situation highlights the darker side of the music industry, where artists are often exploited and mistreated.

With the recent Diddy documentary, people have finally understood why they call him a monster. But have you ever wondered why Diddy is the way he is? What made him the menace he is known for today? His reputation might make you think he was born that way. But the truth is, monsters aren’t born. They are made. Behind Diddy’s disturbing behavior is the man who shaped them. Industry gatekeeper Clive Davis. This evil didn’t start with Diddy. It began long before he was even involved in the industry. These industry gatekeepers are groomed before they’re given the keys. A tradition passed down through generations within the music industry.

If you think what Diddy did was horrendous, wait until you hear about the man who shaped them. Hey guys, I hope all is well. Welcome back to The Truth Is, where I drop new videos exposing the truth weekly. In today’s episode, we will be talking about Clive Davis, the devil who shaped Diddy. Let’s get right into it. In July 1993, Sean Puff Diddy Combs was terminated from his A&R position at Uptown Records. This decision stemmed from escalating tensions with label executive Andre Harrell, who perceived Diddy as having an uncontrollable ego and excessive ambitions leading to a power struggle.

Andre Harrell reportedly believed Diddy was attempting to take his position and acted to prevent this by firing him. This early career setback could have been career ending for Diddy. Fortunately, upon his dismissal, Harrell permitted him to retain two artists that he had signed and was developing, Craig Mack and the notorious B.I.G. This decision would end up saving Diddy’s career and allowed him to make it to the very top of the music industry. All because of one man, the music industry legend Clive Davis, who bought into his vision. After Diddy was fired from Uptown Records, he became determined to start his own label.

Using the industry connections he had acquired during his time at Uptown, he found the way to arrange a meeting with legendary record executive Clive Davis, who was the founder and president of Arista Records at the time. Upon his arrival at Arista’s office, Davis saw a 21-year-old Diddy as a young puppy, possessing an unparalleled vision. Clive quickly became interested in him, but wasn’t sure if hip-hop was really the right market for a label that was known for artists like Whitney Houston. On top of this at the time, hip-hop hadn’t really been embraced on a mainstream level.

While there had been some big-name hip-hop artists, it was still being looked at as just another passing fad. During the meeting, Diddy advocated for the increased recognition of hip-hop and urged Clive to consider an investment in the genre through his endeavors. He told Davis that he wanted to make his own hip-hop label that would take hip-hop to mainstream levels and decided to play him some of the music his artist had recorded, playing him the song, Flavor in Your Ear by Craig Mack and three unreleased Biggie songs. Despite all the reasons to turn a young Diddy down, Clive bought into his vision and struck a deal with him.

Arista Records, through a collaboration with LaFace Records, provided Combs with an advance worth $1.5 million to fund the initial venture and granted him full creative control to launch his own label, Bad Boy Records, under Arista’s umbrella. Just like that when Diddy likely believed it was all over. Not only was he back in the game, but now he had his own record label, a record label that was destined to take over hip-hop and change it forever. This pivotal meeting was instrumental in shaping Diddy’s career, yet allegations suggest a darker aspect to this encounter, transforming a positive milestone into a more sinister narrative.

While Clive Davis gave Diddy the world and made him a hip-hop gatekeeper, it wasn’t just because he believed in Diddy. This is the music industry we’re talking about. There is always a sinister price for power and success. That’s exactly what Diddy allegedly paid to make it to the top and it changed them forever. For years now in the industry, there have been rumors about what really took place during this famous meeting between Diddy and Clive Davis. According to what the industry has said behind the scenes, there was way more than just music being shown at Clive Davis that day.

The real reason Diddy walked out of Arista’s office with a record deal was that he did a little something extra for Clive, with claims alleging Diddy got on his knees and tested Clive’s mic. It was even claimed that Diddy was in a full-on relationship with Davis. Allegations that were essentially validated when Davis revealed he was bi in his own memoir. Clive admitted he had secretly been in relationships with men in the industry for years, confessing that in the 1970s, he hooked up with a man for the first time and it provided him welcome relief.

He also writes that he secretly dated a man from the 1990s to around 2004, which just so happens to be around the same time he began working with Diddy. Suggesting, Puff Daddy was that lover. This to many confirmed the secret that everyone knew in the industry. Diddy was allegedly Clive’s lover, and that’s how he managed to make it to the top of the music industry. One person who alleged this publicly was no other than Shug Night. Now I know Shug Night is not the most reliable, unbiased source when it comes to Diddy, but he claims another industry executive Jimmy Iveen told him directly that Diddy and Clive were actually lovers.

Considering that Jimmy Iveen never denied the allegations, you can see why people think it’s true. Shug Night also claimed that in the industry, this activity was a hazing tradition for industry gatekeepers, claiming that it was passed down from generation to generation, with Davis allegedly doing it to Diddy, who went on to do it to others like Usher and Little Rod. He overheard somebody say something, he probably should have heard it. He wanted to holler at me. So I said, I’ll always give me a minute. Jimmy said, man, I’m here because Clive Davis called me, and him and Puffy’s real tight and, you know, loved it.

So I thought he was something like that, got love from each other. All right. He said, yeah, they are lovers. I said, well, why do you keep saying that? I said, look, all these, you say they’re lovers like that. They didn’t suck him. He said, I don’t want to say that, but that’s what it means, right? I said, okay. He said, Clive, I don’t want them to happen to Puffy. He said, but this guy ain’t going to be able to do this business because we know what he did, but they did it. Is Diddy at a level of being untouchable, where he’s protected, or is Diddy a target that they’ll eventually put all the blame on him and make sure they get away with it free? I mean, he’s definitely going to be the black mother for the whole of the bank.

You got to realize what things. That boy’s life is dangerous, and he’s like this, and he’s not dangerous with the shit he’s doing, but he’s in danger. He knows too much. What things you got to realize is he probably has a conversation right now with the higher ups and everybody else to figure out how it’s going to work itself out, because he know all the secrets, and if he gets it right in his mouth, it could be a bad look. No, some of the big names. I’m just curious if you have any names.

You don’t seem like somebody… Well, but number one was Clive Davis. If what Shugnight is saying is true, it would not only confirm the allegations about Diddy and Clive, but it would also explain where Diddy learned a lot of what he does. Diddy started using his power to make people compromise themselves, because allegedly, Clive did it to him first. Diddy isn’t the first monster in the industry. He’s just one of the few they chose to throw on the sword and blame everything on. Instead of acknowledging that the industry as a whole has this problem, they pin it all on Diddy, making it seem like he was the sole person behind all of it.

But the truth of the matter is, Clive Davis was worse than Diddy and showed them more than just how to make people compromise themselves for an opportunity. The more I looked into Clive Davis, the more I noticed similarities between him and Diddy. A lot of things Diddy became known for seems to have come directly from his mentor Clive. Just like Diddy, Clive was known for his predatory business practices robbing most of his artists blind. He was also known for using illegal substances to convince people to bento as well, stealing money from his own record label and being allegedly connected to drug trafficking.

With the worst of all of the allegations, being accused of masterminding the demise of many of his own artists. Today, let’s examine these allegations made against Clive so we can see the obvious similarities between him and Diddy. Let’s start with one of the biggest scandals of his career, the drugola scandal. In 1973, Clive Davis was abruptly fired as president of the CBS record group amidst a wide-ranging federal investigation into payola and drugola, providing drugs to artists and DJs for industry favors or radio play. Immediately following his dismissal, CBS records filed a civil lawsuit against Davis, alleging 94,000 inexpensive count violations over his six-year tenure.

These alleged violations included using 54,000 of company funds for redecorating his own Manhattan apartment, another 20,000 for a bar mitzvah for his own son at the Plaza Hotel, with another 13,000 for a summer house rental in Beverly Hills. Davis’s firing began with the investigation into David Winshaw, Columbia’s vice president of artist relations. Winshaw’s investigation began in February 1973 when federal authorities in New York, New Jersey busted a drug ring that included reputed mafia figure Pasquale Pastifalcon. Winshaw’s name and papers were found amongst Falcone’s effects, leading investigators to focus on activities at Columbia Records.

That 19 individuals and six corporations were charged with criminal offenses, including income tax evasion, perjury, mail fraud, interstate transportation of stolen property, interstate travel to commit bribery, and the making of illegal payments to radio station personnel. That is, payola to get records played. Three record company presidents were indicted, including Clive Davis, former president of CBS Records. Davis was charged with filing false income tax returns over a three-year period. David Winshaw, another former top executive at CBS Records, was charged along with Pat Falcone, an alleged mafia figure, with defrauding CBS of more than $75,000 by setting up phony companies to be paid by CBS.

Record industry officials said today they did not feel that the indictments reflected typical behavior in the business. They said the majority of their personnel were honest. Winshaw cooperated with federal prosecutors after his dismissal from CBS in May 1973. He reportedly detailed how Columbia Records had a practice of setting aside funds, at least $250,000, for promotional purposes, which included gifts of drugs, referred to as drugola, and cash to radio deejays, particularly at black-oriented stations, to ensure their records received their play. Winshaw was also linked to efforts to obtain protection for CBS recording stars from Anthony Fatoni Salorano, another repeated mafia boss through his connections with the Falcons.

Winshaw allegedly, on orders of Clive Davis, had engaged in fraudulent invoicing and forging documents, arranging kickbacks on personal projects, some of which were directly connected to Davis’ personal expenses, such as the bar mitzvah and the home renovations. Winshaw facilitated the fraudulent paperwork that allowed Davis to misuse corporate funds. Winshaw was known in the industry for acquiring entertainment, including drugs and escorts, for record executives and artists to secure industry favors and airplay. With Winshaw being directly accused of doing this with Clive, industry insiders quoted anonymously in the New York Times and Rolling Stones, described an unnamed, high-level executive, widely believed to be Winshaw, as the house pimp or Dr.

Feelgood, who acquired six broads or eight bags for artists and executives. Winshaw was known as the one, the go-to guy if you needed anything, and the guy who made things happen. Clive was close with Winshaw and allegedly used his services to further his own career. A Rolling Stone article from 1973 makes the claim that Davis was not only linked to a drug trafficking operation through Winshaw, but was also the one authorizing the payola and drugola. Essentially, Winshaw was setting up what we now know as freak-off parties for Clive and other executives, providing them with substances and women, and even booking hotels for these parties.

He would also provide DJs with money or drugs so they can play their music on the radio. He would then bill all of these expenses to the record label as if they were all regular business expenses. This seems to be where Diddy got the blueprint to do what he would go on to do. Just like Diddy, Clive was connected to criminal activities and also had a person who would organize his wild parties with escorts. Just like Diddy, he used substances to get what he wanted from people in the industry. This is where Diddy learned this behavior, and this is who taught him.

Clive was also who taught Diddy how to rob his artists blind. Over the years, Clive Davis has been accused by many artists of robbing them blind. Some of these artists that called them out was the group TLC. In October 1989, TLC signed a deal with Clive’s label Arista Records. Davis formed a partnership with R&B producer L.A. Reid and Babyface in 1989 to create LaFace Records, which would house TLC. Just a few short years later, TLC would publicly go to war with their label, accusing them of locking them into predatory record contracts. TLC being led by Lisa Lefty Lopez first publicly called out Clive Davis in the mid-1990s after their multi-platinum album Crazy Sexy Cool was released.

The conflict arose because despite the album generating approximately $75 million for their record company, the members reported only receiving about $50,000 each, forcing the group to file for bankruptcy while having a top-selling album. This is not exactly what you would have wanted it to be, but this proves it. What’s not on? I’ll sell it. We’re not going to sugarcoat anything anymore. We’ve been quiet long enough. Can I get an amen? Well, I’ll put it to you this way. We are the biggest selling female group ever. 10 million albums worldwide. We have worked very hard.

We have been this business for five years and we are as broke as can be. We’re not trying to be a sad story. If that was the case, we would have been on everybody’s talk show talking about how broke we are. We haven’t done that. I know it’s hard to believe because we’ve sold so many albums, but it is possible that’s the deal here. We’re not happy at all, but for real tonight, this is all we wanted. We wanted to win a Grammy, at least one and we won two, and that proves that we are the jam.

This happened because Arista had tricked them into signing an extremely bad record deal. The record contract was written to make sure the group received an initial royalty rate of just 7% per album sold, which was significantly lower than the industry standard for new artists, typically 11% to 15%. Frustrated by the realization they had been duped, the group confronted Davis, who was the president of Arista Records at the time, to demand the money they felt they were owed. After their demands and questions were ignored, eventually members of TLC showed up to Clive’s office and confronted him.

They reportedly interrupt a private one-on-one meeting Diddy was having with Clive, and physically guarded the doors, demanded their money, and confiscated all of their own platinum plaques and awards from the walls. The company Clive Davis, we held them hostage like guns, the whole shebang. Yeah, yeah, it was like that. Wait, wait, wait, I want to make sure we understand. Yes. Guns? Yes, guns. With bullets. With bullets. Come on, give me the story, baby. I’m going to tell you, because TLC had generated on Kray-Sexy Coups $75 million, and they gave us $50,000 apiece.

I was like, what the hell? So, of course, Lisa was the ringleader. Like, we need to go get our money. I need to know where my MF and money’s at. So, you know, she was locked up in the Diversion Center for burning down the house, and she was just like, okay, we’re going to get in the face, and them girls I was locked up with, we’re going to drive up there, we’re going to take the guns, and then we had this limo driver. Wait, you just got out of jail? Yes. Okay, okay, okay.

And we had the limo driver, and he was the getaway car, so we went up there and held everybody hostage, and Puffy was the one that snitched us out. Yo, B, yo, your girl’s up here, man, bugging, yo. No, but, oh, Puffy, why you going to snitch us out, dawg? But he called, yeah, because we kicked him out of the meeting. Well, wait a minute, Puffy, mind your damn business. Okay, go ahead, shut up. Oh, my God. But it was rude. We interrupted Puffy’s meeting, you know, and he was having a meeting, and Puffy was like, I’m sorry, but we really got to handle this, dawg, you know, this money.

You know, because we were getting sick and sweating, and you know, we was like really working hard for this money, and we wanted to know who the hell had our check. In order to get them out of the office, Clive ended up giving the girls another advance. But this did not fix their contractual issues. Angie Stone also called out Clive Davis, accusing him of shady industry tactics, claiming her contract obligations on the label side were purposely ignored in order to put the spotlight on another artist, Kelly Clarkson. The artist lies Stone had similar allegations as well, accusing Clive Davis of ruining his career and robbing him of his potential for success by freezing his royalties to force him to deliver new album tapes in the early 1970s.

The list goes on and on with many artists like Prince, Aerosmith, and even Kelly Clarkson calling out Clive Davis for destroying or robbing their career. Now we know who taught Diddy how to rob all his talent. It was techniques taught to him by Clive Davis. But the worst thing Clive Davis seems to have taught Diddy is what to do with artists that become a problem. Now, these are only allegations and speculations, as there isn’t enough undeniable evidence that Clive was behind any of it. But in my opinion, I believe these allegations are likely true.

Many people believe that Clive has been behind the death of a few artists who created problems for him, like we saw with TLC. Strange enough, after Lisa from TLC led a war against Clive and his record label, she died in a freak accident while in Honduras. On April 25, 2002, Lisa rented an SUV in which she ended up dying in. She swerved to avoid an uncoming vehicle and rolled over several times after hitting two trees. Lopez was the only person fatally injured in the crash and died instantly from severe head and neck injuries.

So this day, many people believe this tragedy wasn’t at all an accident. Believing it was Clive Davis who got rid of Lisa for trying to expose him just a few years back. While we might not have concrete proof that Clive was behind this, the online speculation is not hard to believe as the music industry is known for their shady tactics. Like I said earlier, Clive was connected to the literal mob. A man with that much power can make problems go away, just like Lisa went away. Another person Clive is accused of getting rid of was no other than his biggest artist, Whitney Houston.

On February 11, 2012, legendary singer Whitney Houston was found unresponsive in her hotel bathroom. She had sadly drowned passing away at the age of 48, leaving her family and fans devastated. At first, the cause of her passing wasn’t revealed, but eventually it was confirmed to be accidental caused by her substance abuse. Fans were left with so many questions regarding this mysterious passing. Even more questions rose when the whole story of the incident was reported. According to many reports, days before the incident, Whitney was acting unlike herself and seemed rather off.

And on February 9, she crashed an interview with Brandy and Clive Davis, who were at the Hilton’s at Beverly Hills, in preparation for Clive’s pre-Grammy party he was known for hosting. A video of this instance is still floating online to this day, showing a moment that many people still question to this very day. When Whitney walked up to Brandy, she whispered something to her and handed her something. Still to this day, people wonder what was that about? At the time, Whitney just so happened to be staying at the same hotel where this interview was taking place, and it’s where she was found dead just two days later.

Ever since she passed away, rumors have been circulating online claiming that Whitney was set up by her own label, with Clive Davis allegedly being behind it all. It was alleged that Clive and Whitney weren’t on great terms before she passed. Whitney was allegedly dealing with a serious substance problem, which led to her slowly decaying in front of the world. She was slowly destroying her legacy, which in all honesty belonged to Clive Davis as he owned her rights. People believe Clive had Whitney removed from the picture, as she was destroying everything she had built.

He might have realized she was more profitable dead than alive. There are some stories that claim Whitney didn’t accidentally drown but was made to, and according to a private investigator who looked into this situation, that’s exactly what happened. This PI claims there’s evidence suggesting Whitney was taken out. He believes that several drug dealers went to Whitney’s room before she died, as they were sent by their boss to collect money from Whitney. Investigator Paul Hubel claims that he has proof Whitney was killed, and has even turned it into the FBI.

Paul claimed he was sold by his sources at the hotel. That footage existed depicting two men entering Whitney’s room at around 2.45pm on the day she died. He believes they were the ones who put Whitney in the bath. He claims that the evidence for the alleged struggle lied in the coroner’s report. The coroner, for instance, noted that a large area of skin on Houston’s lower back was burnt off, so-called skin slippage by the hot bathwater. The water was so hot that six hours after she died, it was still 93 degrees. He claimed that even if she was on substances, she wouldn’t willingly get into a bath that hot.

He believes she obviously had help. Paul also claimed that Houston had injuries on her forearms and hands that are consistent with her having a pretty nasty struggle and with classic defense wounds. This PI, who was a former police officer, believes Whitney was taken out, and I agree with him. Now, considering that Clive Davis was previously connected to the mob and drug traffickers, I believe it wouldn’t be far-fetched if those dealers this PI is talking about were sent by Clive Davis to get rid of her. Considering what Clive Davis did after Whitney died, it all seems even more believable.

It has been largely reported by many people that Clive Davis allegedly gave orders to keep Whitney’s body inside of the room so that he could proceed to do his pre-grammy party. With it being reported that Clive Davis hosted the pre-grammy party and was partying downstairs in the same hotel that Whitney’s body was laying in. Instead of ending the party and showing that he actually cared about Whitney’s death, he continued the party and had a blast celebrating with the entire music industry. That is not the actions of someone who is grieving the loss of someone close to them.

Instead, it shows as a man who was celebrating what he likely wanted. Isn’t it quite interesting that Clive was accused of giving substances to his artist? Then, one of his biggest artists just so happens to develop a horrible addiction problem. While there isn’t 100% proof Clive was behind her death, I wouldn’t be surprised if he was. Just like Diddy was likely behind Kim Porter’s death and it hasn’t been proven yet either. As you can see, Clive Davis was the monster who made Diddy. He was the one who showed them the industry ways.

But even calling Clive Davis the start of the problem would be wrong, as Clive was just doing what he was taught and that person that taught Clive was only doing what they were taught by someone higher up. The point is, this isn’t just actions of a few. It is how the music industry as a whole operates. This is the system the elite behind the industry created, a system that takes advantage of the artists in every way in order to exploit them. While taking down Diddy and exposing him is great, it is just a start.

We must keep that same energy for all the rest of the monsters in the industry. Trust me, there’s a lot of them out there. All of them deserve to be exposed. Well, I’ma end this one here. I wanna thank you all for watching and I’ll see you guys in the next one. [tr:trw].