Diddy reflected on the origin of his “Diddy Bop” dance move while accepting the Global Icon Award at the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards in Newark, New Jersey on Tuesday night. In doing so, he discussed his original dreams of making it to the NFL and how that failure resulted in the dance move.
“This is a dream come true for me,” he said on stage alongside Mary J. Blige, his son King Combs and three daughters. “I grew up watching MTV like, ‘Man, I wish one day I could be up there.’ I didn’t know I was gon’ be here, I started out as a paper boy at 12 and then I was gon’ be an NFL football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The Pittsburgh Steelers didn’t know this, but I planned on being a football player and my leg got broke the last year.”
Diddy & His Family At The VMAs
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY - SEPTEMBER 12: (L-R) Jessie James Combs, Chance Combs, Diddy, D'Lila Combs and Justin Dior Combs attend the 2023 MTV Video Music Awards at Prudential Center on September 12, 2023 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
“I got depressed and I would be in the clubs dancing in New York doing my ‘Diddy Bop,’ and then people would see me and they would cast me for videos,” he continued. “That’s how I fell in love with the music industry. I saw the executives and I wanted to chase that dream. So I wanna thank every executive, every producer, every songwriter. I gotta thank the Bad Boy family ’cause without them I would not be up here. I love y’all from the bottom of my heart.” Check out Diddy's full acceptance speech below.
Diddy Performs At The VMAs
In addition to the speech, Diddy also performed a medley of many of his most popular songs, including “I’ll Be Missing You,” “Bad Boy for Life,” “I Need a Girl” and others. King Combs, Yung Miami, and Keyshia Cole all joined him on stage throughout.
About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.
ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qbvTp5ywoJmltbC8jZympmdnZn95hJdmm6KclK56o7vPZpuappOaeq%2Byy2akra5dlrCksc%2BtmKeblQ%3D%3D