Singer Usher Raymond recalls his experience living with embattled music producer Sean “Puffy” Combs in New York City.
Usher appeared on The Howard Stern Show in 2016 where he opened up about his time as a 13-year-old boy living with Combs.
Usher, 45, told Stern there were “very curious things taking place” at Combs’ home and studio.
“I got a chance to see some things,” Usher told Stern, 70, adding: “I went there to see the lifestyle — and I saw it.”
He continued: “I don’t know if I could indulge and understand what I was even looking at. It was pretty wild.”
When asked if he would ever send his children to “Puffy camp,” Usher said: “Hell, no.”
Usher recalled meeting Combs who first invited him to come to New York to record music. “I got a tutor, went to New York City, and he began to show me the ropes,” Usher told People.com. “Some of the most valuable lessons I could ever learn as an entrepreneur were picked up when I spent that time in New York with him, this unwavering desire to create and make certain that your creative ideas executed.”
Usher continued: “I saw him in the real time working it out, him building something from nothing, him understanding how culture and collaboration could build careers. Being able to see that, that’s what I got.”
He said Combs, 54, introduced him to “a totally different set of sh*t — sex, specifically.”
“Sex is so hot in the industry, man,” he explained. “There was always girls around. You’d open a door and see somebody doing it, or several people in a room having an orgy. You never knew what was going to happen.”
On Monday, Homeland Security agents raided Combs’ homes in Miami and Holmby Hills.
The raids were connected to s*x trafficking allegations in 2 lawsuits, a Homeland Security spokesperson told People.
Combs’ lawyer released a statement condemning the raids on Tuesday evening.
“There was a gross overuse of military-level force as search warrants were executed at Mr. Combs’ residences,” said attorney Aaron Dyer in a statement to People. “There is no excuse for the excessive show of force and hostility exhibited by authorities or the way his children and employees were treated.”
Dyer called the raids on Combs’ properties a “witch hunt”.
