Sean 'Diddy' Combs shares confessional video about drug dealer dad

Sean 'Diddy' Combs has opened up about the death of his father for the first time, revealing he was a drug dealer who was shot and killed when the hip-hop mogul was just three years old.

The rap entrepreneur has hardly ever spoken about his dad, Melvin Combs, but he has come clean about his childhood grief in a new online video segment, titled Confessions, to promote his new cable channel, RevoltTV.

In the clip, which was filmed in his New York apartment and posted on YouTube.com on Wednesday (23Oct13), the superstar admits Combs Sr.'s life on the streets drove him to succeed in school and chase his dreams because he didn't want to follow his father into an early grave.

Alerting fans to the YouTube video, he wrote on his Twitter.com page, "I've never spoken openly about my father... but launching @Revolttv moved me to share and let ppl kno (people know) the truth..."

In the short film, he says, "I don't have a lot of memories of my father. They say you can't miss something you never had, but that's only a little ways (sic) right. There's definitely been times as I've gotten older that I've missed my father - his presence - not being here and not having someone to ask manly advice. Just things that you would ask your father. Also things that you would celebrate with him that would make him proud.

"My father was a hustler, he was a drug dealer... so I learned early in life, there's only two ways out of that - dead or in jail, and (it) made me work even harder...

"Sometimes you can't just answer why things happen but I definitely think the route I went on - staying out the streets and hitting my books and trying to be somebody - I think he played a role in that... I had his hustler's spirit, his drive, his determination, his swag..."

Growing emotional, the rapper closed the video by stating, "My father's name was Melvin Combs and I'm Melvin's son, Sean Combs."