[Cooper:] February, of course, is Black History month where we all celebrate the achievements and contributions African-Americans have made in the United States. And as we reflect on past triumphs we look to the future with the men and women who are making their own history, people like Sean Combs, also known as P. Diddy. The entrepreneur and hip-hop mogul isn't just forging his own path. He's trying to pave the way for others. Education contributor, Steve Perry sat down with him for a revealing interview.
[Steve Perry, Cnn Education Contributor:] When I talk to you I don't hear you talk about music. You don't talk about liquor deals. We don't talk about women. We talk about you and your concern in the community. So as we begin this, what is the difference between that very public Diddy and the one that I'm always talking to?
[Sean "p.diddy" Combs, Music Mogul:] I think we all have to have our impact in a different way. You know, I think we were all given different paths from Martin Luther King to Obama to Oprah Winfrey. My path was through music, and particularly through hip hop music which is a very young, aggressive, very in-your-face type of art form. And I think that over the years, you know, people have known me for being one of the premiere leaders of that. But I don't think they've seen how we have evolved and how I have evolved. You know, I'm a human being and I'm a person just like you.
[Perry:] I'm often conflicted, because I'm a principal and a man. We're contemporaries. We're the same age. You do what you do. I do what I do. So the question then becomes why would I come to a brother like you who makes music to talk about what can be done within the community?
[Combs:] I think that there's a lot of people that have been conflicted. I think the track record speaks for itself, that, you know, I've been able to go and show improved. Even though my company is called Bad Boy, my group is called Dirty Money, the positive things that I have done, you know, those are the things that should be magnified. Those are the things that the kids know me for. Now a lot of my focus is on the things that I was missing and the things that I see our kids missing.
[Perry:] Like what?
[Combs:] Which is education. There's still there's such a divide in education. It's when I speak to kids they hear me because I tell them the truth. I tell them, like, I'm going to tell you the truth. You don't stand a chance. You don't even stand a chance to make it right now. If I could be perfectly honest with you, you don't stand a chance. How do you save your life? How do you save your future? That means you have to educate yourself even five times harder than the average kid from the suburbs. You have to fight harder for your future.
[Perry:] I was in graduate school in social work in Philadelphia in a time that "Ready to Die" came out. I had only heard the radio version, the radio edit of everything that was off that. Grew up similar circumstances and heard a lot of what was it. But when I heard "Ready to Die" for the first time I was stunned. And I couldn't understand why it needed to be put on wax. I interpret it, the experience, my way. As a student at the time who knew one day he wanted to do something that would change people's lives; as somebody who wasn't sure that our experience need to be expressed in that way, and likewise somebody who couldn't tear themselves away. That's how I interpret it. How do you interpret your work?
[Combs:] "Ready to Die" is probably one of my proudest works of art because it really goes and it really, I guess, educate a lot of people on how severe and really the state of mind of the young African-American male on how it was at point of suicide for him. That's how bad things were. Like he couldn't get a job, couldn't get an education, and when they were hustling, they were also hustling with a conscience. And I think that's the thing that really was kind of profound about "Ready to Die", his conscience. He wasn't like a cold-blooded person; it wasn't cold-blooded like I want to be a drug dealer. And I don't care that we're killing my own people. He was trying to survive, he was conflicted, he was confused, and it was almost to the point where he wanted to give up. And just being able to tell that truth, it startled so many people and it affected so many social workers, so many teachers, so many community activists that we feel it had a positive impact on the community.
[Perry:] You write rhymes, they tell stories, you're in movies, you on stage. What's the part of your life that you're most proud of?
[Combs:] That I didn't let myself get caught up in any limitations; Anything I put my mind to, I was going to do it. I was going to if I wanted to run a marathon, I was going to do that. If I wanted to star on Broadway, I'm going to do that. There is a billboard that I have in Times Square, like I had my eye on that billboard. I dreamed that I was going to put a black image on that billboard, an African-American image, because I always remember being in Times Square and seeing the Marlboro Man and just seeing all the different other pictures and not seeing nobody that looked like me. I wanted kids to be coming in from Louisiana on school trips in D.C. and Chicago, I wanted them to go into Times Square and see somebody like them.
[Cooper:] Coming up next, President Clinton out of the hospital and speaking out. Will he slow down? His response when 360 continues.