Growing up in the spotlight as the child of not one, but two Black pop culture icons can result in two different ways; you can be a complete entitled brat, or you can turn your parents into your inspiration and become an icon in your own right.
Christian “King” Combs is taking the latter into his own hands. Growing up, he’s been known as Diddy’s literal physical reincarnation, but in the last few years, King Combs has been on our radar for bringing that ’90s era Puff Daddy/Bad Boy feel back to hip hop with his own spin.
In 2017, King Combs made his presence known when his “Paid In Full CYN Cypher” hit the internet. I remember watching it and being floored at the effortless swag and smooth delivery while being completely invested in the visuals inspired by my favorite movie.
Fast forward to present day, the young superstar has worked with names like Chris Brown and Teyana Taylor and has been on numerous festival stages around the world. We caught up with him last week at the inaugural Day N Vegas music festival and spoke to him about some traveling tips and his feature on his brother, Quincy Brown’s latest single.
Travel Noire: For those who aren’t familiar, what’s your background? Where are you from and where do you call home now?
King Combs: Yeah, I’m Christian Combs. King Combs. I’m from New York, moved to Atlanta, moved back to New York, and my new home right now is Los Angeles.
Travel Noire: So, how does where you’re from influence your music and how you live your life?
King Combs: I think where I’m from definitely influences my sound and who I am as an artist just my style in general.
Travel Noire: How’s it traveling now as your own entity, as an artist, as opposed to traveling as a son of two icons?
King Combs: Honestly, it’s great. It’s really a dream come true. All my life, you know, I’ve been watching my pops and studying the game and waiting for my turn. Now that it’s my turn, it’s my time to give it my all and go crazy.
Travel Noire: Where are the top three places you’ve been to as an artist?
King Combs: Dubai, Antigua, and New York.
Travel Noire: Alright, so Dubai – What one thing you’d tell someone that they must do there?
King Combs: You’ve gotta go see the Burj Khalifa. It’s the tallest building in the world. That’s mandatory, you got to!
Travel Noire: You recently dropped a song with your brother Quincy called “Options,” How’s that been going?
King Combs: It’s been going great. Yeah, it was really fun working with my brother Quincy. You know, we always made music around each other growing up, but we never really collab. So, that was our first time. It was fun.
Travel Noire: You have a bar in the song where you say, “Wanna go travel the world? Yeah, me too.” And I see you travel a lot with your girlfriend. What are your three top baecation spots?
King Combs: Hmm, baecations… probably one of my last ones, Antigua. It was for a performance/baecation so that one’s a dope spot. Also, Turks and Caicos and Star Island.
Travel Noire: Which one is your favorite? What’s something someone MUST do?
King Combs: You’ve gotta go to Star Island (Miami) and make it to one of their New Year’s parties.
In case you missed it, the Day N Vegas festival took place on November 1-3rd in Las Vegas. The star-studded lineup featured headliners J. Cole, Future & Young Thug (in place of Travis Scott), and Kendrick Lamar along with sets by Dreamville & TDE artists and PLENTY more. Check out some photos below by Troi Williams (@MochaPoca) for Travel Noire.
