Puff Daddy Cops a Plea

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Sean "Puffy" Combs yesterday pleaded guilty to second-degree harassment in connection to his alleged attack on record executive Steve Stoute. Combs had originally been charged with assault after Stoute accused the rapper of attacking him in his office, hitting him with a chair and a champagne bottle. Had Combs been found guilty of that weightier offense, he would have faced up to seven years in prison.

Stoute and Combs have both said that the dispute, which occurred in April, was the result of their disagreement about a video for Nas's "Hate Me Now," in which Puffy is depicted nailed to a cross.

Combs was sentenced to one day in a court-designated anger management program, which he is compelled to attend within sixty-one days of his conviction, according to a spokesperson for the Manhattan District Attorney's office.

"I am happy that the court decided favorably," Combs said in a statement. "I am glad to get this whole incident behind me and its now time for me to do what I do best -- concentrate on my album and give back to my fans."

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Song Stories

“Karma Chameleon”

Culture Club | 1983

Boy George has said this song was about standing by what you believe in. However, at the time, he was involved in a secret affair with Culture Club drummer Jon Moss. "Now people can understand the songs better," he said. "They were written about my relationship with Jon, and they were also written about being a gay man in a homophobic world." The lines "If I listen to your lies, would you say/I'm a man without conviction/I'm a man who doesn't know how to sell a contradiction," described his life at the time, he said. "I was selling this big lie."

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