Cheyenne Roundtree says the years-long gap in Cassie Ventura’s discography was more than the usual label dysfunction. Sources interviewed for the Rolling Stone journalist’s new book claim Sean “Diddy” Combs deliberately stalled Ventura’s music when problems surfaced in their relationship.
Speaking with NPR about Bad Boy for Life: The Rise and Fall of Sean Combs, Roundtree said Ventura never stopped trying to build on the success of her 2006 debut. Instead, people close to the situation told her that Combs could use his authority over Bad Boy to punish Ventura professionally. One source described the alleged message during fights as, “OK, your show’s off. You’re not getting your album.”
That account offers another explanation for a career that seemed to stall almost immediately after a major breakthrough. “Me & U” reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100, and Ventura released her self-titled debut through Bad Boy in 2006. She had signed a 10-album deal with the label at 19, yet a second studio album never arrived. Her next substantial project was the 2013 mixtape RockaByeBaby.
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Hundreds Of Songs Never Became A Second Album
During Combs’ 2025 criminal trial, Ventura testified that she continued recording throughout their relationship. NPR reported at the time that she said she made hundreds of songs under his direction. Looking back, she described much of that work as “busywork” because so little of it reached the public.
Roundtree’s reporting goes further by alleging that the stalled releases could be deliberate. “He would weaponize his power over her career to stop those albums coming out,” she told NPR. Combs has denied civil allegations against him, while his attorneys have disputed characterizations of his relationship with Ventura made during the criminal case.
Ventura testified that Combs controlled parts of her professional life while they were together, an account prosecutors used during his federal trial to argue that his influence extended beyond their private relationship. Combs was acquitted of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking in 2025, but convicted on two counts of transportation to engage in prostitution. He is serving a 50-month sentence and appealing those convictions.
Bad Boy for Life is scheduled for release Sept. 29. Roundtree told NPR that her reporting draws on more than 100 sources, including people who described how Combs’ power operated away from public view. In Ventura’s case, the new allegation places the disappearance of her long-promised second album inside the same relationship she later described as controlling.
