Sean Combs is currently in federal prison. Rumors of abuse followed the media mogul for years, according to Rolling Stone reporter Cheyanne Roundtree, whose new book examines how Combs remained so powerful despite decades of warning signs and allegations.

The book, discussed in a recent NPR interview with Roundtree, is titled "Bad Boy For Life," echoing the name of Combs' record label and his 2001 hit single. It investigates not only the allegations against Combs but the culture that enabled them — the industry structures, media practices, and institutional silence that allowed the accusations to circulate for years without consequence for one of music's most powerful figures.

Roundtree, who has reported on Combs for Rolling Stone, says the rumors were persistent. Her reporting traces how those rumors coexisted with Combs' continued rise, raising questions about who knew what, when, and why few acted.

Combs, shown in London in 2011 in photographs now republished alongside coverage of the case, built an empire spanning music, fashion, and spirits. That power, Roundtree's work suggests, insulated him from the accountability that lesser figures in the industry might have faced far sooner.

The book arrives as Combs awaits the legal process from federal prison, where he is being held currently. Roundtree's central question — how he remained so powerful for so long — extends beyond one man to the systems that profited from him.

For readers of arts and culture journalism, "Bad Boy For Life" joins a growing body of work interrogating the entertainment industry's record on abuse, and its findings are likely to inform coverage of the case as it moves through the courts.