Remember 1998? I'll bet Sean "Diddy" Combs does. And after his appearance at the VMAs this year - obviously playing second fiddle to the Lady Gagas and Eminems and Pinks - he's probably wishing he was back there.

Did anyone else feel uneasy watching Diddy share the red carpet with 15-year-old Justin Bieber? Here was a man who commanded the attention of the hip-hop world in the late '90s and early '00s, was once the ASCAP's Songwriter Of The Year, put Bad Boy Records on the map, generated $100 million in record sales, but now has to share interview time with a kid who, so far, has been little more than an Internet celebrity.

What the heck happened?

Jay-Z - that's what happened!

While Diddy was busy making his band and changing his name (three times), Hova was quietly and confidently crowning himself New York's Hip-Hop King, carrying the Brooklyn faithful on his back while creating 11 No. 1 albums. He wasn't as quick to succumb to Hip-Hop's growing glamorousness, where rapping about cars and karats became more profitable than rhyming about street-born pleasures and pains. Diddy chose that route from the onset (with the obvious exception being I'll Be Missing You), and the hip-hop purists - especially in New York - might now be turning their backs.

Note to Diddy: Dry your tears. We know watching Hova close out the VMAs in grand fashion was tough to bear. We know that your marketing savvy, dapper attire and acting chops surpass your rapping ability. But that's the way it should be, and maybe, that's the way it will stay.

- By Darren Ratner