Company Town : Rap Mogul in the Making Is Just 24 : Music: Puffy Combs is busy building an empire. In just two years, he has made himself into one of the major forces in the industry.

Rap music fans know the chiseled bad-boy looks of Sean (Puffy) Combs all too well. He’s everywhere.

From the comfortable director’s chair of rap’s most popular videos airing on MTV and BET to the increasingly familiar sound of him chanting in the background of his artist’s hit songs, there is Puffy, sporting those trademark black shades and coyly bouncing from side to side.

Over the span of two short years, some say, the 24-year-old Combs has positioned himself as heir-apparent to Def Jam Records rap mogul Russell Simmons, one of the most successful players in the rap game.

After starting as an intern for MCA Records through Andre Harrell’s Uptown Records in the early 1990s and spearheading the success of multiplatinum R&B;/rap groups such as Mary J. Blige and Jodeci, Combs signed a three-year, $10-million pact with Arista Records President Clive Davis to start his own label, Bad Boy Entertainment, to be distributed by Bertelsmann Music Group.

The deal, which requires Combs to deliver at least three albums a year, includes incentives and bonuses that could provide the young entrepreneur with twice the contract amount. It also allows him to profit from directing videos and producing records on top of what he takes home as owner of the 10-employee label.

Comb’s first two releases--by rappers Notorious B.I.G. and Craig Mack--have already sold more than 1.3 million copies in the United States. In addition, Combs manages the careers of rapper/actor LL Cool J. (James Todd Smith) and hip-hop/R&B; queen Blige, whose latest album, which he produced, has sold more than 1.5 million copies. Blige’s first album, also overseen and produced by Combs, sold nearly 2 million copies.

Combine this with production and direction work for others, including Atlanta’s TLC and reggae star Shabba Ranks, and you have a young man building a budding hip-hop, R&B; empire.

“It was a gamble,” Combs said in a recent interview at Hotel Nikko in Beverly Hills, describing starting his own label. “But whatever I do, I want it to be groundbreaking. I think of everything I do as history in the making.”

Entertainment conglomerates have been forging relations with a new breed of rappers whose goals are aimed beyond just making music videos and kicking lyrics. Combs and others want greater independence and have a desire for business as well as creative control.

“Puffy is a total music man,” Davis said from his office in New York. “He begins with the street and knowing the cutting edge. He feels the music deeply and then envisions where the artist goes from there. He’s a marketing master too, knowing the world of video and images and styling.

“In short, Puffy is a young black leader in music who is well on his way to one of the biggest careers the music industry has ever seen.”

Visualizing the bigger picture has become the Mt. Vernon, N.Y., native’s calling card.

“I’m in the demographics of the people that listen to hip-hop,” Combs said. Early on, when he was a college student throwing hip-hop parties at Howard University, Combs said, he learned that rap artists were often exploited.

He decided to learn all facets of the business--concentrating on shaping the images of his artists from the production studio to directing their videos and even to crafting their on-stage performances.

“He’s one of the most talented executives around,” Simmons said. “Puffy’s got a vision that’s long-term. It’s not just record-minded, but he believes in the career of his artists.”

Combs is walking in the footsteps of other profitable rap label owners, such as James Smith from Houston’s Rap-A-Lot Records, which distributes popular rapper Scarface and Miami’s controversial Luke Records and 2 Live Crew founder Luther Campbell.

*

Here in California, in addition to the hugely successful local gangsta rap pushers Death Row Records, the Bay Area has witnessed the meteoric rise of a former underground rapper-turned-entrepreneur: Vallejo’s E-40 (Earl Stevens). Stevens signed an estimated $3-million distribution and production deal with rap powerhouse Jive Records last year.

Like Death Row’s Suge Knight and Def Jam’s Simmons, Combs came from a middle-class background, where he learned to straddle street life while having the comforts of a more secure home environment. This may have helped him to see the benefits of controlling the business side of the hip-hop equation.

Commenting on the recent furor over rap lyrics, Combs said the controversy stems from rap’s increasing influence beyond urban neighborhoods.

“Rap has become a major economic factor in the last few years and created thousands of jobs,” Combs said. “And it’s only now that rap is spewing into the homes of people like Sen. [Bob] Dole that they are taking notice. . . . Nowadays, the American hero is basically portrayed as a killer in movies and on television. But they can’t stop rap. It’s in the hearts and minds of too many people.”

In a musical genre where far too many rappers are just happy to get a record deal, Combs has pushed the envelope on the motto that rests on the wall outside his New York office: “Don’t be afraid to close your eyes and dream, then open them up and see.”