LOS ANGELES - Music is no longer the key to unlock harmony in rapper Sean "Diddy" Combs' life.

The sudden death of his former girlfriend Kim Porter, 47, in November last year from pneumonia, has made him reassess his priorities.

"Before this, I was a part-time father, you know? My family was always first, but there were countless times when I chose work over everything else," the 49-year-old said in an interview in Essence magazine's May issue.

"But every day (since her death) I can hear her telling me to go and spend some time with the kids and make sure everybody's all right, like she would do.

"I'm just a lot more present and, most important, now my kids come before anything else in my life."

He and Porter have three children.

"Every time Kim and I talked, it was about the kids," Combs said.

"It was what she cared about the most."

Combs paid tribute to her selfless ways, noting that three days before she died, she had the flu and "sent the kids over to my house so they wouldn't get sick".

"Puffy, take care of my babies," she told him when he went over to check on her condition before she died.