How Diddy survived the East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry with Suge Knight and Tupac

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Sean “Diddy” Combs casts an extended shadow over the historical past of hip hop. One of the business’s first moguls, his work as an A&R govt, label boss, rapper and producer made him each extravagantly rich and internationally well-known.

Follow reside updates on the investigation into Combs right here

While Combs, 54, might have spent over thirty years at the prime of the business, the information this week of Homeland Security raids on his houses in Los Angeles and Miami places his legacy in a distinct gentle. He is now dealing with a number of civil lawsuits accusing him of intercourse trafficking, sexual abuse and rape. He strongly denies all of the allegations towards him, whereas his attorneys have branded the lawsuits and their accusations as cash grabs, “baseless” or “sickening.”

Still, with Combs again in the headlines for all the improper causes, outdated rivalries are resurfacing. Earlier this week, his longtime West Coast sparring companion Suge Knight, who’s presently serving a 28-year sentence for manslaughter, tweeted from jail: “Justice for 2Pac is coming Keefe D and now Diddy!!!”

The feud between Combs and Knight was at the coronary heart of the East Coast–West Coast hip hop rivalry of the mid-Nineties. They have been at that time every the respective heads of the most influential rap labels on both coast of America. In 1991, Knight co-founded Death Row Records in Los Angeles alongside producers Dr Dre, Dick Griffey and The D.O.C, and with acts like NWA and Snoop Dogg on their roster it appeared to some followers that rap had upped sticks from its historic residence in New York and relocated to sun-kissed California.

Two years later, in 1993, Combs was fired from his function as an A&R govt at Uptown Records and determined to start out his personal label, Bad Boy Records. They rapidly had a large hit with the very first album they launched, The Notorious B.I.G.’s Ready to Die, and the focus of the rap universe appeared to swing again in the direction of the Empire State.

Before lengthy Biggie had established himself as the face of East Coast rap, however he had a rival for the nationwide crown: Tupac Shakur. By the time Biggie launched Ready to Die, New York-born Shakur had already relocated to the West Coast and launched two acclaimed albums and starred in three movies.

However, he was additionally concerned in a sexual abuse trial in New York. On 30 November 1994, Shakur arrived at Quad Studios in Manhattan the place he was scheduled to file with rapper Little Shawn to assist pay his authorized charges. When he stepped inside the constructing two gunmen robbed him, taking pictures him 5 occasions. In the aftermath, Shakur implied in an interview that he believed Biggie and Combs might have been concerned in the assault as they noticed him as a competitor. Shakur was convicted of the abuse prices and hung out in jail at Rikers Island, the place Combs visited him to guarantee him that Bad Boy Records had not been concerned in the taking pictures.

Things got here to a head at the Source Awards in New York the following 12 months, on 3 August 1995. There, Knight famously and publicly took a shot at Combs, needling him for his fondness for showing in his artists’ music movies and rapping on their songs. “Any artist out there that want to be an artist and want to stay a star, and don’t want to have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos… All on the records… dancing, come to Death Row!” proclaimed Knight from the stage.

When Combs took the stage later to current one other award, he spoke up for unity. “All this East and West – that needs to stop,” he instructed the viewers. “So give it up for everybody from the East and the West that won tonight. One love.”

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The rivalry rumbled on throughout the following year, reaching a bloody climax when Shakur was shot in Las Vegas in September 1996, succumbing to his injuries in the following days. Six months later, in March 1997, Biggie was shot and killed in Los Angeles in what was widely seen as retalitation for Shakur’s death.

Both murders went unsolved for many decades, and without a culprit rumours circulated once again that Combs and Bad Boy Records could have been behind Shakur’s shooting. This rumour has refused to go away despite evidence to the contrary, with the likes of Eminem keeping the theory alive when he rapped on his 2018 song “Killshot”, a diss observe largely geared toward Machine Gun Kelly: “But, Kells, the day you put out a hit’s the day Diddy admits/That he put the hit out that got Pac killed, ah!” Granted, Eminem does add at the finish of the observe: “And I’m just playin’, Diddy / You know I love you.” Shakur’s homicide might have moved a step nearer to being solved final 12 months, when Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, was finally arrested and charged with the crime.

If Knight and Combs still didn’t see eye-to-eye, their paths diverged in the aftermath of the death of their two biggest stars. Knight filed for bankruptcy in 2006, bringing Death Row Records as it was to a close (the brand name has since been bought by Snoop Dogg). In 2017, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing music executive Terry Carter by driving his car into him. He will not be eligible for parole until 2034.

Combs, for a time, seemed to flourish. He had a string of hits in the late Nineties, including his Biggie tribute “I’ll Be Missing You”. He parlayed his rap success into a Hollywood acting career and made serious money from developing the Cîroc vodka brand with beverage company Diageo (splitting profits 50-50) and television network Revolt TV. In 2022, Forbes estimated that with his musical accomplishments and his business ventures, Combs’ net worth totted up to a cool billion dollars.

As of 2024 however, he is no longer involved with either Cîroc or Revolt and his future seems to be totally unsure.