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

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

Observe dwell updates on the investigation into Combs right here

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

Nonetheless, with Combs again within the headlines for all of the incorrect causes, previous rivalries are resurfacing. Earlier this week, his longtime West Coast sparring associate 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 on 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 probably the most influential rap labels on both coast of America. In 1991, Knight co-founded Dying Row Information 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 house in New York and relocated to sun-kissed California.

Two years later, in 1993, Combs was fired from his function as an A&R government at Uptown Information and determined to start out his personal label, Unhealthy Boy Information. They shortly had a large hit with the very first album they launched, The Infamous B.I.G.’s Able to Die, and the point of interest of the rap universe appeared to swing again in direction of the Empire State.

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

Nonetheless, 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 document with rapper Little Shawn to assist pay his authorized charges. When he stepped contained in the constructing two gunmen robbed him, taking pictures him 5 instances. Within the aftermath, Shakur implied in an interview that he believed Biggie and Combs could have been concerned within 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 Unhealthy Boy Information had not been concerned within the taking pictures.

Issues got here to a head on the Supply Awards in New York the next yr, 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 on the market that wish to be an artist and wish to keep a star, and don’t wish to have to fret concerning the government producer attempting to be all within the movies… All on the information… dancing, come to Dying 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 should cease,” he advised the viewers. “So give it up for everyone from the East and the West that received tonight. One love.”

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The rivalry rumbled on all through the next yr, reaching a bloody climax when Shakur was shot in Las Vegas in September 1996, succumbing to his accidents within the following days. Six months later, in March 1997, Biggie was shot and killed in Los Angeles in what was extensively seen as retalitation for Shakur’s dying.

Each murders went unsolved for a lot of a long time, and with out a perpetrator rumours circulated as soon as once more that Combs and Unhealthy Boy Information may have been behind Shakur’s taking pictures. This hearsay has refused to go away regardless of proof on the contrary, with the likes of Eminem conserving the idea alive when he rapped on his 2018 tune “Killshot”, a diss observe largely aimed toward Machine Gun Kelly: “However, Kells, the day you set out a success’s the day Diddy admits/That he put the hit out that bought Pac killed, ah!” Granted, Eminem does add on the finish of the observe: “And I’m simply playin’, Diddy / I really like you.” Shakur’s homicide could have moved a step nearer to being solved final yr, when Duane “Keffe D” Davis, 60, was finally arrested and charged with the crime.

If Knight and Combs nonetheless didn’t see eye-to-eye, their paths diverged within the aftermath of the dying of their two largest stars. Knight filed for chapter in 2006, bringing Dying Row Information because it was to an in depth (the model title has since been purchased by Snoop Dogg). In 2017, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for killing music government Terry Carter by driving his automobile into him. He is not going to be eligible for parole till 2034.

Combs, for a time, appeared to flourish. He had a string of hits within the late Nineties, together with his Biggie tribute “I’ll Be Lacking You”. He parlayed his rap success right into a Hollywood performing profession and made critical cash from creating the Cîroc vodka model with beverage firm Diageo (splitting earnings 50-50) and tv community Revolt TV. In 2022, Forbes estimated that together with his musical accomplishments and his enterprise ventures, Combs’ internet value totted as much as a cool billion {dollars}.

As of 2024 nonetheless, he’s now not concerned with both Cîroc or Revolt and his future seems totally unsure.