When Sean “Diddy” Combs represented The Notorious B.I.G., he hoped to also foster a friendship with Tupac Shakur. At the time, Biggie and Tupac had a friendly relationship, and Diddy hoped to insert himself into their dynamic. Tupac wanted nothing to do with the music executive, though. Here’s what he thought about Diddy.
Tupac Shakur did not want Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs’ friendship
Before Tupac and Biggie’s rivalry began, they were friends. Biggie trusted Tupac’s advice and reportedly even asked Tupac to represent him. Tupac encouraged him to stay with his manager, Diddy.
“Nah, stay with Puff,” he said, per Biography. “He will make you a star.”
As Tupac’s popularity rose, Diddy tried to build a friendly relationship with him. Some believed he was “jealous” of the friendship between Tupac and Biggie. But, while Tupac may have encouraged Biggie to stay with Diddy as his manager, he didn’t think highly of him.
“Pac didn’t have any kind of respect for Puff,” photographer Monique Bunn told Rolling Stone. She added that Tupac saw Diddy as a “corny executive.”
Even at this point, Diddy’s reputation in the music industry was not exactly glowing.
“I distinctly remember the day that Clive Davis called and asked me to start garnering press for Puffy just as if he were the artist,” Arista and Bad Boy publicity director LaJoyce Brookshire said. “Behind his back, I used to call him my problem child, the Notorious V.I.P.”
He accused Diddy of being involved in his 1994 shooting
In 1994, Tupac survived a shooting outside of Quad Studios in Times Square. In an interview with Vibe Magazine afterward, Tupac intimated that Biggie and Diddy had advance knowledge of the shooting.
“Nobody approached me. I noticed that nobody would look at me,” he said. “Andre Harrell wouldn’t look at me. I had been going to dinner with him the last few days. He had invited me to the set of New York Undercover, telling me he was going to get me a job. Puffy was standing back too. I knew Puffy. He knew how much stuff I had done for Biggie before he came out.”
Diddy has vehemently denied this over the years.
“This story is beyond ridiculous and completely false,” Diddy told AllHipHop.com in 2008. “Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself.”
Tupac Shakur’s suspected murderer accused Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs of being involved
Nearly 30 years after Tupac’s 1996 murder, police charged a suspect, Duane “Keefe D” Davis. In 2009, Davis spoke to police about the murder and alleged that Diddy played a role in it.
Per People, Davis said Diddy wanted to act against Tupac and Suge Knight, saying of Knight, “I’d give anything for that dude’s head.” He allegedly offered Davis $1 million to “get rid of” Knight and Tupac.
Las Vegas police say that Diddy has never been a suspect in Tupac’s murder.
