Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Was Afraid He Might Do Something Horrible to Suge Knight
Sean “Diddy” Combs and Suge Knight were involved in a legendary feud that changed the landscape of hip-hop forever. Knight was one of the most feared men in the music industry at a time when Diddy also rose to power. But the Bad Boys founder was concerned that same power might get to his head when it came to dealing with his West Coast rival.
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs said he stopped himself from ‘blowing up’ things with Suge Knight
The 1995 Source Awards was a pivotal moment in the rap industry. Many see it as the moment Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight declared war on Bad Boy at the height of its powers. The towering mogul famously went on stage and tried to recruit East Coast rappers by reassuring them flashy producers wouldn’t hog the spotlight. Many felt this was a clear reference to Diddy, who was in the audience at the Source Awards at the time.
In an interview with Drink Champs, Diddy reflected on the incident, describing how taken aback he was by Knight’s statement. According to the hitmaker, he and Knight had a good professional friendship up to that moment.
“He would pick me up from the airport, show me a lot of love,” Diddy said. “I really had thought we were cool. Cool acquaintances, being respectful of other people coming from other cities.”
So when Diddy and his entourage heard Knight’s speech, he claimed he could’ve really escalated the situation if he wanted to.
“When he said [his speech at the awards] it was like ‘Whoa!… What are they crazy? I was like ‘Wow. I could blow this whole thing up right now.’ I decided it felt really dangerous. The crowd was with me and with Bad Boy. They were looking for the word,” he said.
Diddy decided to confront Knight personally. When he did, Knight claimed that his speech was taken out of context.
“So when I had ran up and asked [Suge], he said ‘Nah, I was talking about Jermaine Dupri,’” Diddy claimed.
Whether Knight was being honest or not, Diddy confided that he feared his own power more than he did his rival’s.
“At that point I was scared because I knew the wolves that was with me were real live wolves.” Diddy said. “It was the scariest situation of my life because of the level of power we had.”
Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was the only megastar who thrived after the beef
Up until his recent scandals, Diddy managed to thrive in a way many of his contemporaries didn’t after his feud with Knight. The players involved, Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, were shot to death in eerily similar drive-by shootings. Knight, who was once worth hundreds of millions, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2015 and sentenced to 28 years in prison. Diddy, however, grew his Bad Boys empire even more, at one point almost making $1 billion.
However, some have wondered if Diddy had a hand in ending the East Coast/West Coast war by orchestrating Tupac’s shooting. Even Diddy himself was nervous about being seen as a suspect after the rapper’s murder.
“Then we became scared, because we know how the media is,” Diddy once told Rolling Stone. “The news reports in the early couple of days, all in L.A. and Las Vegas, had our pictures. We were the ones they were pointing their fingers to. Kept on talking about it. I didn’t have nothing to do with Tupac getting killed.”
Like Knight, however, Diddy’s freedom is at stake due to his alleged crimes completely unrelated to his feud with Death Row. His crimes, however, might not end with him. It’s been rumored that Diddy risks implicating figures behind the scenes who might be more powerful. Even Knight cautioned his former nemesis that serving jail time might not be the worst punishment waiting for Diddy if he isn’t careful.
“You gotta realize one thing, that boy’s life is dangerous. He’s not just dangerous for the s*** they said he’s doing, but he’s in danger,” Knight recently told PBD Podcast. “He knows too much. One thing you gotta realize is he’s probably having a conversation right now with the higher-ups and everybody else to figure out how it’s gonna work itself out. Because he knows all the secrets. And if he gets to running his mouth, it could be a bad look.”
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