Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Tried to Hide ‘Just How Broke’ the Notorious B.I.G. Was Due to the Contract He ‘Forced on Him,’ Said Former Bad Boy Rapper

Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy label took off when he signed Christopher Wallace, who is better known as the Notorious B.I.G. The new label was soon signing major acts, but Biggie was one of the biggest names they had. According to another Bad Boy rapper, though, Biggie didn’t see much of the money he made for the label. The artist claimed that Diddy tried to conceal this after Biggie’s death.

A Bad Boy rapper said Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs exploited the Notorious B.I.G.

In 1997, Mark Curry signed with Bad Boy. According to him, Diddy pressured him into signing a contract that forced him to give up half his publishing rights. 

“Other than Puff, no one else has prospered off the label,” Curry wrote in his book Dancing With the Devil: How Puff Burned the Bad Boys of Hiphop (via Salon)

Curry alleged that Diddy did the same thing to Biggie.

“I was in the same spot as Biggie when he signed with Bad Boy,” Curry wrote. “After Biggie signed the contracts that Puff forced on him, for example, he walked away with only $25,000.”

According to Curry, Diddy tried to cover this up after Biggie’s death in 1997 by giving his family money.

“To avoid people finding out just how broke Biggie was when he was killed, Puff announced that he was giving the fallen star’s family several million dollars.”

The Notorious B.I.G.’s mother is sickened by Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs

Following allegations of violent abuse against Diddy by Cassie Ventura, Biggie’s mother, Violetta Wallace, said she wants to “slap the daylights out of him.”

“I’m sick to my stomach,” Wallace said, per Rolling Stone, adding, “I’m praying for Cassie. I’m praying for his mother. I don’t want to believe the things that I’ve heard, but I’ve seen [the hotel video]. I pray that he apologizes to her.”

She said she had always liked Diddy, and the allegations against him made her ashamed to have ever felt that way.

“I hope that I see Sean one day and the only thing I want to do is slap the daylights out of him. And you can quote me on that,” she said. “Because I liked him. I didn’t want to believe all the awful things, but I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.”

Wallace said Diddy needed to apologize to his own mother.

“He needs to apologize to his mother,” she said. “I hope to God he sits her down and spills his guts and apologizes to her.”

Other artists have called out his exploitative business practices

Curry is not the only artist to call out Diddy’s business practices. After Diddy gave a speech for winning a Grammy Industry Icon Award in 2020, he encouraged the music industry to be more respectful of rap and hip hop.

“Your past business practices knowingly has continued purposely starved your artist and been extremely unfair to the very same artist that helped u obtain that Icon Award on the iconic Badboy label,” former Bad Boy artist Mase wrote in response in a deleted Instagram post.

He added that no artist should want to work with someone who is “robbing you & tarnishing your name when u don’t want to comply w/ his horrendous business model.”