Tupac Shakur Believed Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Was Involved in His 1994 Shooting
Two years before his death, Tupac Shakur survived a shooting in close proximity to the Notorious B.I.G. and Sean “Diddy” Combs. When he arrived at a New York City studio, three men attacked him, leaving him injured. In the aftermath, Tupac rushed inside, where he found Biggie, Diddy, and others. Their expressions and demeanors sent a chill through him. He hinted that it seemed they had prior knowledge of the attack.
Tupac Shakur survived a shooting outside a studio where Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs was
In 1994, Tupac agreed to contribute a verse to one of rapper Little Shawn’s songs. He admitted he had some concerns about the situation, but immediately felt better when he saw someone he recognized outside the studio.
“As we’re walking up to the building, somebody screamed from up the top of the studio,” he told Vibe Magazine in 1995. “It was Little Caesar, Biggie’s [the Notorious B.I.G.] sideman. That’s my homeboy. As soon as I saw him, all my concerns about the situation were relaxed.”
When they walked into the building’s lobby, he saw men he assumed worked for Biggie. As he walked to the elevator, though, they pulled guns on him.
“So first I’m, like, These dudes must be security for Biggie, because I could tell they were from Brooklyn from their army fatigues,” he said. “But then I said, Wait a minute. Even Biggie’s homeboys love me, why don’t they look up? I pressed the elevator button, turned around, and that’s when the dudes came out with the guns – two identical 9 mms. ‘Don’t nobody move. Everybody on the floor. You know what time it is. Run your s***.’ I was, like, What should I do?”
Tupac “froze up,” and the men began shooting at him. His injuries were severe, but he didn’t initially understand how serious they were.
Tupac intimated that Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs had prior knowledge of the shooting
When the men left, Tupac and the people with him rushed upstairs.
“So we jumped in the elevator and went upstairs,” he said. “I’m limping and everything, but I don’t feel nothing. It’s numb. When we got upstairs, I looked around, and it scared the s*** out of me.”
He said the group inside, which included Diddy and Biggie, looked surprised to see him. Their reactions made him wonder if it had been a setup.
“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 called these claims baseless
In 2008, the LA Times published a now-retracted story about the shooting. Diddy made a statement wholeheartedly denying the claim that he knew anything about the attack before it happened.
“The story is a lie, it is beyond ridiculous and completely false,” he said, per NPR. “Neither the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during, or after it has happened. I’m shocked the LA Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”
He was not charged in connection to the attack.
