Diddy’s Connection to Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G. Murders Explained
Sean “Diddy” Combs was embroiled in controversy long before his 2025 sex trafficking trial.
As a key figure in the East Coast-West Coast gangster rap wars of the 1990s, persistent conspiracy theories have linked Diddy to the 1996 shooting of Tupac Shakur in Las Vegas. He has also been accused of having some involvement in the murder of his former protege The Notorious B.I.G. (a.k.a. Biggie Smalls) in March 1997.
Diddy (a.k.a Puff Daddy) has denied any involvement in the two killings and has never been criminally charged — but has occasionally reflected on how hip-hop was impacted by the tragic losses of both Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
“There were so many rumors (about the shootings) and things for years,” he admitted to NBC’s Today in 2017. “I was more concerned with the wellbeing of my artists, and also myself and my family. “
Keep scrolling for more information on Diddy’s reactions to the murders of both Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G.
What Was Diddy’s Connection to Tupac Shakur?
In the early 1990s, L.A.-based rapper Tupac Shakur was a prominent artist on Marion “Suge” Knight’s Death Row Records roster – which was in direct competition with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ New York City-based Bad Boy Records, of which The Notorious B.I.G. was a prominent artist. The East Coast-West Coast hip hop rivalry played out diss tracks, in the media and even in physical (sometimes public) confrontations.
A pivotal turning point occurred on November 30, 1994, when three men robbed and attacked Shakur in the lobby of Quad Studios in New York City. Shakur was about to face trial for first-degree sexual abuse and had agreed to record a guest vocal for Combs’ associate Little Shawn at Quad Studios for some quick cash. (Shakur was convicted of two counts of sexual abuse in 1994 for “forcibly touching (a woman’s) buttocks” and sentenced to a maximum of four-and-a-half years behind bars, but was released on appeal in 1995.)
Shakur was shot five times when he resisted the robbery attempt. The robbers allegedly made off with $40,000 worth of the rapper’s jewelry.
Although Shakur survived the shooting, the incident completely soured his relationship with Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G. The tension was exacerbated by a personal rivalry between Diddy and Suge Knight.
Shakur eventually spoke out about the Quad Studios shooting during a 1996 interview with Vibe Magazine.
When he was asked directly if he thought “Puffy was involved in the shooting,” Shakur replied: “Only they can answer that question. I have my own opinion but I wouldn’t slander their name like they did mine.”
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“I wouldn’t say things that I knew (were wrong), you know what I mean?” he continued. “I believe so. I do believe so. I have proof, things that I could say that would back up my claim. But this is not for the world to know about.”
Shakur ominously added: “It’s between me and him. Only he knows. Every time he says it didn’t happen — that’s the only thing that makes this become an issue for anyone.”
The Quad Studios shooting case remains unsolved, as of publication.
In 2011, Dexter Isaac claimed he’d been paid $2,500 by record executive James Rosemond to shoot and rob Shakur. Isaac, who was serving a life sentence for an unrelated charge at the time, was never formally charged and Rosemond denied having anything to do with the shooting.
In 2008, an unnamed former associate of Diddy’s told the FBI that the mogul and The Notorious B.I.G. were at least aware of the crime ahead of time. The Los Angeles Times published allegations that two of Diddy’s former associates “set up the rapper Tupac Shakur to get shot at Quad Studios,” but later retracted the report because it determined some FBI reports referenced were “fabricated” and other claims “(did) not support major elements of the story.”
“(The Times‘ claim) is beyond ridiculous and is completely false,” Diddy told Reuters at the time. “Neither Biggie nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened.”
The 1994 shooting intensified bad blood between East Coast rappers — led by Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G. of Bad Boy Records — and the West Coast contingent of Shakur, Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, of Suge Knight’s Death Row Records.
In February 1995, Diddy and The Notorious B.I.G. released the single “Who Shot Ya?,” which Shakur took as a direct mockery of the Quad Studios incident. Shakur responded by dissing Biggie on his 1996 hit “Hit ‘Em Up.”
Knight took a verbal shot on Diddy’s turf during the 1995 Source Awards in New York City. The tension at the awards show has been cited by many in the hip-hop world as an inflection point in the feud between East and West Coast rappers.
“Any artist out there that want to be an artist and want to stay a star, and don’t want to have to worry about the executive producer trying to be all in the videos, all on the records, dancing, come to Death Row,” Knight said onstage, as a direct jab at Diddy frequently being featured on his artists’ tracks.
Combs attempted to downplay the simmering tension when he presented an award later that night.
“Contrary to what other people may feel, I would like to say that I’m very proud of Dr. Dre, of Death Row, and Suge Knight for their accomplishments … and all this East and West (stuff), that needs to stop,” he told the audience. “So give it up for everybody from the East and the West that won tonight. One love.”
When Did Tupac Shakur Die?
On September 7, 1996, Shakur and several friends, including Death Row Records label boss Suge Knight, attended Mike Tyson’s boxing match against Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Surveillance footage showed that Shakur and Knight got involved in a brawl with Orlando Anderson, an associate of the South Side Compton Crips gang, in the lobby of the hotel over accusations that the Crips allegedly robbed Death Row-affiliated gang members earlier that year.
Following the scuffle, Shakur left the venue with Knight in a 1996 BMW 750iL. A white Cadillac allegedly pulled up beside Shakur’s vehicle at a stoplight and opened fire. Shakur was struck by four bullets total: twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the thigh, with one of those bullets getting lodged in his right lung.
Shakur was rushed to the nearby University Medical Center of Southern Nevada in critical condition. He died on September 13, 1996, at age 25 from internal bleeding.
There were no arrests made in the case until Orlando Anderson’s uncle, Duane “KeefeD” Davis, a former leader of the South Side Compton Crips gang, was charged with first-degree murder with a deadly weapon in September 2023. Las Vegas police accused Davis of ordering Shakur’s killing, though there are differing theories over whether Anderson or his associate DeAndrae “Big Dre” Smith actually pulled the trigger. (Anderson died in May 1998 and Smith died in late 2004.)
Davis pleaded not guilty to allegations in 2023 and is currently incarcerated in Las Vegas ahead of a February 2026 trial, as of publication. His attorneys have argued that the charge should be dismissed because Davis was granted immunity for sharing information with investigators in 2008 and 2009.
How Was Diddy Linked to Tupac Shakur’s Death?
No arrests were made until Davis was charged in 2023. Following Davis’ arrest, USA Today obtained a Drug Enforcement Administration report that revealed federal agents interviewed the former gang leader in 2008 and 2009.
In those interviews, Davis — whose South Side Crips gang members reportedly provided security for Bad Boy artists on the West Coast— allegedly told investigators that Diddy had placed a $1 million bounty on Shakur and Knight, though he denied ever actually receiving the money.
“(Diddy) would give anything for those dudes’ heads,” Davis claimed.
In his 2019 memoir, Compton Street Legend, Davis wrote that he met privately with Diddy at Greenblatt’s Deli in L.A,, where the mogul allegedly told him: “I have a couple of problems I need to be handled: Big CEO (Knight) and Pac.”
At the time, Davis denied that any money was ever paid. He has disavowed his memoir, claiming it was mostly written by a coauthor.
Diddy denied Davis’s accusation. A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department spokesperson also told USA Today that Diddy was never considered a suspect in the shooting.
Other artists have referenced Diddy’s potential connection to Shakur’s murder. In his 2018 diss track “Killshot,” Eminem suggested that the mogul was hiding the truth about the 1996 shooting.
“Kells, the day you put out a hit’s the day Diddy admits that he put the hit out that got Pac killed,” Eminem (real name Marshall Mathers) rapped.
Rapper Joe Budden later relayed on a now-deleted episode of his YouTube series, “The Joe Budden Podcast,” that Diddy told him that the beef with Eminem had been “handled.”
“Nothing to speculate about, nothing to talk about. Puff said it’s in his hands and he said I can say it,” Budden said. “He said, ‘There’s nothing to say about it. It’s in my hands. He wild.’”
Diddy’s longtime rival, 50 Cent, has made similar accusations over the years — most notably by bringing attention to the documentary Murder Rap: Inside the Biggie and Tupac Murders. The film features LAPD detective Greg Kading’s theory that Diddy may have put a hit out on Shakur.
50 Cent (real name Curtis James Jackson III) promoted Kading’s theory in a 2016 Instagram post by writing: “LMAO SO PUFFY WIT THE S*** HUN?? SEE YOU GOTTA WATCH THESE PUNKS,? SCARY ASS N***** A TRY YOU. #nopuffyjuice he killed Tupac lol.”
Tupac’s brother, Mopreme Shakur, told The Art of Dialogue in 2024 that Diddy personally reached out to him after the 1996 murder.
“The boy Puffy called me though,” Shakur said. “Puffy called me back in the day. … He was like, ‘I just want you to know I ain’t have nothing to do with your brother’s (murder). I know who you are, but we never met and I just want to call you man to man and let you know that I ain’t have nothing to do with your brother’s death.’”
However, Mopreme later confirmed on Piers Morgan Uncensored in 2024 that his family was “pursuing an investigation into (his) brother’s death.”
“It’s not about (Diddy) specifically, it’s about justice for my brother,” he clarified. “It’s been an ongoing mystery for 27 years. With the arrest in Vegas (last year), there was a break, an opportunity to get closer to the truth. This is ongoing business for us. My family pursued an investigation, early on, soon after his murder, of which nothing came of it. So, we were left with no answers for 27 years.”
Diddy shut down any speculation about alleged involvement in Shakur’s murder during a 2016 interview with Charlamagne tha God.
“We don’t talk about things that are nonsense,” Combs said on The Breakfast Club. “We don’t even entertain nonsense, my brother. So we’re not even going to go there, with all due respect. I appreciate you as a journalist asking. Thank you.”
In 2017, Diddy told Today’s Willie Geist that Shakur’s murder was a pivotal moment in his life and career.
“When Tupac was shot and killed, it really resonated that things are really dangerous,” he acknowledged. “But that made us want to promote peace more. It made us want to go to L.A. and go to different places to tell people, ‘This is the most senseless, tragic thing to ever happen in music and our culture. It needs to stop. We need to get back to the love.’”
Diddy remembered feeling “proud” that The Notorious B.I.G.’s final interviews were all about “bringing us together.”
What Was Diddy’s Connection to The Notorious B.I.G.?
Diddy discovered The Notorious B.I.G. (real name Christopher George Latore Wallace) shortly before founding his label Bad Boy Records in 1993. Years later, Diddy looked back on his first meeting with The Notorious B.I.G. in 1992 at a New York City soul food restaurant.
“He really didn’t have much to say. You’ve got this big guy who has this in-your-face rap attitude, but was quiet,” Diddy remembered in 2017. “And then, here’s the mind-blowing thing that you wouldn’t have thought. … I asked him if he wanted to eat and (he said), ‘Nah,’ he didn’t want to eat. I realized that’s how big this moment was for him. This was really his dream.”
Biggie was one of the first artists signed to the label and the two worked closely for the next four years. Combs produced Biggie’s 1994 debut solo album Ready to Die as well as 1997’s Life After Death, the latter of which was released 16 days after The Notorious B.I.G.’s murder.
Diddy later oversaw posthumous releases from The Notorious B.I.G’s catalog and scored a #No. 1 hit with the 1997 tribute song “I’ll Be Missing You.”
When Did The Notorious B.I.G. Die?
On March 8, 1997, The Notorious B.I.G. and Diddy attended a Soul Train Awards afterparty at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. As they left the venue, Biggie got into the passenger seat of a Chevrolet Suburban car that he’d rented with associates Damion “D-Roc” Butler, Lil’ Cease, and driver Gregory “G-Money” Young, while Diddy entered a second rented Suburban with three bodyguards.
A driver of a black Chevrolet Impala pulled up next to Biggie’s car when it stopped at a red light and opened fire with a 9mm blue-steel pistol. The Notorious B.I.G. was struck by four bullets and later pronounced dead at age 24 after being taken to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.
No arrests have ever been made in the case. In 2006, former LAPD detective Greg Kading accused Wardell “Poochie” Fouse, a member of the Mob Piru Bloods gang, of being hired to carry out the shooting by Knight in retaliation for Shakur’s death. (Fouse died in July 2003, whereas Knight has always denied having anything to do with the 1997 shooting.)
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Diddy reflected on the night of The Notorious B.I.G.’s murder during a 2017 interview with Willie Geist on Today.
“I remember that night that, number-one, (Biggie) was supposed to go to London on the redeye,” Diddy said. “He talked me out of going to London and he just wanted to hang out with me one night. We’d just finished the album. We’d been through so much with the whole East-West thing. We just wanted a night for us to relax. To be honest, it didn’t work out like that.”
Diddy said that his and Biggie’s decision to attend the Soul Train Awards afterparty was one he’d “regret forever.”
“We’re human beings. (The East Coast-West Coast rivalry) had spun out of control,” he admitted. “To be honest, me and him knew there was that chance (for violence) but you always want to think of the better. You want everything to work out, and it didn’t work out.”
More than 350 people — including Diddy — attended Biggie’s funeral at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel in Manhattan on March 18, 1997. Diddy and the late Biggie’s wife, Faith Evans, collaborated on the tribute single “I’ll Be Missing You,” which hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in June 1997.
Diddy told Today in 2017 that his life and career felt “incomplete” following his friend and collaborator’s death.
“It makes you wonder: ‘How would this concert be if he was here? What direction would rap go into?’” Diddy said.
That same year, Diddy honored his late friend and protege on the 20th anniversary of his death.
“Today is March 9. Twenty years ago today we lost the greatest rapper of all time, the Notorious B.I.G. Today, we’re celebrating his life through his music and through his legacy today,” he told followers via Instagram.
How Was Diddy Linked to The Notorious B.I.G.’s Death?
Rumors have persisted since The Notorious B.I.G.’s 1997 murder that Diddy may have somehow been involved.
In Peacock’s 2025 documentary Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy, his former bodyguard Gene Deal suggested Diddy “could have” played some role in Biggie’s murder. Deal was with Diddy on the night of Biggie’s shooting and suggested his boss had exhibited some unusual behavior.
“The week (in) which Biggie was murdered (Diddy) was just acting real anxious and trying to get Big at this party,” Deal said. “And (what) was crazy was, Big was telling people he had to be in London. But Puff was telling people, ‘He ain’t going to London,’ that whole week.”
Deal remembered being surprised when Diddy and Biggie changed their plans for the night to attend the Soul Train Awards afterparty.
“I say, ‘Yo Puff, I got some intel bruh.’ He said, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Yo man, if we go to this party tonight, one of us is gonna get killed. Somebody gon’ die. Because now, we at East Coast-West Coast beef,” Deal said. “He said, ‘Yo, Gene, I don’t wanna here that s***.’ … So we all jump in the car.”
However, Deal later described Diddy’s emotional reaction when he found out their friend had been shot multiple times.
“Puff ran out the hospital door and he grabbed my arm. He said, ‘Gene, we gotta pray! We gotta pray! We gotta pray!’” Deal remembered. “And I knocked his hands off of me, I said, ‘Pray for what? That n****’s dead, bruh.’”
Related: Diddy’s Legal Troubles Detailed in Multiple Docs: Biggest Revelations
Since Sean “Diddy” Combs was arrested in September 2024, multiple documentaries — two in total as of January 2025 — have detailed the allegations against the rapper. The first, Peacock’s Diddy: The Making of a Bad Boy, started streaming on January 14. The 90-minute film included interviews with the mogul’s childhood friends and former employees (…)
He went on, “(Diddy) just was stunned. He just seemed like he had this look in his eye like he couldn’t believe it, that he was dead. He couldn’t believe it.”
Diddy’s spokesperson responded to the Peacock Network by saying: “Sean Combs unequivocally denies the baseless allegations being circulated in connection with this documentary.”
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He did admit on The Wendy Williams Show in 2017 that he felt “some sort of responsibility” for his friend’s death.
“He’s my artist,” Diddy acknowledged. “He was supposed to go to London that night and I let him talk me into not going to London and staying in L.A.”
Diddy told host Wendy Williams that he regretted not “making sure” that The Notorious B.I.G. stuck to his original plan to travel overseas.
已发布: 2025-12-01 14:00:00
