Sean Combs: The Reckoning

Everybody.

- - Thank you.

I always looked at him

as just being this rich Harlem cat who just wanted to dance and make money.

All the ladies look so right.

All the niggas, all the real players in the motherfuckin' house.

No violence in him.

But every time I turned around,

there's violence.

- There's violence with his name on it. -

B-I-G-G-I-E. A-K-A...

At the time, there's this tension that is going on between Pac and Puff.

- When I'm gone... -

Puff wanted to work with Pac on a lot of levels, business-wise.

And Pac wasn't having it.

He was more interested in Biggie and his career.

Puff was very threatened by Pac.

He was very threatened, especially if you're an executive

who wanted the guy to make you money, and the guy's saying, "No, fuck you."

Around that time,

Tupac was going to do a song with Little Shawn

at Quad Studio.

They wanted me to do this song, so I said, all right.

Stopped off to get some weed... ...smoked the weed.

Then I was getting a page, "Where you at? Why you ain't coming?"

I was like, "I'm coming. I'm on my way, hold on."

I wasn't thinking, "Why they want me here so bad?"

We walking up to the building.

Somebody screamed from up the top of the studio, and it's Lil' Cease.

He's like Biggie's side man.

We was recording with B.I.G. and Puff,

and I'm yelling, like, "Yo, Pac!"

He looked up, "Yo, what's up, little nigga?"

I go back in the room, I tell B.I.G., I'm like, "Yo, B.I.G., Pac downstairs."

He was like, "Oh, all right, go get him."

Get into the elevator, and when I was about to walk out,

two dudes came from both sides.

"Get the fuck back in the elevator."

- Shit. -

Recording artist Tupac Shakur

was shot five times last night in a robbery attempt.

After surgery, his condition was upgraded to satisfactory,

and he checked out of the hospital against his doctor's advice.

I think they was trying to rub me out, really.

Robbers don't leave behind, uh, $80,000 Rolexes.

You know what I mean? They don't do that. In case nobody know.

Let's look at the facts.

Puff is there.

Pac has been shot in New York under your watch.

The question would be, who knew that he was pulling up?

Biggie, nor myself, had nothing to do whatsoever

of, um, Tupac being robbed.

We... We... That's just a fact.

After everything that has unfolded,

I have to think twice about how that situation went down.

Do you think Puffy was involved in the shooting?

I believe so. I do believe so. I have proof...

You can see now why someone like a Puff

would want someone like a Pac out the picture.

- -

You know, Pac was vilified while he was alive.

And Puff was exalted.

That's the bigger picture.

And that's a story that hasn't been told.

Bad Boy! Bad Boy!

Obviously, Barkley, A.J. Brown, what have you.

It allows them to get a clearer picture,

stretches the defense horizontally faster, right?

And it also, conversely, makes the defense think a tick longer...

This shit is not fucking funny.

There's a whole lot of crazy shit going on.

I went and saw they knocked the Bad Boy building down.

Yeah.

That shit was crazy to me that that shit wasn't there,

which is a sign to me, like,

nigga, time to go to the future. Time to go to the future.

"That was a little building,

compared to the building I got ready for you, son."

You know what I'm saying? It was a sign to me.

I'm saying, that shit was there like two months ago, right?

- I'm not tripping. - Yeah, it was there.

Puff is in this position where he has all this turmoil.

But he's not at the point where he's saying, "Where I went wrong?"

He's saying to himself, "How do I get out of this?"

"Maybe I can convince some witnesses that I'm not the guy who I am."

Eventually, he's going to get to the point where he's going to ask himself,

"How did I get myself in this situation?"

'95, we had two of the hottest acts.

Craig Mack gave us "Flava in Ya Ear"...

...And Biggie.

Bad Boy was rising up.

My little lab right here, you know, where I cut my deals and all that.

Got my little headset. Living out a dream...

One time, Sean was in his office.

I'm in a little cubbyhole around the corner.

He buzzes me.

So I get up and I go in with my papers and go.

A girl is giving him a blowjob at the desk.

He wanted me to see that. He wanted me to see her face.

And he was able to get her to do that right then and there in the office.

She leaves. I'm... "What did you want me for?"

"Eh, I didn't want you for anything."

That was the beginning for me to see, this is what's going on here.

Can everybody make some noise for B.I.G. For bringing it back to the East?

So the seeds for all of this was early on.

I would like to thank y'all, Arista Records, BMG...

And that came from people in the industry

co-signing his activity.

Because it brought money in.

I don't know if y'all niggas know this.

- "Juicy" went platinum. -

- "Big Poppa" went platinum. -

"Flava in Ya Ear Remix" went platinum.

That whole Bad Boy thing was so big.

Faith Evans.

I wanna be first lady on Puff Daddy's label...

Total.

Biggie.

And Craig Mack.

And the Single of the Year is Craig Mack.

It was a consistent back-to-back-to-back-to-back.

So let me just give you a day in the life of Puff Daddy.

Gets up from wherever he stayed that night,

heads to the office two hours late.

You might have somebody pulling him over, saying, "Hey, ain't you in that video?"

- "Oh, yo, here go a demo." - Puffy's over there.

Sure. Oh, what's up, Puff? How you doing, bro?

Had the big baseball bat cell phones,

and the phone might ring.

Such and such is calling from jail. "Yo, I'm coming home."

You might have a group standing in front of the office,

all ready with the microphone, ready to sing...

...Just to get their shot at Puffy.

Everybody wants to see him. He is now the new gateway into music.

You're gonna take all of this power and money you're getting now,

and play by the rules?

"No, I'm the rule now."

"I am the exception to the rule."

Word up! Bad Boy representing. Puff Daddy!

- It's called Bad Boy, you know? - Yeah, all right.

One day, it seemed like out of the blue, my door opens up.

Sean walks in.

- - He had a baseball bat.

And a big attaché case suitcase with the snaps on it.

The stocks were there.

We in a fucking hustle, we in a grind. Do your job...

He wanted me to sign my 25% over.

And then he's over me like this.

He wants the stock back.

He wants it now.

I'm not gonna stay fucking lying down.

I'm not. I can't do that, man.

He said, "There's a business deal I need to take care of. I need to do it."

"I need this all on one side, but I'll give it back to you."

"I'm gonna give it back to you."

This shit ain't fucking funny. Y'all don't know how to be accountable.

And he threatened until I did.

People always say to me, "Why would you do that?"

Like, "Why did you do that?"

Like, that was, you know.

I didn't want to give it back.

I wanted to stay in good graces.

I still wanted to be at the company.

It wasn't like he was firing me.

But I was definitely confused by it.

It might sound strange,

but if you've ever built something, and you want it to last,

you think about how to make it last.

I thought he was kind of cool at first,

and then,

we started seeing some things.

- - Craig started becoming disenchanted.

I want to congratulate Craig Mack on his Grammy nomination.

- No question. - Yes, baby.

That's cool...

Yo, you got nominated for a Grammy,

but we had no money.

If you look at Bad Boy,

Bad Boy didn't sell enough records to explain his wealth.

But enough artists were on the label

that sold enough records to explain his wealth.

Sean's trick was, "I'm gonna make you a star."