Did Diddy do it? Or didn't Diddy?

There's been a great deal of uproar of egos and celebrities as of late. Completely understandable, some of these people that others are willing to spend extraordinary amounts of money on to emulate have what many measure in success. Wealth, fame, celebrity, connections to the most powerful and influential individuals on the planet. They aren't like most people scraping by, they are the top one percent, controlling most wealth and influence. It isn't until something happens that shatters that illusion that makes some wonder about how out of touch some people are. Many pick on Kanye West, and rightfully so. The man opens his Hennessey hole and embarrasses himself and others. But what if there were someone controlling all aspects around him with the mind of a mogul, and connections of both a mobster and crooked politician?

Years ago, I took pride in looking into conspiracy theories, trying to unravel Gordian knots(read your history of Alexander if you don't get the reference, or at least the Watchmen graphic novel if it doesn't hurt your head to read the small print in 'Under the Hood') with both calculation, and hard speculation. That's all it is, of course. Speculation. Without proof, all one has is opinion, allegations, and one must be cautious of wording or be attacked for libel or slander. Goodness knows I had a wake up call with that topic earlier this year. One must be careful in their wordsmithing. Else lawsuits or threats will come to you. The greatest of these threats are of course delivered by people with power, influence, all of the above I mentioned at the beginning of this post. So let's forget about Mr. West for a moment and let him come out of the closet as a gay fish for the remainder. Instead, let us focus on someone that may have pulled off the greatest coup and publicized murder of the twentieth century.

Sean Combs, Puff Daddy, Puffy, P Diddy, Diddy, Sean John, the man has more names than the evolutions of a Pokemon. With his various ventures, his value is in the hundreds of millions. His best friend, Christopher Wallace AKA Notorious BIG or Biggie Smalls, a celebrated rapper cut down in the midst of the East coast West coast fueds. Everyone has heard by now about the death of Tupac Shakur, and Biggie's death being caused in retaliation. No one to this day is sure about the identities of the assassins, but fingers pointed back at Wallace and his crew. Strangely enough, I've never heard much in the way of revealed information about the potential involvement of the fresh and clean producer's whereabouts or potential involvement.

Then I did some digging. In 2003 according to The Wire, Kirk Burrowes, ex-president of Bad Boy Entertainment, is making explosive claims in new court papers which implicate Sean 'P Diddy' Combs in the 1995 murder of Suge Knight's bodyguard and accuse his conglomerate of ordering the hit on Tupac Shakur. In legal filings obtained by The New York Post, Burrowes claims the mogul set up an "enterprise" of thuggish associates "to gain power, recognition, fame and financial gain through acts and threats involving murder, mayhem and extortion via the enterprise."

Burrowes, godfather to Diddy's son, Justin, makes the extraordinary claims as part of a $25 million suit in Manhattan federal court. The disgruntled label exec says he enjoyed a "very close, family-like relationship" with Combs before their relationship erupted. This past June, he filed the legal action, claiming Diddy cheated him out of $25 million, threatened him with a baseball bat and undermined his management deal with rap diva Mary J. Blige.

"With the consent, approval and ratification of the [Bad Boy] enterprise, Suge Knight's chief bodyguard "Big Jake" was murdered in 1995," Burrowes says in a sworn legal statement. Allegedly, the bodyguard was killed soon after Combs' "advance man" got into an "East Coast-West Coast bashing contest" at an Atlanta party. A local deputy sheriff, who was later killed in a "mysterious car accident," identified Combs' "advance man" - a convicted felon named Anthony Jones - as the shooter, claims Burrowes. Burrowes also accuses Bad Boy Entertainment of hiring the shooter who killed Tupac. Burrowes did not offer more detail on this in his sworn 37-page statement.

Burrowes lawyer John Bostany will argue in court today for Burrowes' new claims of violence to be admitted to the case. "My client appears to be the victim of a corrupt group that 'thugs its way through it' and I am here to help him get justice," Bostany said yesterday. Additionally, Burrowes accuses Combs of the champagne-bottle attack on April 15, 1999 against Universal Records exec Steve Stoute - an attack Diddy admitted to and apologized for. Burrowes continues naming Roy Reid and Dante Dixon, alleged members of Diddy's "enterprise" were directed by Combs to threaten, harass and stalk John Bentley, a songwriter and owner of Calidelphia Records.

Combs lawyer Benjamin Brafman said yesterday Burrowes' claims are "entirely baseless" and "without merit."

Then again in 2008, according to the LA Times and news sources like MSNBC, Sean “Diddy” Combs has denied a report by the Los Angeles Times that his associates were responsible for the 1994 robbery and shooting of Tupac Shakur at a New York recording studio, and that he knew about the attack in advance.

“The story is a lie,” the hip-hop mogul said in a statement Monday. “It is beyond ridiculous and completely false. Neither (the late rapper Notorious B.I.G.) nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. ... I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”

The Times said its story was based on FBI records, interviews with people at the scene of the 1994 shooting, and statements to the FBI by an informant. None of the sources was named. The story says associates hoping to curry favor with Combs — who was overseeing B.I.G.’s white-hot career at the time — lured Shakur to the studio because of his disrespect toward them.

The story said that talent manager James Rosemond and promoter James Sabatino arranged the assault. They and Combs declined to be interviewed for the story, which appeared on the Los Angeles Times Web site but not in its paper publication.

Rosemond called the story a “libelous piece of garbage.”“In the past 14 years, I have not even been questioned by law enforcement with regard to the assault of Tupac Shakur, let alone brought up on charges,” he said in a statement. “Chuck Philips, the writer ... has reached a new low by employing fourth-hand information from desperate jailhouse informants along with ancient FBI reports to create this fabrication. I simply ask for all rap fans and fans of Tupac to analyze this fiction for what it is.”

The story, written by Chuck Philips, was the first investigative report published as a Web exclusive, said Meredith Artley, editor of LATimes.com.

“This piece was perfect for the Web,” Artley said. “The Web audience skews younger. We had all these great multimedia elements, and we said we really don’t need to wait to fit this in the paper.” A “smaller version” of the story may still run in the paper, she said.

A few days later, the news broke that a recent newspaper report linking SEAN COMBS to a gun attack on late rapper TUPAC SHAKUR is based on false documentation, it has been claimed. The Los Angeles Times ran an article on 17 March (08) claiming the music mogul's former manager, Czar Entertainment CEO Jimmy 'Henchman' Rosemond was involved in a plan to ambush Shakur at a New York Recording studio in 1994. Both Combs and Rosemond have hit back at the allegations - denying any involvement in the attack which saw Shakur shot five times, two years before he was murdered in Las Vegas. No one was ever charged in connection with the shooting, which was believed to have started a "gang war" which eventually resulted in Shakur's death. Chuck Phillips, the journalist who wrote the story, recently issued another response standing by his article. But now TheSmokingGun.com claims to have obtained the 'official' legal documents - and alleges they are all fake. According to the website, the supposed FBI files had been created by convicted con artist James Sabatino while serving time at the Allenwood federal prison in White Deer, Pennsylvania - because the FBI have no record of the 'reports'. The Los Angeles Times has now launched an investigation into the authenticity of the documents.

I know, it's a great deal of hoopla. Sean is more likely to have a breakdown than be a cold-blooded mafioso, right? But look at the man's ego. It has reached levels beyond that of Kanye, have you seen his shows? Making the Band 2, 3, 4, Making HIS Band, I want to Work for Diddy 1 and 2 currently airing. The man once made aspiring musicians wak from Manhattan to Brooklyn late at night to buy him a cheesecake, one he was never even there to receive once they returned. He also disbanded the band he helped to create on a whim! The man mocks a female singer when she complained about her voice being affected in smoke filled clubs, saying 'waaaa waaaa waaaa!' But the second someone smoked near his bed on the tour bus, he freaked out because he can't stand the smell of it either.

I wanted to examine the story as if trying to examine the plot in a mystery novel. In the growing fued between East coast's Bad Boy and West coast's Death Row records boiling over both financially as well as into the streets, such stylings of the gangsta lifestyle makes for good albums, but murders in the streets that involve friendly fire onto children over two or more gang bangers' beefs was bad for business. It was and is thuggish, the money will stop coming to fuel such things if it kept up. When Tupac was killed, Biggie was slain out of retaliation. Sean shortly afterward stood onstage with the mothers of both Biggie AND Tupac trying to bring the wars to an end.

As I said, I was trying to connect the dots. In the Bad Boy-Deatn Row fued, who had the most to gain by putting it all to an end? And in the interim, who has gained the most? Sean Combs' personal net worth is valued at over $340 Million, where some say his company Sean John may be valued at $680 Million. His competitor, Suge Knight and Death Row? Death Row filed for bankruptcy, selling everything they could. Suge Knight was attacked and suffered several injuries at the top of the year. If anyone had the money, the power, the influence and legal teams in his pocket to squash any and all rumors about his potential involvement in one of the most publicized murder cases in the last twenty years, wouldn't it be Sean Combs?


I have no proof of this, but it is my opinion that Sean Combs did have some kind of involvement with the murder of Tupac Shakur, had the influence to hide his direct involvement, which then pointed to his best friend's death in retaliation. I believe that any time someone attempts to step forward with proof, they are discredited, the fear of a legal team with millions of dollars to fall back on for retainers silencing most critics. He goes on, fueling his ego, trying to keep in shape because perhaps any sizeable body fat reminds him of his larger friend now deceased. Perhaps even the name 'Puffy' eludes to being larger. So perhaps he had a hand in a brutal slaying, living life like Scarface, David Xanatos or perhaps even Lex Luthor. Who wants to work for Diddy? Not I. Hell, if he offered Krampus a job right now in person, I'd have to tell him to excuse me if I don't shake hands.