The Fall of Diddy (2025) s01e01 Episode Script
The Making of a Mogul
1
[Mylah] Back in 2010, it
was Grammy weekend,
[indistinct shouting]
[man] Here we go.
[Mylah] And we were doing a
photo shoot with Cas during the day.
Puff and Cassie were dating.
There was a party.
[woman] Diddy,
I love you, Diddy!
[Mylah] And she was staying
at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Beverly Hills Hotel is
like a one bedroom suite.
I fall asleep on the couch
because I don't go out.
And he storms in,
"Where the [bleep] is she?"
I like, wake up all of a sudden
like a-- like what
the? Who? Who let--
"Who are you talking about?"
And then they go into the room.
Shuts the door.
All I hear is, "Get
the [bleep] out of here.
Get the [bleep] out of here."
He's like, on a rage.
He's being Puff.
And at this point
I'm just thinking of her safety.
And so I'm packing her stuff up.
Once he leaves, I see
the aftermath on Cassie.
She shows knots on her
head, bruised eye, busted lip.
It was horrific.
And so all I can think of was,
"We need to get
back to my house.
You need to get the
[bleep] out of here."
We can't call the police.
We can't go to the hospital.
We're scared of Puff.
We're always scared of him.
If we call the police
what would happen?
He's a very powerful
person in the business,
and he can do things that
will to make you go away.
And many people are
afraid of him 'til this day.
So what were we supposed to do?
We just had to, like, fix whatever
was happening at that moment.
And that's kind of like
how the business is.
I called my friend
who's a doctor,
and I'm like, "You
have to take care of Cas
'cause this is not okay."
You have to be a witness to this
because we can't call anyone.
But I felt like this
has happened before
because she was so
nonchalant about it.
Cassie and I never spoke
about that incident after.
It's like family business.
We just don't talk about it.
What I witnessed was in 2010s,
and then in 2024, I
watched the CNN video
and I was completely triggered
because I did not know
that this was going
on for all these years.
[newscaster 1] Tonight, music
mogul Sean Diddy Combs
[newscaster 2]
Sean Diddy Combs
[newscaster 3] Sean Diddy
Combs facing a slew of allegations,
including rape
and sex trafficking,
in a stunning new civil lawsuit
filed by his longtime
partner, singer Cassie.
[newscaster 4] Sean Diddy
Combs is now the subject
of a federal criminal
investigation.
FBI agents raided his homes
in Los Angeles and Miami.
[newscaster 5] Sean Diddy Combs,
has been arrested
after a grand jury
indicted the music mogul.
Cassie, coming forward
was the tipping point.
[newscaster 6] Several
new accusers coming forward
against Sean Diddy Combs.
[newscaster 7] Very
serious allegations,
rape, physical abuse
and sex trafficking.
[woman] He was very good
at standing in the limelight
without us actually
taking a look deeper
and seeing who he is
and what he is about.
Thing about hip hop, it's not
just the music, it's a lifestyle.
[newscaster 8] Combs
has built an empire.
There's his Sean
John's fashion line,
his Ciroc vodka and the
TV network he founded.
[Mara] He didn't change
to adapt to the world.
He changed the
world to adapt to him.
Here he is a shining example
of what he likes to
term black excellence.
Meanwhile, there's
all this violence
and trauma happening
in the background.
[sighs wearily]
I realized I wasn't
the only one.
I have a one of one
story that no one else has.
That reckoning, it's coming.
[woman] Everybody
is demanding to know.
How far did this go?
Time is up.
[Danyel] Sean
"Puffy" Combs' power
has led to one of the
most successful careers
in the history of American pop.
And it has led to some
really, really, really
awful other things.
I've been knowing
Combs for just about
the entirety of my career
as a journalist
and as an editor.
I was the first woman editor
in chief of Vibe magazine.
A large reason for
me sharing my story
with everyone today,
It's because it's my duty.
And I'm also sharing it
because of my unique position
in music history.
This is where I'm
supposed to be.
It was very difficult
to work in the music media,
without having to deal with
or work with or hang out with
or negotiate with Sean
"Puffy" Combs, was impossible.
The first time I had a
real conversation with him
was a cover shoot for a vibe.
And that would have been
right around September 1997.
It was to be the
December-January
double issue of Vibe magazine.
Everybody was
at the photo shoot,
a bunch of people from Vibe,
a bunch of people from
the Bad Boy universe.
The idea was to get Mr. Combs
into some angel wings.
After the shoot,
Mr. Combs wanted
to see the covers
before they were published.
It was policy for us
not to show covers
to anyone before
they were published.
He called me at my office.
I told him again,
We don't show the covers,
we don't share the story.
I told him that I wouldn't
be making an exception.
And he said that he would
see me dead in the trunk
if I did not show it to him.
I said to him, "You
need to take that back."
And he said
something to the effect
because, you know, he
wasn't taking shit back.
So then I said, I'm
calling my attorney.
And my attorney
called him to say that
if he didn't immediately
fax over an apology,
My attorney was going to
reach out to law enforcement.
And I think it took about
90 minutes to two hours
and I received
that faxed apology.
What I've only
recently come to realize
through members of the staff.
At that time was
that he had, actually,
in the days before come
up to the Vibe offices,
with two tough
guys looking for me.
In order for my safety
and in order for the magazine
pages to remain intact,
I was shuttled
from office to office
until the coast was clear.
And waited outside.
Standing on the corner,
with the proofs,
the pages of the magazine
that were being
prepared to go to print.
And then my managing
editor came down
and got the pages from me
and put me in a cab to Brooklyn.
But the thing is,
I'm sitting right
here right now.
I have no memory of
any of that happening.
When our research chief
was telling me this story.
I was just like--
literally like
I like-- I don't remember
I was telling her.
And she said, "Of
course you don't.
You blocked it out.
You were terrified."
Because I don't
remember it right now.
It's hard to look back.
I continued to work with him.
I continued to be
cordial with him
to be invited to parties and go.
Sometimes it's very
hard not to feel complicit.
I wish that thing's
were different.
Is he an angel? Is he a devil?
It's a question that I've had
since we put him on
the cover, in the wings.
I didn't know, but
we might know now.
[exhales]
And you hate to see it.
[Mara] As a reporter, Danyel's
story really resonated with me.
What's really unusual
is the extent that
Diddy went to.
He was determined
to try to bully her,
and this was relatively
early in his career.
And so it definitely appears
that Diddy continued
to get more brazen
We now know behind the curtain
there were demons.
But you can't escape
your demons that easily.
[Prince] When I think of
Puffy, I think of New York.
Puffy is the Horatio Alger,
you know, up from
nothing to something.
The rags to riches story.
Diddy was born in Harlem
to his mother, Janice,
and his father, Melvin.
Pump's mother,
Janice Combs Baby,
could dance, could
dress sharp as a attack.
Fly, hustler, go
get it, ambitious.
I think of her as the
queen of that energy.
[Tim] Unfortunately, his
father, Melvin, passed.
Sean didn't have any
memories of Melvin.
He might have had one or two.
[Cheyenne] Melvin died
when he was a toddler.
Diddy has often
spoke about the loss
of a father figure in his life.
Just this desire to
know who Melvin was.
When Combs talks
about his father,
you can tell in his
voice in his face
that he really mourns the loss
of not having his
father in his life.
You know, I'm saying, I
always wanted to hear,
like the sound of his voice.
From the beginning,
I've always had,
like, tragedy around me.
[Tim] Janice was a single mother
and had to make it work.
Janis said, "Okay, we're
moving out to Mount Vernon."
That suburban area
that black people
with some money, middle class,
are able to move to.
[Tim] I met Sean when
I was six years old.
And we live 13 steps from
each other. One staircase.
[claps]
I didn't have a sibling.
So that's where we became.
First impression of meeting him.
This kid is different.
He was a young boy
dressed like an older man,
tailor made,
and I didn't know
kids this small
could really like beat his fly.
So when he stepped outside,
other kids looked at
him like, "What's that?
He got everything we don't have.
And people don't like that.
So now he's a
product of bullying.
He had a presence of
somebody you could just roll over,
and that's what
people tried to do.
Simple as that.
At an early age it
was instilled in him
that he can't be seen as weak
and the only way to
respond to weakness
or this idea that you're
being perceived as weak
is to respond with force.
My mother was I guess
raising me for the real world.
She's always told me
if somebody hit me,
make sure I hit
them back harder.
Make sure they
never hit me again
and make sure I [bleep] them up.
Your mom's made sure. "Listen, don't
come here talking about you got beat up.
Don't come here talking about
somebody who took something from you.
I don't want to
hear none of that.
Go get it back.
You can't come in my
house until it's right."
So he had to make a choice.
He had to man up.
So I'm gonna make more than you.
I'm gonna do more than you.
I'm gonna be more
successful than you.
So I could call the shots.
He was groomed for success.
I was really inspired
by him growing up.
You see this guy? He
comes from Harlem.
He puts hip hop
on the global map.
Then he grows into
a business mogul.
And so before all of
these issues came to light,
there's not a negative thing
that I would have
said about Diddy.
This version of Sean Combs
that we're seeing today,
is a complete departure
from this image
that he curated
and built himself up.
I first began covering
Sean "Puffy" Combs
right after Cassie filed
her lawsuit back in 2023.
The biggest question for me was,
"Has this happened before?"
And as we began investigating
and speaking with more people,
we uncovered a history
of abusive behavior.
That dates back to Diddy's days
at Howard University.
There just seems so
much more to the story.
[man] Take one mark.
[woman] I was a student at
Howard University in the late 80s,
and I am here today
to share what I know.
Sean "Puffy" Combs was
well known on campus.
He would ride on
the back of cars,
throwing out fliers for parties.
If he wanted to go
to the hottest party,
then you saw and heard
Sean "Puffy" Combs.
I am absolutely nervous
about sharing what
I've seen him do
to another human being.
He's powerful, and he's scary.
This event honestly
is so vivid to me.
The night began with
me in my dorm room.
We heard someone
yelling and screaming,
So we pushed up the
window just enough
to get a little idea of
what was going on.
We saw that it was
Sean "Puffy" Combs,
a fellow student,
and he was screaming.
Get your ass downstairs.
Come downstairs, right now!
And he had taken his belt off
and he was whipping the wall.
Mad, angry.
They were connected
somehow, romantically,
and when she came
downstairs, timidly and scared
and really not
knowing what to do,
he started beating on her,
whipping her with that belt,
and she's taking it.
Now we're involved
because now he's abusing her.
So we're yelling.
"Get off of her!
Stop hitting on her!
Leave her alone!"
And he's yelling back.
"Mind your business!
Mind your [bleep] business."
But we're yelling back!
"Get off of her! Leave
her the [bleep] alone!"
He pushes her back into
the doorway of the dorm.
We don't know what's
going on in that space.
We can't see.
Whatever he's doing, takes a
few minutes before he actually
stops whatever he's doing,
and then he leaves alone.
and she follows out
a little bit behind that.
Our 18-year-old
selves yelled for her,
Maybe could have stopped it.
Maybe we should
have called the police
called our dorm mother.
Got somebody else involved.
The front desk was downstairs.
They didn't do anything.
Nobody really actually
came to her rescue
like we probably should have.
It's very important to tell
that young woman's story
because he was
never held accountable.
[Mara] Instead of becoming
tarnished in any way,
his time at Howard becomes
a key part of his mythology.
Howard didn't
just change my life.
It entered my soul
and entered my heart
and entered my being my spirit.
When he got an honorary
doctorate, no less.
I was a little bit
hot about that.
How would you honor
someone like that?
And even though I only completed
two years here at Howard,
It was the greatest
two years of my life.
Howard is where
Combs saw firsthand
how much sway
he had with people.
So despite what
people saw on campus,
he's still able to succeed.
[man] Like it or not,
rap is here to stay.
[Danyel] In the late 80s,
when hip hop was growing,
Here we go, here we go
Here we, here we, here we go ♪
[continues indistinctly]
[Danyel] That's
the exact same time
that Sean "Puffy" Combs
was figuring out who
he was going to be.
I was working with some artists
at a company called
Uptown Records.
I heard that there
was a young guy
helping some of the
artists to define themselves.
[LaJoyce] His name
was Sean "Puffy" Combs.
Uptown Records was one
of the early black labels.
And Andre Harrell
was at the helm.
I can understand why Puffy
wanted to work with them
because they were
the it back then.
And Puffy dropped out of school
to follow his dream.
[Toure] When he did
his internship at Uptown,
he clearly had a ton of ideas.
And so they gave
him an A and R job.
Mary J. Blige, who
had been at uptown
and had not been catching on.
They did not know
what to do with her.
Here comes Puff,
and he's putting all these
pieces in place around her.
Also shaping the image
he gives Mary J. Blige
hip hop beats to sing
under "Real Love."
Was this massive hit?
- Real love ♪
- [vocalizing]
I'm searching
for a real love ♪
[Toure] And they called her
the queen of hip hop soul.
But as much as we loved
Mary, it was clear right away.
Puff is at the forefront
of sonically making that happen.
Puff Daddy, A and R
Director from Uptown.
- Let's go! What's up?
- My brother. Let 'em know--
Let 'em know how--
how easy or how difficult
or how flat or how complicated
it was to put this jam together?
Really, it was no problem because all my
black brothers and sisters came together.
[Toure] You start to
see the rise of Puff
in the sort of hip hop world,
and he's also doing
party promotion.
[Tim] Sean says, "Shoot.
I'm gonna have a
celebrity basketball game
with all the famous
people playing
I'm gonna go convince
Heavy D to be my partner in it,
and we're gonna
do it at City College."
[Jason] My brother
was at City College.
And so the reason I
came to tell my story today
is because the incident
was simply tucked under the rug.
[Sonny] I've been
trying to make sense
of such a tragic event
for years.
[radio jockey] All
right, 98.7 Kiss FM.
Did you know, that the big
basketball game tomorrow,
- [woman 1] Are you going to be there?
- [woman 2] Oh yeah.
It's gonna be crowded,
it's gonna be packed.
[woman 1] Mmm-hmm.
A lot of people coming
to play in a celebrity
basketball game.
Jodeci, Boyz II Men,
Brand New Being, LL Cool J.
[Jason] Everyone you
knew in all boroughs
were talking about
City College that night.
I was 17 years old.
My brother Dirk
really wanted to go
I remember Dirk
showing me the ticket.
Dirk was someone to look up to.
Out of our neighborhood
there was only a few of us
that actually went
away to college.
[Sonny] Combs was dating
Misa Hylton at the time.
My sister Sonya and
Misa were close friends,
I was the big brother
because we were so close in age.
We had a real close bond.
She was going to
become a pediatric nurse.
At the time, I had
two young daughters
and she was totally
hands on with her nieces.
She loved them deeply.
The day of the event,
she said she wasn't going,
but Misa reached out
to Sonya and told her
that Puffy had a ticket for her.
and she decided to go.
[Tim] Day at City College comes
I'm a part of Sean's staff.
One thing Sean knew
how to do was promote,
and the buildup to City
College was so phenomenal
was almost like
gods coming to town.
The gym filled up,
in like a blink of an eye.
[man on microphone]
They were still selling
tickets at the door.
But there's still a huge crowd
outside of people with tickets.
[woman speaking]
The bouncers or whoever said,
"It's over. No one
else is getting in."
And that's when the door
to the gym was closed.
So now the crowd that saw
that the doors were closing,
many had tickets in hand.
They decided to push
- [bleep]
- [woman crying]
[Sonny] And it caused a stampede
going down the
stairs with no way
to enter the gymnasium
with the four doors closed.
The crowd went crazy.
[clamoring]
[woman speaking]
[Jason] They broke the doors.
[woman speaking]
[Jason] And a bunch of people
just rushed down those steps.
And pushed them
against those doors.
I'm not quite sure what
door Misa went through.
But she wasn't with Sonya.
[Jason] My brother
and his friends
are in the staircase
already, getting pushed.
[Sonny] Sonya was behind
one of the young girls
that was with them.
And her face was in her back.
Imagine being
packed like sardines.
And if you're packed like this,
there's nowhere to go.
[Jason] They had to
literally pull the door open,
crush someone opening the door.
And then start pulling
people out into the gym
one by one from one door.
[man announcing]
[Tim] You see just
a wave of people
falling on the floor.
Fighting to breath.
[woman on phone]
[bleep]
[man on phone]
[man shouting]
[Jason] You'll see in
the footage Sean Combs
shirt open and walking around.
Just stressed out.
I look over, he's over
there pumping chests
and breathing into
people's mouths.
And Sonya was one of the people
well, he was
trying to resuscitate
[Jason] Dirk wasn't getting
enough oxygen to his brain.
When they were doing CPR on him,
his chest was going down.
It hit the floor.
[man shouting]
[woman speaking]
And then my mother called.
And then that was when
I found out he was dead.
She said, "He's gone, Jason."
[man announcing]
[Sonny] My mom
and my dad and myself
went back to City College
to identify Sonya's body.
They showed us Polaroids
and someone tried to go
over the top of the crowd.
And clearly in the Polaroid,
you can see the boot mark
in Sonya's head.
I think Puffy bears
a lot of responsibility
for what happened that day
because the doors
remained closed,
they could have been opened.
[reporter] Dwight
Heavy D. Myers,
and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs
pointed the fingers at
everyone but themselves.
Whatever must be done
must be done to ensure
that this never, ever,
ever happens again.
[Rev. Conrad] I know
that he and Heavy D
did not intend for that
day to end that way.
Puffy clearly wanted to
throw the biggest best event,
and he promoted
the hell out of it.
But he didn't do enough
to protect the crowds
of people that came out.
[Jason] There was a lawsuit
for all the things that
happened at City College.
[Sonny] This was a huge case.
The litigation lasted years.
When my mother
called me and told me
that the lawyers were
talking about a settlement,
it was like take this money
and she didn't shut up.
Really, nothing mattered to me
other than keeping
Sonya's memory alive.
And Puff wasn't hearing me,
and that created
a lot of tension
between me and him.
I said, "Was Sonya your friend?"
He didn't want to
answer the question.
She got the ticket
from you, man.
These interactions started
to make me physically sick.
Clearly he had no
interest on helping me
keep Sonya's memory alive.
Or the other eight.
[Peter] The city
college incident for Puffy
was a turning point
in how people began
to feel about him.
[LaJoyce] He asked one time,
"When is this ever
going to be behind me?"
And I said, "The
more good you do,
this will get further
and further down
on the list of questions
that you're asked.
[Mara] Diddy was
able to put it behind him
because he was
good at creating stars
and making hits.
He was succeeding.
He was thriving.
He was winning.
In time, he becomes too big
to be working with Andre.
And so Andre fired him.
[Prince] His gear was
placed in the hallway,
and they said,
"Come get your gear."
And I was like,
"Whoa! So I guess
I won't be hearing
from him anymore."
When you become
a millionaire at 19,
you probably go crazy.
Act a little obnoxious.
It was such a
disappointment to me
because I got fired by the
first person that believed in me.
And then I remember
somebody saying
Puff is having a meeting
with Clive Davis
about starting a label.
It was said in a way of like
That is so ridiculous.
[Mark] He's like
the white godfather
of black music for
the last 50 years.
He sees an opportunity to
bring Sean Combs' energy
and gives him his
own signature label,
[Mark reading]
It was incredibly significant
for a young black man,
to have his own label,
and Puffy was in his 20s.
That was incredible.
Right away, Bad Boy is
different than other labels,
and this is coming from the
energy of the guy at the top,
I remember going into Bad Boy
and there was words
painted on the wall.
Sleeping is for losers.
Yo, yo, yo, yo bust your asses.
I'll go back in the studio
and you'll just pay for
me to go back in the studio
and tell me exactly
what you want.
I was his first publicist.
One day, Mr. Davis
called me at my desk,
he said, "Lajoyce,
from this day forward,
I want you to garner
press for Puffy."
And I also understood
the assignment
to protect the black boy genius.
Puffy was such a visionary.
Everything that he touched
would eventually turn to gold.
And platinum.
And it is gone. It's on dog.
[LaJoyce] Every single day,
and I mean with no exaggeration.
Puffy would call me between
02:15 and 04:00 o'clock.
"What's going on?
What's happening
with the artist?
Who's going to be appearing
on what television show?
I have an idea."
And he'd leave it
to you to execute.
"By the way, in 48 hours."
Bad Boy, you know
what I'm saying?
Your brand is all big [bleep]
[Sean] Yeah, we got Craig Mack.
The year for Bad Boy's, 1994.
Craig Mack, drops
"Flava in Ya Ear".
"Flava in Ya Ear" was
something that I made up.
Yeah, I sampled some crazy sound
and listen at that.
I was like, Dum dum dum dum ♪
Dum dum ♪
[scatting]
Then on the hook, I
threw that loud siren in
[music playing]
It's special. I knew
it was special.
Puff was like, "Yo,
I need some tracks
for my new artist, Craig Mack."
So I showed up with this tape.
He played it and he said, "Yo, I will
cut you a check for that right now."
You know what I said, right?
Sold.
[laughs]
Here comes the brand
new flava in ya ear ♪
Time for new flava in ya ear ♪
I'm kicking new
flava in ya ear ♪
[Mark] And then Notorious
B.I.G puts Bad Boy on the map.
What Biggie does
is it gives the label,
and it gives Sean
Combs, street cred.
[Danyel] So Combs'
ideas with Biggie
was how can we make something
that's very rowdy
and of the streets
but make it so that
everyone likes it.
How can we do
that within one song?
And then you go to "Juicy".
I never thought
it could happen ♪
This rappin' stuff ♪
I was to use the
packing jets and stuff ♪
Even though he's rhyming about
standing on the
corner selling dope.
We might be at a pool party.
We're gonna make it look
good and glamorous and fun.
Those mini juxtapositions
in Biggies, repertoire
to me are what made him work.
Puff was definitely like,
"Let's elevate the culture."
A lot of it, in retrospect,
was about elevating himself.
He's in the videos.
He's on the songs.
How ya livin' Biggie Smallz? ♪
In mansion and
Benz's, givin' ♪
[indistinct shouting]
[Toure] In the
concerts, on the stage.
He's very much
part of the story.
He understood
that I represent the brand.
So when you see me,
you see the Bad Boy brand.
[Mark] But the West Coast
was a legitimate threat
to East Coast hip hop.
The West Coast folks are
selling many more records.
This moment is where we start
to see this intercoastal battle.
Puff realized that
now hip hop is war.
We're fighting for number one,
and we're playing real dirty.
And a lot of people got hurt.
[Tim] Bad Boy was
as hot as fish grease.
He couldn't be touched,
but more money,
more problems, right?
Everything was heightened.
Backstabbing was heightened.
Dishonesty to
distrust, unloyalty
All of that just
started to unravel.
[Cheyenne] Suge Knight he ran
Death Row Records on the West Coast.
Two very, very different
versions of moguls.
Suge Knight, who was
a legitimate, scary figure.
[reporter 1] Suge
Knight goes back to jail.
[reporter 2] Knight had been
on probation for a 1992
[reporter 3] . ..with
assault and battery
And Sean Combs, who
felt a little bit more cuddly
[chuckles softly]
to people, right.
[Rev. Conrad] The East Coast
West Coast beef at that time
took on epic proportions.
And the two stars that we
think about in that moment,
who represents these
two very different coasts.
Are really, The Notorious B.I.G.
and Tupac Shakur.
[Gordon] Tupac was a megastar,
rapper, icon.
[Mara] What a lot of
people don't realize
is that Death Row was trying
to set up Death Row East.
[Tim] They really thought they
could come and take New York.
And they tried.
[Cheyenne] It's unsettling
to watch this Tupac video,
knowing a short time
later what would happen.
[Tupac] We're coming
to the East Coast
to overthrow the government
y'all got right now,
which is Bad Boy.
Believe in Death Row East.
Believe in that, for real.
[Mara] That was a bold move.
The feud was so bad at that time
that you might be in trouble
throwing up the W
on the East Coast.
[Dewitt] I could
have been a casualty
of the East Coast
West Coast beef.
I came up in the music industry
as a concert promoter.
And one nigh I was
at a place called PJs,
up in Harlem.
Some cat comes in
promoting "Death Row East."
He has these
bright white T-shirts
and he's giving them away.
And I was like, "Okay, I
like that. Let me get one."
And I-- I just-- I threw it on.
Later, we're going downtown.
I'm with Lance Coffey,
who is my security.
We get to the club.
Me and my Death
Row East T-shirt.
It was packed.
An hour later, I
come out of the club.
We go across the
street to my jeep.
We get in, I'm in
the driver's seat.
And Puffy pulls
up in a sports car.
He's in the passenger seat.
And then he said to
me, "What's up, bitch?"
I said, "Puff, man, I don't want
nothing to do with you, man.
Keep your drama to yourself."
I really tried to
deescalate the situation.
He said, "Nah, you're a bitch."
He aligned his beef
with Suge Knight
and Death Row in the West Coast
with that T shirt.
So it's like, "How dare you
jump to the other side?
How dare you promote Death Row?"
And we proceed down the block.
His car veers over
and cuts me off.
And forces me into an island.
Lance and I both
jumped out of the car.
A shot blasted off.
Lance yells, "Gun, gun!"
And I don't know who shot it.
I leap over the island
and now it's a car chase
and um, I'm-- I'm fighting
for my life at this point.
[voice shaking] All I know
is that I need to get away.
And so I'm driving.
I'm going down
a one way streets.
I'm on the sidewalk
at one point.
It's a high speed chase
through Manhattan.
I just thank God I
escaped that situation.
What we see is this
massive overreaction
and tendency
towards brutal violence.
If he could fly off
the handle that easily.
Over such a small
perceived slight.
What else was he capable of?
[Dewitt] You asked me earlier
like, why I'm here?
Like I almost wouldn't
be here, period.
My whole future would be erased.
Dude, you're a menace
to society.
My story is just a piece
of the bigger puzzle
of his mayhem.
[Rev. Conrad] Sean
Combs has been the figure
more associated with death,
tragedy and brokenness
than any mogul.
He ran on fear and
intimidation. It was abused.
Combs wants what he
wants when he wants it.
He was saying things like,
turn around, let me see that ass.
All of a sudden, I just
seen him out of nowhere
just punching.
And God said to me, be
still you're about to get hit.
[Tim] I truly believe
monsters are not born
they're made
♪
[Mylah] Back in 2010, it
was Grammy weekend,
[indistinct shouting]
[man] Here we go.
[Mylah] And we were doing a
photo shoot with Cas during the day.
Puff and Cassie were dating.
There was a party.
[woman] Diddy,
I love you, Diddy!
[Mylah] And she was staying
at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
The Beverly Hills Hotel is
like a one bedroom suite.
I fall asleep on the couch
because I don't go out.
And he storms in,
"Where the [bleep] is she?"
I like, wake up all of a sudden
like a-- like what
the? Who? Who let--
"Who are you talking about?"
And then they go into the room.
Shuts the door.
All I hear is, "Get
the [bleep] out of here.
Get the [bleep] out of here."
He's like, on a rage.
He's being Puff.
And at this point
I'm just thinking of her safety.
And so I'm packing her stuff up.
Once he leaves, I see
the aftermath on Cassie.
She shows knots on her
head, bruised eye, busted lip.
It was horrific.
And so all I can think of was,
"We need to get
back to my house.
You need to get the
[bleep] out of here."
We can't call the police.
We can't go to the hospital.
We're scared of Puff.
We're always scared of him.
If we call the police
what would happen?
He's a very powerful
person in the business,
and he can do things that
will to make you go away.
And many people are
afraid of him 'til this day.
So what were we supposed to do?
We just had to, like, fix whatever
was happening at that moment.
And that's kind of like
how the business is.
I called my friend
who's a doctor,
and I'm like, "You
have to take care of Cas
'cause this is not okay."
You have to be a witness to this
because we can't call anyone.
But I felt like this
has happened before
because she was so
nonchalant about it.
Cassie and I never spoke
about that incident after.
It's like family business.
We just don't talk about it.
What I witnessed was in 2010s,
and then in 2024, I
watched the CNN video
and I was completely triggered
because I did not know
that this was going
on for all these years.
[newscaster 1] Tonight, music
mogul Sean Diddy Combs
[newscaster 2]
Sean Diddy Combs
[newscaster 3] Sean Diddy
Combs facing a slew of allegations,
including rape
and sex trafficking,
in a stunning new civil lawsuit
filed by his longtime
partner, singer Cassie.
[newscaster 4] Sean Diddy
Combs is now the subject
of a federal criminal
investigation.
FBI agents raided his homes
in Los Angeles and Miami.
[newscaster 5] Sean Diddy Combs,
has been arrested
after a grand jury
indicted the music mogul.
Cassie, coming forward
was the tipping point.
[newscaster 6] Several
new accusers coming forward
against Sean Diddy Combs.
[newscaster 7] Very
serious allegations,
rape, physical abuse
and sex trafficking.
[woman] He was very good
at standing in the limelight
without us actually
taking a look deeper
and seeing who he is
and what he is about.
Thing about hip hop, it's not
just the music, it's a lifestyle.
[newscaster 8] Combs
has built an empire.
There's his Sean
John's fashion line,
his Ciroc vodka and the
TV network he founded.
[Mara] He didn't change
to adapt to the world.
He changed the
world to adapt to him.
Here he is a shining example
of what he likes to
term black excellence.
Meanwhile, there's
all this violence
and trauma happening
in the background.
[sighs wearily]
I realized I wasn't
the only one.
I have a one of one
story that no one else has.
That reckoning, it's coming.
[woman] Everybody
is demanding to know.
How far did this go?
Time is up.
[Danyel] Sean
"Puffy" Combs' power
has led to one of the
most successful careers
in the history of American pop.
And it has led to some
really, really, really
awful other things.
I've been knowing
Combs for just about
the entirety of my career
as a journalist
and as an editor.
I was the first woman editor
in chief of Vibe magazine.
A large reason for
me sharing my story
with everyone today,
It's because it's my duty.
And I'm also sharing it
because of my unique position
in music history.
This is where I'm
supposed to be.
It was very difficult
to work in the music media,
without having to deal with
or work with or hang out with
or negotiate with Sean
"Puffy" Combs, was impossible.
The first time I had a
real conversation with him
was a cover shoot for a vibe.
And that would have been
right around September 1997.
It was to be the
December-January
double issue of Vibe magazine.
Everybody was
at the photo shoot,
a bunch of people from Vibe,
a bunch of people from
the Bad Boy universe.
The idea was to get Mr. Combs
into some angel wings.
After the shoot,
Mr. Combs wanted
to see the covers
before they were published.
It was policy for us
not to show covers
to anyone before
they were published.
He called me at my office.
I told him again,
We don't show the covers,
we don't share the story.
I told him that I wouldn't
be making an exception.
And he said that he would
see me dead in the trunk
if I did not show it to him.
I said to him, "You
need to take that back."
And he said
something to the effect
because, you know, he
wasn't taking shit back.
So then I said, I'm
calling my attorney.
And my attorney
called him to say that
if he didn't immediately
fax over an apology,
My attorney was going to
reach out to law enforcement.
And I think it took about
90 minutes to two hours
and I received
that faxed apology.
What I've only
recently come to realize
through members of the staff.
At that time was
that he had, actually,
in the days before come
up to the Vibe offices,
with two tough
guys looking for me.
In order for my safety
and in order for the magazine
pages to remain intact,
I was shuttled
from office to office
until the coast was clear.
And waited outside.
Standing on the corner,
with the proofs,
the pages of the magazine
that were being
prepared to go to print.
And then my managing
editor came down
and got the pages from me
and put me in a cab to Brooklyn.
But the thing is,
I'm sitting right
here right now.
I have no memory of
any of that happening.
When our research chief
was telling me this story.
I was just like--
literally like
I like-- I don't remember
I was telling her.
And she said, "Of
course you don't.
You blocked it out.
You were terrified."
Because I don't
remember it right now.
It's hard to look back.
I continued to work with him.
I continued to be
cordial with him
to be invited to parties and go.
Sometimes it's very
hard not to feel complicit.
I wish that thing's
were different.
Is he an angel? Is he a devil?
It's a question that I've had
since we put him on
the cover, in the wings.
I didn't know, but
we might know now.
[exhales]
And you hate to see it.
[Mara] As a reporter, Danyel's
story really resonated with me.
What's really unusual
is the extent that
Diddy went to.
He was determined
to try to bully her,
and this was relatively
early in his career.
And so it definitely appears
that Diddy continued
to get more brazen
We now know behind the curtain
there were demons.
But you can't escape
your demons that easily.
[Prince] When I think of
Puffy, I think of New York.
Puffy is the Horatio Alger,
you know, up from
nothing to something.
The rags to riches story.
Diddy was born in Harlem
to his mother, Janice,
and his father, Melvin.
Pump's mother,
Janice Combs Baby,
could dance, could
dress sharp as a attack.
Fly, hustler, go
get it, ambitious.
I think of her as the
queen of that energy.
[Tim] Unfortunately, his
father, Melvin, passed.
Sean didn't have any
memories of Melvin.
He might have had one or two.
[Cheyenne] Melvin died
when he was a toddler.
Diddy has often
spoke about the loss
of a father figure in his life.
Just this desire to
know who Melvin was.
When Combs talks
about his father,
you can tell in his
voice in his face
that he really mourns the loss
of not having his
father in his life.
You know, I'm saying, I
always wanted to hear,
like the sound of his voice.
From the beginning,
I've always had,
like, tragedy around me.
[Tim] Janice was a single mother
and had to make it work.
Janis said, "Okay, we're
moving out to Mount Vernon."
That suburban area
that black people
with some money, middle class,
are able to move to.
[Tim] I met Sean when
I was six years old.
And we live 13 steps from
each other. One staircase.
[claps]
I didn't have a sibling.
So that's where we became.
First impression of meeting him.
This kid is different.
He was a young boy
dressed like an older man,
tailor made,
and I didn't know
kids this small
could really like beat his fly.
So when he stepped outside,
other kids looked at
him like, "What's that?
He got everything we don't have.
And people don't like that.
So now he's a
product of bullying.
He had a presence of
somebody you could just roll over,
and that's what
people tried to do.
Simple as that.
At an early age it
was instilled in him
that he can't be seen as weak
and the only way to
respond to weakness
or this idea that you're
being perceived as weak
is to respond with force.
My mother was I guess
raising me for the real world.
She's always told me
if somebody hit me,
make sure I hit
them back harder.
Make sure they
never hit me again
and make sure I [bleep] them up.
Your mom's made sure. "Listen, don't
come here talking about you got beat up.
Don't come here talking about
somebody who took something from you.
I don't want to
hear none of that.
Go get it back.
You can't come in my
house until it's right."
So he had to make a choice.
He had to man up.
So I'm gonna make more than you.
I'm gonna do more than you.
I'm gonna be more
successful than you.
So I could call the shots.
He was groomed for success.
I was really inspired
by him growing up.
You see this guy? He
comes from Harlem.
He puts hip hop
on the global map.
Then he grows into
a business mogul.
And so before all of
these issues came to light,
there's not a negative thing
that I would have
said about Diddy.
This version of Sean Combs
that we're seeing today,
is a complete departure
from this image
that he curated
and built himself up.
I first began covering
Sean "Puffy" Combs
right after Cassie filed
her lawsuit back in 2023.
The biggest question for me was,
"Has this happened before?"
And as we began investigating
and speaking with more people,
we uncovered a history
of abusive behavior.
That dates back to Diddy's days
at Howard University.
There just seems so
much more to the story.
[man] Take one mark.
[woman] I was a student at
Howard University in the late 80s,
and I am here today
to share what I know.
Sean "Puffy" Combs was
well known on campus.
He would ride on
the back of cars,
throwing out fliers for parties.
If he wanted to go
to the hottest party,
then you saw and heard
Sean "Puffy" Combs.
I am absolutely nervous
about sharing what
I've seen him do
to another human being.
He's powerful, and he's scary.
This event honestly
is so vivid to me.
The night began with
me in my dorm room.
We heard someone
yelling and screaming,
So we pushed up the
window just enough
to get a little idea of
what was going on.
We saw that it was
Sean "Puffy" Combs,
a fellow student,
and he was screaming.
Get your ass downstairs.
Come downstairs, right now!
And he had taken his belt off
and he was whipping the wall.
Mad, angry.
They were connected
somehow, romantically,
and when she came
downstairs, timidly and scared
and really not
knowing what to do,
he started beating on her,
whipping her with that belt,
and she's taking it.
Now we're involved
because now he's abusing her.
So we're yelling.
"Get off of her!
Stop hitting on her!
Leave her alone!"
And he's yelling back.
"Mind your business!
Mind your [bleep] business."
But we're yelling back!
"Get off of her! Leave
her the [bleep] alone!"
He pushes her back into
the doorway of the dorm.
We don't know what's
going on in that space.
We can't see.
Whatever he's doing, takes a
few minutes before he actually
stops whatever he's doing,
and then he leaves alone.
and she follows out
a little bit behind that.
Our 18-year-old
selves yelled for her,
Maybe could have stopped it.
Maybe we should
have called the police
called our dorm mother.
Got somebody else involved.
The front desk was downstairs.
They didn't do anything.
Nobody really actually
came to her rescue
like we probably should have.
It's very important to tell
that young woman's story
because he was
never held accountable.
[Mara] Instead of becoming
tarnished in any way,
his time at Howard becomes
a key part of his mythology.
Howard didn't
just change my life.
It entered my soul
and entered my heart
and entered my being my spirit.
When he got an honorary
doctorate, no less.
I was a little bit
hot about that.
How would you honor
someone like that?
And even though I only completed
two years here at Howard,
It was the greatest
two years of my life.
Howard is where
Combs saw firsthand
how much sway
he had with people.
So despite what
people saw on campus,
he's still able to succeed.
[man] Like it or not,
rap is here to stay.
[Danyel] In the late 80s,
when hip hop was growing,
Here we go, here we go
Here we, here we, here we go ♪
[continues indistinctly]
[Danyel] That's
the exact same time
that Sean "Puffy" Combs
was figuring out who
he was going to be.
I was working with some artists
at a company called
Uptown Records.
I heard that there
was a young guy
helping some of the
artists to define themselves.
[LaJoyce] His name
was Sean "Puffy" Combs.
Uptown Records was one
of the early black labels.
And Andre Harrell
was at the helm.
I can understand why Puffy
wanted to work with them
because they were
the it back then.
And Puffy dropped out of school
to follow his dream.
[Toure] When he did
his internship at Uptown,
he clearly had a ton of ideas.
And so they gave
him an A and R job.
Mary J. Blige, who
had been at uptown
and had not been catching on.
They did not know
what to do with her.
Here comes Puff,
and he's putting all these
pieces in place around her.
Also shaping the image
he gives Mary J. Blige
hip hop beats to sing
under "Real Love."
Was this massive hit?
- Real love ♪
- [vocalizing]
I'm searching
for a real love ♪
[Toure] And they called her
the queen of hip hop soul.
But as much as we loved
Mary, it was clear right away.
Puff is at the forefront
of sonically making that happen.
Puff Daddy, A and R
Director from Uptown.
- Let's go! What's up?
- My brother. Let 'em know--
Let 'em know how--
how easy or how difficult
or how flat or how complicated
it was to put this jam together?
Really, it was no problem because all my
black brothers and sisters came together.
[Toure] You start to
see the rise of Puff
in the sort of hip hop world,
and he's also doing
party promotion.
[Tim] Sean says, "Shoot.
I'm gonna have a
celebrity basketball game
with all the famous
people playing
I'm gonna go convince
Heavy D to be my partner in it,
and we're gonna
do it at City College."
[Jason] My brother
was at City College.
And so the reason I
came to tell my story today
is because the incident
was simply tucked under the rug.
[Sonny] I've been
trying to make sense
of such a tragic event
for years.
[radio jockey] All
right, 98.7 Kiss FM.
Did you know, that the big
basketball game tomorrow,
- [woman 1] Are you going to be there?
- [woman 2] Oh yeah.
It's gonna be crowded,
it's gonna be packed.
[woman 1] Mmm-hmm.
A lot of people coming
to play in a celebrity
basketball game.
Jodeci, Boyz II Men,
Brand New Being, LL Cool J.
[Jason] Everyone you
knew in all boroughs
were talking about
City College that night.
I was 17 years old.
My brother Dirk
really wanted to go
I remember Dirk
showing me the ticket.
Dirk was someone to look up to.
Out of our neighborhood
there was only a few of us
that actually went
away to college.
[Sonny] Combs was dating
Misa Hylton at the time.
My sister Sonya and
Misa were close friends,
I was the big brother
because we were so close in age.
We had a real close bond.
She was going to
become a pediatric nurse.
At the time, I had
two young daughters
and she was totally
hands on with her nieces.
She loved them deeply.
The day of the event,
she said she wasn't going,
but Misa reached out
to Sonya and told her
that Puffy had a ticket for her.
and she decided to go.
[Tim] Day at City College comes
I'm a part of Sean's staff.
One thing Sean knew
how to do was promote,
and the buildup to City
College was so phenomenal
was almost like
gods coming to town.
The gym filled up,
in like a blink of an eye.
[man on microphone]
They were still selling
tickets at the door.
But there's still a huge crowd
outside of people with tickets.
[woman speaking]
The bouncers or whoever said,
"It's over. No one
else is getting in."
And that's when the door
to the gym was closed.
So now the crowd that saw
that the doors were closing,
many had tickets in hand.
They decided to push
- [bleep]
- [woman crying]
[Sonny] And it caused a stampede
going down the
stairs with no way
to enter the gymnasium
with the four doors closed.
The crowd went crazy.
[clamoring]
[woman speaking]
[Jason] They broke the doors.
[woman speaking]
[Jason] And a bunch of people
just rushed down those steps.
And pushed them
against those doors.
I'm not quite sure what
door Misa went through.
But she wasn't with Sonya.
[Jason] My brother
and his friends
are in the staircase
already, getting pushed.
[Sonny] Sonya was behind
one of the young girls
that was with them.
And her face was in her back.
Imagine being
packed like sardines.
And if you're packed like this,
there's nowhere to go.
[Jason] They had to
literally pull the door open,
crush someone opening the door.
And then start pulling
people out into the gym
one by one from one door.
[man announcing]
[Tim] You see just
a wave of people
falling on the floor.
Fighting to breath.
[woman on phone]
[bleep]
[man on phone]
[man shouting]
[Jason] You'll see in
the footage Sean Combs
shirt open and walking around.
Just stressed out.
I look over, he's over
there pumping chests
and breathing into
people's mouths.
And Sonya was one of the people
well, he was
trying to resuscitate
[Jason] Dirk wasn't getting
enough oxygen to his brain.
When they were doing CPR on him,
his chest was going down.
It hit the floor.
[man shouting]
[woman speaking]
And then my mother called.
And then that was when
I found out he was dead.
She said, "He's gone, Jason."
[man announcing]
[Sonny] My mom
and my dad and myself
went back to City College
to identify Sonya's body.
They showed us Polaroids
and someone tried to go
over the top of the crowd.
And clearly in the Polaroid,
you can see the boot mark
in Sonya's head.
I think Puffy bears
a lot of responsibility
for what happened that day
because the doors
remained closed,
they could have been opened.
[reporter] Dwight
Heavy D. Myers,
and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs
pointed the fingers at
everyone but themselves.
Whatever must be done
must be done to ensure
that this never, ever,
ever happens again.
[Rev. Conrad] I know
that he and Heavy D
did not intend for that
day to end that way.
Puffy clearly wanted to
throw the biggest best event,
and he promoted
the hell out of it.
But he didn't do enough
to protect the crowds
of people that came out.
[Jason] There was a lawsuit
for all the things that
happened at City College.
[Sonny] This was a huge case.
The litigation lasted years.
When my mother
called me and told me
that the lawyers were
talking about a settlement,
it was like take this money
and she didn't shut up.
Really, nothing mattered to me
other than keeping
Sonya's memory alive.
And Puff wasn't hearing me,
and that created
a lot of tension
between me and him.
I said, "Was Sonya your friend?"
He didn't want to
answer the question.
She got the ticket
from you, man.
These interactions started
to make me physically sick.
Clearly he had no
interest on helping me
keep Sonya's memory alive.
Or the other eight.
[Peter] The city
college incident for Puffy
was a turning point
in how people began
to feel about him.
[LaJoyce] He asked one time,
"When is this ever
going to be behind me?"
And I said, "The
more good you do,
this will get further
and further down
on the list of questions
that you're asked.
[Mara] Diddy was
able to put it behind him
because he was
good at creating stars
and making hits.
He was succeeding.
He was thriving.
He was winning.
In time, he becomes too big
to be working with Andre.
And so Andre fired him.
[Prince] His gear was
placed in the hallway,
and they said,
"Come get your gear."
And I was like,
"Whoa! So I guess
I won't be hearing
from him anymore."
When you become
a millionaire at 19,
you probably go crazy.
Act a little obnoxious.
It was such a
disappointment to me
because I got fired by the
first person that believed in me.
And then I remember
somebody saying
Puff is having a meeting
with Clive Davis
about starting a label.
It was said in a way of like
That is so ridiculous.
[Mark] He's like
the white godfather
of black music for
the last 50 years.
He sees an opportunity to
bring Sean Combs' energy
and gives him his
own signature label,
[Mark reading]
It was incredibly significant
for a young black man,
to have his own label,
and Puffy was in his 20s.
That was incredible.
Right away, Bad Boy is
different than other labels,
and this is coming from the
energy of the guy at the top,
I remember going into Bad Boy
and there was words
painted on the wall.
Sleeping is for losers.
Yo, yo, yo, yo bust your asses.
I'll go back in the studio
and you'll just pay for
me to go back in the studio
and tell me exactly
what you want.
I was his first publicist.
One day, Mr. Davis
called me at my desk,
he said, "Lajoyce,
from this day forward,
I want you to garner
press for Puffy."
And I also understood
the assignment
to protect the black boy genius.
Puffy was such a visionary.
Everything that he touched
would eventually turn to gold.
And platinum.
And it is gone. It's on dog.
[LaJoyce] Every single day,
and I mean with no exaggeration.
Puffy would call me between
02:15 and 04:00 o'clock.
"What's going on?
What's happening
with the artist?
Who's going to be appearing
on what television show?
I have an idea."
And he'd leave it
to you to execute.
"By the way, in 48 hours."
Bad Boy, you know
what I'm saying?
Your brand is all big [bleep]
[Sean] Yeah, we got Craig Mack.
The year for Bad Boy's, 1994.
Craig Mack, drops
"Flava in Ya Ear".
"Flava in Ya Ear" was
something that I made up.
Yeah, I sampled some crazy sound
and listen at that.
I was like, Dum dum dum dum ♪
Dum dum ♪
[scatting]
Then on the hook, I
threw that loud siren in
[music playing]
It's special. I knew
it was special.
Puff was like, "Yo,
I need some tracks
for my new artist, Craig Mack."
So I showed up with this tape.
He played it and he said, "Yo, I will
cut you a check for that right now."
You know what I said, right?
Sold.
[laughs]
Here comes the brand
new flava in ya ear ♪
Time for new flava in ya ear ♪
I'm kicking new
flava in ya ear ♪
[Mark] And then Notorious
B.I.G puts Bad Boy on the map.
What Biggie does
is it gives the label,
and it gives Sean
Combs, street cred.
[Danyel] So Combs'
ideas with Biggie
was how can we make something
that's very rowdy
and of the streets
but make it so that
everyone likes it.
How can we do
that within one song?
And then you go to "Juicy".
I never thought
it could happen ♪
This rappin' stuff ♪
I was to use the
packing jets and stuff ♪
Even though he's rhyming about
standing on the
corner selling dope.
We might be at a pool party.
We're gonna make it look
good and glamorous and fun.
Those mini juxtapositions
in Biggies, repertoire
to me are what made him work.
Puff was definitely like,
"Let's elevate the culture."
A lot of it, in retrospect,
was about elevating himself.
He's in the videos.
He's on the songs.
How ya livin' Biggie Smallz? ♪
In mansion and
Benz's, givin' ♪
[indistinct shouting]
[Toure] In the
concerts, on the stage.
He's very much
part of the story.
He understood
that I represent the brand.
So when you see me,
you see the Bad Boy brand.
[Mark] But the West Coast
was a legitimate threat
to East Coast hip hop.
The West Coast folks are
selling many more records.
This moment is where we start
to see this intercoastal battle.
Puff realized that
now hip hop is war.
We're fighting for number one,
and we're playing real dirty.
And a lot of people got hurt.
[Tim] Bad Boy was
as hot as fish grease.
He couldn't be touched,
but more money,
more problems, right?
Everything was heightened.
Backstabbing was heightened.
Dishonesty to
distrust, unloyalty
All of that just
started to unravel.
[Cheyenne] Suge Knight he ran
Death Row Records on the West Coast.
Two very, very different
versions of moguls.
Suge Knight, who was
a legitimate, scary figure.
[reporter 1] Suge
Knight goes back to jail.
[reporter 2] Knight had been
on probation for a 1992
[reporter 3] . ..with
assault and battery
And Sean Combs, who
felt a little bit more cuddly
[chuckles softly]
to people, right.
[Rev. Conrad] The East Coast
West Coast beef at that time
took on epic proportions.
And the two stars that we
think about in that moment,
who represents these
two very different coasts.
Are really, The Notorious B.I.G.
and Tupac Shakur.
[Gordon] Tupac was a megastar,
rapper, icon.
[Mara] What a lot of
people don't realize
is that Death Row was trying
to set up Death Row East.
[Tim] They really thought they
could come and take New York.
And they tried.
[Cheyenne] It's unsettling
to watch this Tupac video,
knowing a short time
later what would happen.
[Tupac] We're coming
to the East Coast
to overthrow the government
y'all got right now,
which is Bad Boy.
Believe in Death Row East.
Believe in that, for real.
[Mara] That was a bold move.
The feud was so bad at that time
that you might be in trouble
throwing up the W
on the East Coast.
[Dewitt] I could
have been a casualty
of the East Coast
West Coast beef.
I came up in the music industry
as a concert promoter.
And one nigh I was
at a place called PJs,
up in Harlem.
Some cat comes in
promoting "Death Row East."
He has these
bright white T-shirts
and he's giving them away.
And I was like, "Okay, I
like that. Let me get one."
And I-- I just-- I threw it on.
Later, we're going downtown.
I'm with Lance Coffey,
who is my security.
We get to the club.
Me and my Death
Row East T-shirt.
It was packed.
An hour later, I
come out of the club.
We go across the
street to my jeep.
We get in, I'm in
the driver's seat.
And Puffy pulls
up in a sports car.
He's in the passenger seat.
And then he said to
me, "What's up, bitch?"
I said, "Puff, man, I don't want
nothing to do with you, man.
Keep your drama to yourself."
I really tried to
deescalate the situation.
He said, "Nah, you're a bitch."
He aligned his beef
with Suge Knight
and Death Row in the West Coast
with that T shirt.
So it's like, "How dare you
jump to the other side?
How dare you promote Death Row?"
And we proceed down the block.
His car veers over
and cuts me off.
And forces me into an island.
Lance and I both
jumped out of the car.
A shot blasted off.
Lance yells, "Gun, gun!"
And I don't know who shot it.
I leap over the island
and now it's a car chase
and um, I'm-- I'm fighting
for my life at this point.
[voice shaking] All I know
is that I need to get away.
And so I'm driving.
I'm going down
a one way streets.
I'm on the sidewalk
at one point.
It's a high speed chase
through Manhattan.
I just thank God I
escaped that situation.
What we see is this
massive overreaction
and tendency
towards brutal violence.
If he could fly off
the handle that easily.
Over such a small
perceived slight.
What else was he capable of?
[Dewitt] You asked me earlier
like, why I'm here?
Like I almost wouldn't
be here, period.
My whole future would be erased.
Dude, you're a menace
to society.
My story is just a piece
of the bigger puzzle
of his mayhem.
[Rev. Conrad] Sean
Combs has been the figure
more associated with death,
tragedy and brokenness
than any mogul.
He ran on fear and
intimidation. It was abused.
Combs wants what he
wants when he wants it.
He was saying things like,
turn around, let me see that ass.
All of a sudden, I just
seen him out of nowhere
just punching.
And God said to me, be
still you're about to get hit.
[Tim] I truly believe
monsters are not born
they're made
♪