Sean “Diddy” Combs and Suge Knight engaged in a legendary feud that changed the hip-hop landscape forever. Knight was one of the most feared men in the music industry at a time when Diddy was also rising to power. But the Bad Boys founder feared the same power would go to his head when it came to dealing with his West Coast rival.

Sean “Diddy” Combs said he stopped himself from blowing things up with Suge Knight

The 1995 Source Awards were a pivotal moment in the rap industry. Many see it as the moment when Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight declared war on Bad Boy at the height of his power. The towering mogul famously took to the stage and tried to recruit East Coast rappers by reassuring them that flashy producers wouldn’t be in the spotlight. Many felt this was an obvious reference to Diddy, who was in the audience at the Source Awards at the time.

In an interview with Drinking championsDiddy reflected on the incident and described how surprised he was by Knight’s statement. According to the hitmaker, he and Knight had a good professional friendship up until that point.

“He would pick me up from the airport and show me lots of love,” Diddy said. “I really thought we were cool. Great acquaintances, with respect for other people from other cities.”

So when Diddy and his entourage heard Knight’s speech, he claimed that he could have really escalated the situation if he wanted to.

“When he said (his speech at the awards) it was like, ‘Wow!… They’re so crazy? I was like, ‘Wow. I could blow this whole thing up right now.” I decided it felt very dangerous. The audience was with me and with Bad Boy. They were looking for the word,” he said.

Diddy decided to confront Knight personally. When he did so, Knight claimed his speech had been taken out of context.

“So when I ran up to Suge and asked, he said, ‘No, I was talking about Jermaine Dupri,’” Diddy claimed.

Whether Knight was honest or not, Diddy confided that he feared his own power more than his rival’s.

“At that moment I was scared because I knew that the wolves that were with me were real live wolves.” Diddy said. “It was the scariest situation of my life because of the power we had.”

Sean “Diddy” Combs was the only post-beef megastar to thrive

Until his recent scandals, Diddy managed to thrive in a way that many of his contemporaries had not after his feud with Knight. The players involved, Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls, were shot dead in eerily similar drive-by shootings. Knight, once worth hundreds of millions, was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2015 and sentenced to 28 years in prison. However, Diddy expanded his Bad Boys empire even further, at one point making nearly $1 billion.

However, some wonder if Diddy had a hand in ending the war on the East Coast and West Coast by orchestrating Tupac’s shooting. Even Diddy himself was nervous because he was seen as a suspect after the rapper’s murder.

“Then we got scared, because we know what the media is like,” Diddy once told Rolling Stone. “The news reports from the first few days, all in LA and Las Vegas, had our photos in them. We were the ones they pointed the finger at. Kept talking about it. I had nothing to do with Tupac’s death.”

But like Knight, Diddy’s freedom is at stake because of his alleged crimes that have nothing to do with his feud with Death Row. However, his crimes may not end with him. Rumor has it that Diddy risks involving behind-the-scenes figures who may be more powerful. Even Knight warned his former nemesis that serving a prison sentence might not be the worst punishment Diddy faces if he’s not careful.

‘You have to realize one thing: that boy’s life is dangerous. Not only is he dangerous because of the s*** they said he did, but he is also in danger,” Knight recently said. PBD podcast. ‘He knows too much. One thing you need to realize is that he is probably having a conversation with the higher-ups and everyone else right now to figure out how it will work out. Because he knows all the secrets. And if he starts running his mouth, it can be a bad look.

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