Sean “Diddy” Combs and manager Jimmy Rosemond issued quick and angry denials about a Los Angeles Times report released Monday claiming they were behind the 1994 shooting of Tupac Shakur at Quad Recording Studios in Times Square.
“This story is beyond ridiculous and is completely false,” Diddy said in a statement. “Neither Biggie [Smalls, the rapper at the center of Combs’ Bad Boy Productions company] nor I had any knowledge of any attack before, during or after it happened. It is a complete lie to suggest that there was any involvement by Biggie or myself. I am shocked that the Los Angeles Times would be so irresponsible as to publish such a baseless and completely untrue story.”
Rosemond said in a statement, “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.”
Relying on information from unidentified FBI informants and other interviews, the L.A. Times report claims Rosemond orchestrated the attack on Shakur on Nov. 30, 1994, as a response to perceived disrespect from the rapper. According to the Times, the attack was supposed to be a beating of Shakur disguised as a robbery, but it escalated once Shakur pulled out a gun, resulting in him being shot five times. No one was ever charged in the attack.
The incident touched off an East Coast-West Coast rivalry in hip-hop that resulted in a string of deaths. In September 1996, Shakur was shot and killed in Las Vegas. Six months later, Biggie Smalls [also known as Notorious B.I.G.] was shot and killed in L.A.
Both murders remain unsolved, and reaction to Monday’s story was mixed, with some hip-hop fans claiming it simply confirmed what Shakur had been saying in interviews and in his music since the 1994 shooting.