How Jay-Z’s close-knit friendship with P Diddy dragged him into sinister web of scandal as star hit by rape claims

RAISING their champagne flutes, hip-hop titans Jay-Z and P Diddy celebrated their success and wealth as they toasted to a “black billionaire lunch year”.

Now just four years later, things have drastically changed for the rap giants, who are worth $2.5billion and $400million respectively, in the wake of serious sexual allegations. 

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Diddy, real name Sean Combs, is currently being held in jail and faces dozens of charges including drugging, rape, assault and sex trafficking, which could see him locked away for life. 

And this week, Jay-Z has been named in a lawsuit alleging he and Diddy spiked a 13-year-old girl’s drink before taking turns raping her at a house party following the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) in 2000.

Jay-Z has emphatically denied the claims, slamming it as a “blackmail attempt” by the unnamed woman and her lawyer in the belief that “the nature of these allegations and the public scrutiny would make me want to settle”.

In a statement, he continued: "No sir, it had the opposite effect! It made me want to expose you for the fraud you are in a VERY public fashion. So no, I will not give you ONE RED PENNY!!”

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The rapper, real name Shawn Carter, added that the allegations were “so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!!” and said anyone guilty of such crimes “should be locked away”. 

Jay-Z is the first major celebrity to become entangled in the shadowy spider’s web related to P Diddy, whose allegations mostly relate to so-called ‘White Parties’ that spanned 1998 until 2009.

The celebrations were attended by scores of A-listers, including Justin Bieber, Jennifer Lopez, Mariah Carey, Paris Hilton and Leonardo DiCaprio, at his East Hamptons mansion, in New York. 

Combs’s former publicist Rob Shuter previously said: “When Diddy winked at you and said come into the VIP section [at the parties], you knew you were going to have a really good night.”

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Diddy has denied the allegations against him and there is no suggestion celebrities knew of any suspected wrongdoing - including claims participants had sex with minors - but many have become implicated because of their attendance. 

Now Jay-Z is the latest to fall into the pit that's enveloped Diddy - and it's not the first time the two hip hop stars have weathered scandal together.

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Risky business

The music moguls fell into each other’s orbit in the Nineties as rising stars in the hip-hop scene - and became especially close after Jay-Z collaborated with one of Diddy’s biggest signings for Bad Boy Records. 

On the track Brooklyn’s Finest, the rapper and Notorious B.I.G. - real name Christopher Wallace - playfully sparred with each other and helped to boost each other’s career, as well as Diddy’s earnings. 

When Wallace was gunned down in 1997, Jay-Z featured on the track Young G’s to honour Biggie, which featured a posthumous appearance from him.

And later that year Diddy would return the favour by appearing on Jay-Z’s second album In My Lifetime, Vol 1 and co-wrote the track I Know What Girls Like. 

But after a series of leg-ups from each other, their blossoming financial empires nearly fell apart after both of the New York-born performers got in trouble with the law in 1999. 

In December that year, Diddy, his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez, bodyguard Anthony ‘Wolf’ Jones and rap protege Jamal ‘Shyne’ Barrow attended a nightclub and after a dispute gunshots were fired, leaving three people injured. 

People see us as competitors and different icons in the hip hop game but that was just a moment of two Black brothers telling each other how much they appreciate each other

Diddy

One of the victims claimed Diddy was responsible and a taxi driver alleged he had been offered a $50,000 bribe by the rapper to tell police the stolen gun was his. 

After a trial, Diddy and Jones were acquitted but Barrow was found guilty of five charges including first-degree assault and served nine years' imprisonment. 

Meanwhile that same year Jay-Z nearly lost everything too after stabbing Lance ‘Un’ Rivera, a producer who had allegedly distributed bootleg copies of the musician's unreleased album Vol 3… Life and times of S. Carter. 

“Lance, you broke my heart,” the rapper reportedly said before attacking him with an eight-inch knife at the Kit Kat Club. Moments later Jay-Z's crew stomped on him and beat him with glass bottles. 

Jay-Z pleaded guilty to a misdemeanour assault charge in 2001, receiving three years’ probation, and later revealed he did so fearing prosecutors would hit him harder because Diddy got off. 

'War on rap'

At the time, there was a war on rap and hip-hop by the police, who feared the music genres were spurring on violence. As two of its biggest stars, the rappers were under threat.

“For Jay and Puff, [the arrests led to] the decision of, ‘Am I going to shed the pretenses of the streets?’” Dan Charnas, author of The Big Payback: The History of the Business of Hip-Hop, told the .

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He explained some of the issues were due to there being “more money in hip-hop” and “things started to change” as some rappers felt they had to live up to the ‘hood’ lifestyles they spoke about in songs.

Diddy had a middle-class upbringing and “took on the pretenses of that life”, according to Dan. 

Whereas Jay-Z grew up in Brooklyn’s Marcy Projects, the equivalent of a UK council estate, in Bedstuy, an area known as ‘do or die’ in reference to the area being so hard hit by crime, drugs and violence.

Dan added: “For Jay, it was more of a reflex that he needed to reckon with because he literally came from that lifestyle.”

Both would distance themselves from the more troublesome members of their crews in a bid to earn massive fortunes - and kept their noses relatively clean after the court cases. 

Diddy and Jay-Z would continue to rise in popularity, raking in millions, simultaneously and regularly partying together including at the now infamous ‘White Parties’

Whenever I get in trouble, this is the one I call. This is my strategist right here. This is my brother!

Diddy

They joined forces to donate $1million to help families affected by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and described each other as ‘brothers’ in interviews.

"People see us as competitors and different icons in the hip hop game but that was just a moment of two Black brothers telling each other how much they appreciate each other,” Diddy said in 2009.

'Strategists & brothers'

The rappers have had each other’s backs during small altercations and feuds that have unfolded over the years too.

In 2013, Diddy got into a row with the musician J Cole after he allegedly “said inappropriate things” about his girlfriend and a fight broke out. 

“It was mayhem. Beyoncé was yelling to stop and Jay-Z was separating people and getting people away from Bey,” an onlooker told New York Daily News.

“We were all dancing and the fight breaks out, and it happened so quickly and bottles were crashing everywhere, and everyone was screaming. People got pushed into bottles,” said another.

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Then in 2019, at Diddy’s 50th birthday party, Combs was in Jay-Z’s corner after he snatched a phone from someone filming Beyoncé dancing. Both were seen having stern words with the unnamed individual. 

It was also Combs who helped to bring an end to Jay-Z’s three-year feud with Kanye West, now known as Ye, and saved him millions of dollars in the process in a legal dispute. 

The feuding stars were both invited to Combs’s 50th birthday party, where they made amends and were said to be "moving forward" after hashing out an agreement over how much Ye should be paid for his involvement with the streaming service Tidal. 

He was said to have been happy with the undisclosed settlement and the moment drew a line under issues between him and Jay-Z, which dated back to the 2009 VMAs.

The trust between Diddy and Jay-Z was highlighted at the 20th anniversary of Bad Boy Records in 2016, when the former gushed about his pal: “Whenever I get in trouble, this is the one I call. This is my strategist right here. This is my brother!”

'Billionaire' success

The duo’s ascension to the upper echelons of the music industry was celebrated at the Black Billionaire brunch in 2020, hosted by Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation.

Alongside music, both have topped up their fortunes by branching out with other businesses - including lucrative alcohol and clothing companies.

These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! 

Jay-Z

Diddy spoke at the event saying it was “different” to their 2016 meet-up because “the game has been elevated” and “no expense has been spared”.

Boasting of their success, he added: “We had a Black billionaire lunch year, understand, right? And, we’re here together in keeping staying together. We’re getting tighter, and united we stand.”

Jay-Z's silence

It’s words like these that has made some question what has been really going on behind the scenes around the time federal agents raided Diddy’s property in March this year, before arresting him in September. 

Since this time, Jay-Z has remained silent - neither coming out to bat for his ‘brother’ nor speaking out against him. 

Few of the rapper’s inner circle or showbiz pals have put their head above the parapet either, a point which has been picked up on by fellow hip-hop giant 50 Cent. 

The Candy Shop hitmaker shared a meme showing Jay-Z on the ‘missing’ advert section of a milk carton - a practice that began in the Eighties to try to find kids who had vanished.

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In reference to Jay-Z’s silence, 50 Cent captioned the post: “Anybody seen (sic) Jay LOL [three laughing emojis] puff said the [black ninja emoji] ain’t answering his phone. LOL.”

The rapper has continued to take digs for a while - leading to comments online including that Jay-Z is “in hibernation”.

Comedian Kat Williams told the Club Shay Shay podcast that “all lies would be exposed” and warned his inner circle of his belief that Diddy was “about to snitch on everybody”.

Now Jay-Z and Diddy have both been named in a civil lawsuit, which is unrelated to criminal charges against the latter. Both have refuted these new allegations and Jay-Z especially has come out fighting. 

In a statement, he said: “These allegations are so heinous in nature that I implore you to file a criminal complaint, not a civil one!! 

“Whomever would commit such a crime against a minor should be locked away, would you not agree? These alleged victims would deserve real justice if that were the case.” 

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Jay-Z has cast suspicions against the complainant and also her lawyer Tony Buzbee, who responded: "I won't allow anyone to scare my clients into silence. Sunlight is the best disinfectant and I am quite certain the sun is coming."

Now as the hip-hop giants prepare for the legal battles of their lives, it remains to be seen if their claim of being ‘brothers’ survives such serious and complicated litigation.