As Sean “Diddy” Combs faces a wave of serious allegations and federal charges in 2024, the hip hop community is revisiting past moments that hinted at the darker side of the mogul’s empire.
One artist who has never been shy about his feelings towards Diddy is Eminem. Over the years, Em has delivered a number of scathing lyrical shots aimed at Diddy. With recent events, fans are looking back at these moments with fresh eyes.
Eminem’s sharp-tongued jabs at Diddy, whether humorous or serious, now carry extra weight as fans and the industry take a closer look at Diddy’s legacy, with Eminem being one of the few to have publicly questioned the mogul’s behaviour for years.
Eminem’s first recorded diss targeting Diddy dates back to “Fucking Crazy” in 1996, where he rapped:
Original Bad Boy on the case, cover your face
Came in the place blowed, and sprayed Puffy with Mase.
It was the start of what would become a decades-long string of references to the Bad Boy Records CEO.
Fast forward to 2000, in “Marshall Mathers”, Eminem didn’t hold back, spitting:
You little groupie bitch, get off me, go fuck Puffy.
By this time, Eminem had already been a famed figure in hip hop but a relative newcomer in the world of fame, and his willingness to take on heavyweights like Diddy was part of what set him apart.
In the same year, on “I’m Back,” Eminem made another jab:
’Cause if I ever stuck it to any singer in showbiz
It’d be Jennifer Lopez and Puffy, you know this.
I’m sorry, Puff, but I don’t give a fuck.
Eminem’s irreverence was on full display, and his disses seemed more playful at this point — until later, when the tone shifted to something more serious.
One of Eminem’s most controversial bars about Diddy came in 2018, on the diss track “Killshot” aimed at Machine Gun Kelly. In a line that shook the hip hop world, Em rapped:
Kells, the day you put out a hit is the day Diddy admits that he put the hit out that got Pac killed.
While Eminem quickly followed up by saying, “I’m just playin’, Diddy, you know I love you,” the line left many wondering if there was truth behind the venom.
By 2020, Eminem continued to reference Diddy with stinging wit, including on “Godzilla”, where he alluded to the infamous Making the Band cheesecake incident:
They call me Diddy because I make bands, and I call getting cheese a cakewalk.
The line cuts deep, not just as a critique of Diddy’s methods but also as a jab at the lengths Diddy would go to exert control over those under him. It refers to a moment from Diddy’s reality TV show, Making the Band 2, which aired on MTV in the early 2000s. The show followed aspiring hip hop artists competing for a spot in Diddy’s next big music group, but the moment that most fans remember involved Diddy sending the contestants on an outrageous mission. In one episode, Diddy infamously made the group members walk six miles round trip across the Brooklyn Bridge to fetch him a slice of cheesecake from a specific bakery. The task was meant to test their commitment and resilience, but it left many viewers with the impression that Diddy was more interested in humiliating the contestants than nurturing their talent.
The “cheesecake incident” became a cultural reference for how power dynamics can play out in the entertainment industry, where aspiring artists are sometimes forced to endure ridiculous or demeaning tasks in hopes of advancing their careers. If that has happened on a popular TV show, can you imagine what was happening behind closed doors?
But it’s Eminem’s most recent work on “The Death of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce)” that feels eerily relevant today, given the mounting accusations against Diddy. In “Fuel”, Eminem rapped:
Notorious B.I.G.’s death was the domino effect of
2Pac’s murder, like facial tissue, whose clock should I clean next? Puff’s?
‘Til he’s in police handcuffs, guilty, will he step up?
And, of course, from the same track, the lines that shocked millions:
a R-A-P-E-R
Got so many S-As, S-As
Wait, he didnt just spell RAPPER and leave out a P, did he?…
A line that now seems prophetic, considering Diddy’s current legal situation involving sex trafficking and racketeering charges.
And in “Antichrist” from the same album, Eminem’s sharp humour took an even darker turn:
Next idiot ask me is getting his ass beat worse than Diddy did —
But on the real, though, she probably ran out the room with his fucking dildo.
As the charges against Diddy continue to unfold, Eminem’s years of pointed disses paint a picture of an artist who, for decades, has expressed his distaste for the media mogul long before public allegations came to light. Now, with Diddy’s legacy in question, Eminem’s lyrics serve as a reminder of the warning signs that were perhaps always there.
