Friends for years, it remains to be seen if this celebrity relationship will endure. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re chronicling the history between Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs and the music industry’s definitive power couple, Beyoncé Knowles and Shawn ‘Jay-Z’ Carter.
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00:00Oh, you put that thing on the...
00:04Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're chronicling the history
00:07between Sean Diddy Combs and the music industry's
00:09definitive power couple, Beyoncé Knowles and Sean Jay-Z Carter.
00:13It was genius. I think Beyoncé did a great job,
00:16and she tackled something that a lot of women have had to go through.
00:22Part 1. B, P.D., and Jay-Z.
00:26Diddy established himself as a music mogul in the 90s
00:29when he left Uptown Records to found Bad Boy Records,
00:32signing fellow artists like Mase, Faith Evans, and the Notorious B.I.G.
00:41The rapper Jazzo made a demo tape with the Lox,
00:44which was passed on to Mary J. Blige and later Diddy.
00:47Jazzo also took on a protege in Jay-Z,
00:50whose stage name paid tribute to his mentor.
00:52With Jazzo's help, Jay-Z found success with his first studio album,
00:57which featured the Notorious B.I.G. on the track Brooklyn's Finest.
01:01Less than a year after its release, Biggie was murdered.
01:04This death heavily influenced Jay-Z while recording his sophomore album
01:08In My Lifetime Vol. 1, which Diddy contributed to.
01:11While Diddy and Jay-Z were already friends,
01:14this album marked one of their first major collaborations.
01:17The other was Diddy's No Way Out album, which included Jay-Z on the track Young G's.
01:22Diddy rounded out 1997 with what he described as,
01:26featuring acts from Jay-Z and Usher.
01:29According to Usher, he once considered forming a group with Diddy,
01:33Jay-Z, and Pharrell Williams.
01:43Although this never came to fruition, Diddy and Jay-Z remained close-knit.
01:47In Diddy's eyes, Jay-Z filled the shoes that Biggie and Tupac Shakur left behind.
01:52Jay-Z naturally drew comparisons to Diddy,
01:55both being New York-born hip-hop artists named Sean.
01:58Both were also equal parts businessmen, with Jay-Z co-founding Rockefeller Records.
02:03Neither was a stranger to controversy either.
02:08In December 1999, Jay-Z and Diddy became embroiled in separate scandals,
02:13both taking place at Times Square nightclubs.
02:16Jay-Z was accused of stabbing record producer Lance On Rivera at the Kit Kat Club.
02:21Jay-Z supposedly believed Rivera was responsible for bootlegging
02:24Volume 3, Life and Times of S. Carter.
02:27The rap star voluntarily turned himself in here at the precinct.
02:31Rivera claimed years later that Jay-Z took the fall for somebody else.
02:35In any case, Jay-Z ultimately pleaded guilty and received three years probation.
02:43Weeks after the Kit Kat Club stabbing,
02:45Diddy and protege Shine allegedly took part in a shooting at Club New York.
02:49Both were arrested, along with Jennifer Lopez, Diddy's then-girlfriend.
02:53Lopez received no charges, while Diddy walked away with a not-guilty verdict,
02:57although Shine served almost a decade.
02:59Felt confident, but at the same time, it was a scary situation.
03:02The shooting trial marked the downfall of Diddy and J.Lo's relationship.
03:06Jay-Z, meanwhile, had started a relationship with Destiny's Child breakout member Beyoncé.
03:14Jay-Z and Beyoncé were friends for roughly a year before they officially started dating
03:18in the early 2000s.
03:19Diddy knew Beyoncé when she was a single lady,
03:22recalling one of his parties when Michael Jackson dropped by uninvited.
03:25Jackson whispered into Diddy's ear,
03:27"'Where's Beyoncé?'
03:28According to Diddy, Jackson eventually found Beyoncé and danced with her.
03:32Beyoncé's solo career took off in 2003 with her album Dangerously in Love.
03:37The chart-topping lead single,
03:38Crazy in Love, certified Beyoncé and Jay-Z as a power couple.
03:42Beyoncé also collaborated with Diddy on the song Summertime,
03:49which found success despite being left out of the album.
03:55Over the next two decades,
03:57Beyoncé and Jay-Z were practically joined at the hip with Diddy Not Far Away.
04:02Following Hurricane Katrina,
04:03Diddy and Jay-Z pledged $1 million to the American Red Cross.
04:07Beyoncé was similarly inspired to co-found the Survivor Foundation
04:11with fellow Destiny's Child member Kelly Rowland.
04:13In 2009, Diddy produced the biopic Notorious,
04:17centering on the life of Biggie Smalls.
04:19Jay-Z and Beyoncé showed their support attending the film's premiere.
04:23The two had tied the knot a year earlier,
04:25welcoming their firstborn child, Blue Ivy Carter, in 2012.
04:29Diddy congratulated the couple on social media, hoping to see, quote,
04:33"'many more.'"
04:34"'She's brand new to the world, but Blue Ivy is already rock royalty.'"
04:38The following year,
04:39Beyoncé and Jay-Z arrived at Diddy's VMAs afterparty.
04:43Reports claimed that a brawl broke out between Diddy and J. Cole,
04:46who supposedly, quote,
04:48said inappropriate things about his then-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.
04:52One guest relayed to the New York Daily News, quote,
04:55"'It was mayhem. Beyoncé was yelling to stop,
04:57and Jay-Z was separating people and getting people away from B."
05:00Diddy denied this happening, posting online, quote,
05:04"'We had a great party.'"
05:05In any case,
05:06the story didn't deter Beyoncé and Jay-Z from attending Diddy's New Year's bash months later.
05:11In 2014, rumors started spreading that Beyoncé and Jay-Z had hit a rough patch,
05:16with the latter cheating.
05:17Beyoncé tackled her husband's infidelity head-on in her 2016 album, Lemonade.
05:21"'Sorry, I ain't sorry. Sorry, I ain't sorry.'"
05:25The couple also addressed their struggles in the 2018 song,
05:29"'Family Feud.'"
05:30"'Can I get an amen from the congregation?'
05:33Discussing the couple,
05:34Diddy said that Family Feud didn't surprise him, although Lemonade caught him off guard.
05:38Nevertheless, Diddy was glad that Jay-Z and Beyoncé had overcome this hurdle.
05:43"'He did what he had to do, and most importantly,
05:46their families stayed tight and together, and they were able to weather the storm.'"
05:50The same cannot be said about Diddy and Cassie Ventura,
05:52whose nearly decade-long relationship ended in 2018.
05:56Diddy's friendship with Jay-Z and Beyoncé was still going strong, however.
06:00When Diddy turned 50 in 2019, Beyoncé wished him a happy birthday on Instagram
06:04and showed up at his party with Jay-Z.
06:06In a video recorded at the party, Beyoncé danced alongside Kelly Rowland and Saweetie.
06:11In the same video, Jay-Z was seemingly seen snatching a phone away from another guest
06:16filming them. Jay-Z and Diddy remained friends despite being in constant competition for the
06:21world's wealthiest hip-hop artist. Diddy held the title in 2012,
06:25although Jay-Z dethroned him in 2018 and 2022.
06:29"'The rapper whose real name is Shawn Carter has a net worth of at least a billion dollars.'"
06:36By that point, Diddy and Jay-Z were both billionaires,
06:39while Beyoncé reigned in a class of her own. One of these three would soon fall from the top.
06:44"'They're saying that's how much I'm worth,
06:46so I don't have that money in the bank. I want to make sure y'all are clear on that.'"
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07:06Part 3. Reasonable doubt?
07:09In 2022, Jay-Z and Diddy were both present at DJ Khaled's Hollywood Walk of Fame ceremony.
07:15It was one of their last public appearances together before Cassie Ventura accused Diddy
07:19of sexual assault in 2023. Ventura's lawsuit, while settled, ignited a storm of legal action
07:26from other accusers, leading to Diddy's arrest in 2024.
07:30His lawyer said in a statement that he voluntarily actually
07:33relocated to New York recently in anticipation of these charges.
07:38The accusations have invited troubling questions about Diddy and those within his inner circle.
07:43Jay-Z and Beyoncé are among the most prominent names on that list.
07:46Despite knowing Diddy for decades and attending many of his parties,
07:50there is reason to believe that neither Jay-Z nor Beyoncé knew the extent of his alleged crimes.
07:55That hasn't stopped people like 50 Cent from sharing a throwback video of Diddy
07:59seemingly patting Jay-Z's butt. Amid Diddy's downfall, it was rumored that Beyoncé lost
08:04four million Instagram followers, although this was proven to be false.
08:08More concerning was Jaguar Wright's interview with Piers Morgan, where the singer described
08:12Diddy and Jay-Z as, quote, monsters. She also claimed Jay-Z and Beyoncé had numerous victims.
08:18How bad was it?
08:19That's what I care about. I care about the victims.
08:21Jay-Z's lawyers pursued a, quote,
08:23legal ultimatum against Morgan, who apologized for airing the interview.
08:27Furthermore, Morgan stated that Wright's accusations about the couple,
08:30quote, were totally false and have no basis in fact.
08:34There are legal limits on us two, and we apologize to Jay-Z and Beyoncé.
08:39Jason Lee alleged in his podcast that Jay-Z had people call him, asking to help put out the fire.
08:44Why is everybody calling me now? Because I'm a firefighter.
08:49While Jay-Z and Beyoncé have been seen at Diddy's parties,
08:52Lee noted that there's no evidence that the couple participated in or knew about
08:56the alleged freak-off parties.
08:58I told you guys I've seen Jay-Z at the Diddy parties several times,
09:01but Diddy parties and Diddy After Dark are two different things.
09:04Like several other celebs close to Diddy,
09:06Jay-Z and Beyoncé have stayed silent since the scandal broke.
09:09We can expect them to stay quiet unless they're called to testify at Diddy's trial,
09:13which seems unlikely.
09:15Online conspiracy theorists have interpreted their silence as guilt,
09:18although that is hardly an airtight argument.
09:21Assuming the rumors about Jay-Z and Beyoncé are completely false,
09:24it's understandable why they would want to distance themselves from Diddy,
09:28especially in a climate where social media tends to cry guilt by association.
09:32That doesn't mean we shouldn't talk about their association with Diddy.
09:36This case remains a puzzle with many pieces still missing.
09:39Whether or not Jay-Z and Beyoncé are among those missing pieces,
09:42they have reasonable doubt on their side for now.
09:45The evidence against Diddy may be another story.
09:48What do you make of Diddy's dynamic with Jay-Z and Beyoncé?
09:51Let us know in the comments.