The feud between P. Diddy and 50 Cent explained

Feuds in hip-hop are part of the game. Rappers go against rappers and they clash over beats with one usually coming out on top after the other fails to reply. It’s what drives the ‘sport’ forward and keeps everything going, with the battles acting like volcanic explosions, birthing new terrain to explore in the world.

However, some battles go deeper than just rap. They may start off with beats and bars, but expand into murky waters, and that’s just what’s happened with 50 Cent and P. Diddy. The latter has seen his name splashed in the headlines for various reasons over recent times, so we’ll go through a quick explainer in case you’ve been living with Patrick Star under his rock at Bikini Bottom.

What’s the latest on P. Diddy?

P. Diddy/Puff Daddy/Sean Combs was arrested on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges and could be set for a lengthy sentence. Allegations of violence and sexual assault have been reported and the rapper has also been the subject of a sex trafficking investigation that has been going on for months by police.

As things stand, a mandatory minimum sentence of 15 years in prison is on the cards, and could potentially rise to life if found guilty. He denies all charges. Interwoven in all of this are Diddy’s “private shows” during his famous A-list parties, which, according to police investigations, were when the aforementioned crimes were usually committed. Various celebrities have been linked to these gatherings, including 50 Cent.

50 Cent hits out at Diddy after sex trafficking arrest

Here’s where 50 Cent comes in. But first, some more context. The two rappers have never been best friends, and the “In da Club” rapper released a diss track aimed at Diddy way back in 2006. He called it “The Bomb,” and shockingly accused Combs of having a role in the 1997 murder of the Notorious B.I.G.: “Who shot Biggie Smalls? We don’t get ‘em / They gonna kill us all ... Man, Puffy know who hit that n----,” he rapped.

50 Cent told The Hollywood Reporter in July 2024 that despite the fact he and Diddy came into the industry around the same time, the two had merely had a working relationship that he would not class a friendship. “I wouldn’t call it a friendship because there wouldn’t be disappointment between us if we didn’t speak to each other,” he said. 50 Cent told the outlet that he “didn’t ever party or hang out” with Diddy, whom he called a “businessperson”.

“He’s been able to take advantage of the business and the creatives in it,” 50 Cent added. “I don’t have any interest in doing that. I actually fall under the creative. So I just didn’t take to hanging out with that.”

In the very same interview, 50 Cent elaborated a little more on his relationship with Combs, claiming that he made him feel uncomfortable: “He asked to take me shopping. I thought that was the weirdest s--- in the world because that might be something that a man says to a woman,” he said. “And I’m just like, ‘Naw, I’m not f------ with this weird energy or weird s---,’ coming off the way he was just moving. From that, I wasn’t comfortable around him.”

As well as music, the two also clashed over business, with both rappers getting involved in the drinks industry. 50 Cent shot down Diddy’s vodka, saying “Puff’s is not even vodka. It’s grapes [and] says ‘made with vodka,’ you know what I’m saying?” he told the Drink Champs podcast.

When it was Diddy’s time to talk, the rapper went for the jokey vibe, telling The Breakfast Club that “Y’all can’t see that he loves me? You really think that’s hate? You know he loves me”.

“Me and him could be friends, but he doesn’t want to be my friend. I wanna be his friend so I could teach him everything I know so he could become a better money-getter since I’m the number one money-getter in the world. Yo, 50 please be my friend. 50 you’re breaking my heart. Curtis, please be my friend. Please.”

And finally, when the case broke, 50 was quick to make his feelings heard, writing on Twitter “Now it’s not Diddy do it, it’s Diddy done they don’t come like that unless they got a case”.

It was with The Hollywood Reporter again where 50 Cent preferred to speak out against Diddy’s arrest, saying “First, he denied that it even happened, and then the tape comes out — so that means everything that n---- says is a lie,” 50 Cent told The Hollywood Reporter. “When someone watches that, if they have a daughter and they can imagine her being under those circumstances, that s--- is crazy. Like, they let him get away with it.”

“I’ve been very vocal about not going to Puffy parties and doing s--- like that,” 50 Cent said, referring to Combs’ moniker. “I’ve been staying out of that s--- for years. It’s just an uncomfortable energy connected to it. It’s not uncomfortable for me to say what I said because I’ve been saying this s--- for four years, five years. I been telling you, I don’t fuck with him. I don’t like the way he moving. This is a little crazy.” 50 Cent is now making a documentary regarding the accusations against P. Diddy, which got the green light from Netflix earlier in the year.