Jay-Z has strenuously denied the recent allegations made in a lawsuit that he drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl along with Sean “Diddy” Combs during an MTV Video Music Awards afterparty in 2000.
The 55-year-old rap superstar, whose real name is Shawn Carter, branded the legal action as a “blackmail attempt.”
In a fiery statement, he warned the lawyers who brought about the filing: “You have made a terrible error in judgment thinking that all ‘celebrities’ are the same.”
While Carter is now distancing himself from Combs, the two New York-born music moguls have crossed paths many times during their respective lengthy careers at the pinnacle of pop culture.
They have collaborated on music, made joint charitable donations and praised each other for their success in becoming self-made billionaires.
Here’s a timeline of Carter and Combs’s friendship over the decades.
1990s
Combs founded his record label Bad Boy Entertainment in 1993, and he soon had an influential hit on his hands when The Notorious B.I.G. released his debut single “Juicy” in August 1994. When Jay-Z put out his debut album Reasonable Doubt in 1996, he playfully sparred with Combs’s biggest star on a joint track called “Brooklyn’s Finest.”
The Notorious B.I.G., whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was murdered in controversial circumstances in March 1997. After Wallace’s death, Combs poured his grief over the loss of his friend into his debut album No Way Out, which he released under the name Puff Daddy and the Family. Jay-Z guests on the track “Young G’s,” alongside a posthumous appearance from Wallace.
Later that same year, Combs repaid the favour by appearing on Jay-Z’s second album, In My Lifetime, Vol. 1, co-writing the track “I Know What Girls Like” with Carter and Lil’ Kim.
In 1999, they collaborated again on “Do You Like It... Do You Want It...” from Combs’s second album Forever.
2000s
Jay-Z met his now-wife, Beyoncé Knowles-Carter, around the turn of the millennium. After gaining fame with her group Destiny’s Child, Beyoncé released her debut solo album Dangerously in Love in 2003. It was introduced by her massive global hit “Crazy In Love,” a collaboration with Jay-Z, while the B-side of that single featured “Summertime,” a collaboration with Diddy.
In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina caused devastation in New Orleans, Jay-Z and Diddy made a joint donation of $1 million to the American Red Cross. In a statement to the Associated Press at the time, Carter said: “This is our community. When I turn on CNN, I see a lot of black people on the streets. I know it’s other people too, but those projects have been hit hard.”
Combs added: “We are all descendants from each other’s families. When you hear black people say ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters,’ it’s really true. These are all people that I know I’m related to somehow, some way — the human race family.”
In August 2007, Jay-Z and Diddy performed together at the touring hip-hop festival Screamfest alongside headliners 50 Cent and TI. The performance gained notoriety after footage emerged appearing to show Diddy slapping Jay-Z twice on the backside. In 2023, after serious allegations against Diddy became public, 50 Cent continued his longrunning feud with Combs by posting the video on social media with the caption: “Diddy in the Back, pattin on n****s butts. Nah I ain’t wit it, I ain’t never been wit it.”
In 2009, Diddy was asked during an interview about a photograph of himself and Jay-Z speaking at one of his parties. “That was at one of my birthday parties, and I was just telling him I appreciate him coming,” he said. “He was on tour, and he flew in private after one of his shows just to come to that party. Then he had to fly back out. I was just telling him how much I appreciated it and how much I value our friendship. 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’s former partner Kim Porter, who died of pneumonia in 2018, added: “We call that picture a secret society, all we ask is trust!”
2010s
In 2010, Forbes magazine released a hip-hop rich list which listed Jay-Z in first place, having made $63 million in the previous year, and Diddy in second place with earnings of $30 million. The publications praised both men for diversifying their income streams, with Jay-Z touring and owning a stake in the 40/40 nightclub chain and the NBA’s New Jersey Nets. Diddy was making money from Ciroc vodka and his role in the comedy Get Him to The Greek.
The two moguls continued to dominate Forbes hip-hop lists over the next few years. In 2012, Diddy topped their rich list with an estimated total worth of $550 million while Jay-Z was in second place with $460 million.
In 2016, they reunited on stage in New York during the Puff Daddy and The Family Bad Boy Reunion Tour. Although Jay-Z was never signed to Diddy’s label, Diddy announced onstage: “Bad Boy’s celebrating 20 years of hits, but this is extended family,” referring to Jay-Z stood next to him. “Whenever I get in trouble, this is the one I call. This is my strategist right here. This is my brother!”
2020s
In 2020, Diddy and Jay-Z both celebrated their continued success at a Black Billionaire brunch hosted by Jay-Z’s label Roc Nation. Diddy spoke at the event, saying: “It’s 2020, y’all, and it is different than when it was 2016. The game has been elevated. As you know, there no expense has been spared. 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.”
In April 2022, Jay-Z and Diddy were again pictured together on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as DJ Khaled received his star.
However, since Diddy’s homes were raided by federal agents on March 25, 2024, Jay-Z has stayed quiet about the series of serious allegations against his sometime friend and collaborator. The following day, 50 Cent trolled the pair by taking to Instagram to post a picture of a milk carton with Jay-Z’s picture appearing under the word: “MISSING.” “Anybody seen Jay LOL,” wrote 50 Cent, joking that Combs would feel he “ain’t answering his phone.”
When a federal lawsuit was refiled yesterday, December 8, to name Jay-Z alongside Diddy as having drugged and raped a 13-year-old girl in 2000, Jay Z was adamant in his denial.
“I’m a young man who made it out of the project of Brooklyn,” he wrote in a statement. “We don’t play these types of games. We have very strict codes and honor. We protect children, you seem to exploit people for personal gain. Only your network of conspiracy theorists, fake physics, will believe the idiotic claims you have levied against me that, if not for the seriousness surrounding harm to kids, would be laughable.”
