Making Of A Wolf.
Breakdown of the new Documentary "Fall of Diddy."
I’ve watched the first 2 episodes of “The Fall of Diddy”. Being that I’ve been reporting on the case since it broke. I already knew a lot of the information that was being said. But the stuff I didn't know…man.
Make sure you click on the video to see the video of the trail enlarged.
Allegations in the documentary include Combs threatening to murder a magazine editor, brutally whipping a female student at Howard University, orchestrating a deadly charity basketball game, chasing a concert promoter through Manhattan, and letting rapper Shyne take the blame for a club shooting. And that's only the first 2 episodes.
The documentary delves into Diddy's early years, naturally. His childhood friend, Tim, lived just 13 steps away from him. Tim knew he was a different kind of Black kid. The way he dressed. In Taylormade suits. Gold jewelry. The new kid in Mt. Veron quickly made a statement. But not to his advantage. Kids are jealous of what they can’t have. Kids would just roll over on him.
His mom, Janice, didn’t play that! You get something stolen? You go back and get it. If you get punched? Make sure you hit back and win that fight. He was taught to respond with physical force when being bullied. His mother would often bully him as well. He looked so much like his father. Some days, when she woke up and saw him, she'd instantly be in a bad mood because his face looked like Melvins. Janice had been grooming Sean for success forever! She curated the image of him looking “hard”. “Make sure you fuck them up.” She would say. Janice Combs was the force that shaped his core. Janice also had her own freak-offs. Sean and Tim saw “a lot of things we shouldn't have grown up.”
I was somewhat surprised, but not shocked, to learn his disturbing behavior dates back to college. Diddy attended Howard University for 2 years. Later dropping out to pursue a music career. Diddy worked for Andre Harrell at Uptown Records. That's where he interned. And locked eyes with Kim. He was dating Misa at the time but knew he had to have her. And the rest was history.
But a Jane Doe in the documentary brought up a troubling past at Howard University. She was blacked out on screen because she was scared to share her story. “Diddys powerful and scary.” she alleges that she and her friend heard him screaming at his girlfriend to “Get your ass down here!” His girlfriend was clearly afraid of being attacked, verbally or physically, but she eventually came down the stairs; really not knowing what to do. The Jane Doe had remembered.
“He had a belt, and he was whipping the walls. Screaming so loud for her to come out. Eventually, she did, and she started beating her with that belt. Now we're involved because he's abusing her. So we're yelling, ‘Get off of her! Stop hitting on her. Leave her alone. And he yelled back to mind your fucking business. But we kept yelling. So he pushed her into the back of the doorway where we couldn't see. We don't know what's going on in that space. We can't see. Whatever he's doing. It takes a few minutes before he actually stops whatever he's doing and then leaves alone. And then she follows out a little bit behind that.”
The Jane Doe seemed pretty traumatized by the event. She also felt extremely guilty. She regrets not calling the police or doing something more helpful.
“No one really came to her rescue. He was NEVER held accountable.”
Howard was a key point in Diddy's life. “It entered my heart, it entered my soul, it entered my being and my spirit,” Diddy said when he was given an honorary Doctrine. Jane Doe was HOT over it.
“How would you honor someone like that.” She says.
Howard was a place where Diddy saw how much sway he had with people. No matter what he did. Everything he did equaled success.
Whether that was promoting parties. Or beating on his college girlfriend. Diddy was triumphant in all areas at Howard University.
His transformation from Sean Combs to Puffy had begun. In the 90s rap was pretty much here to stay. Uptown Records was an early black label. Andrè Harrell owned it. Only 2 years into Howard; Puffy dropped out of school to follow his dream of working with/for Harelle. He got an Internship and worked his way up from there. Mary J Blige wasn’t really catching on yet. Diddy helped shape her image back in the beginning. Diddy was the master producer behind her song Real Love.
A Preventable tragedy at City College occurred when Puffy oversold the tickets to a Celebrity Basketball game. As the crowd grew and grew; the security locked the doors shut. Trying to get in. A wave of people started to push and become very agitated. This led to chaos. Ending in 8 people losing their lives. One of them was Diddy’s friend, Sonya. Sonya was with Misa, Diddy’s girl at the time. Whom he also beat. Allegedly. Sonya wasn't even going to go because she didn't have a ticket. Misa got her a ticket from Diddy. She tragically lost her life that night. Her brother stated that when they had to identify Sonya’s body, “They showed us Polaroids, and someone tried to go over the top of the crowd, and clearly, in the Polaroid, you can see the boot mark and Sonya's head.”
My heart broke looking at her brother, Sonny’s, face telling the story. All he wanted was for Sonya to be remembered. Trying to Keep her memory alive. He started a Foundation in her name. The litigation lasted years. Diddy wanted them to settle.
“It was like take this money and shut up. Really, nothing mattered to me other than keeping her memory alive, and Puff wasn't hearing me. So that created a lot of tension between Puff and me. I said, ‘Is Sonya you're friend?’ He didn't wanna answer me. ‘She got the ticket from YOU, man.’” The interaction started to make him feel physically sick because clearly, he didn't care about keeping anyone's memory alive.
Diddy asked his 1st publicist. Dr. Lajoyce. When will this be behind me? She told him, “The more good you do. The more it'll fade away.”
Puffy Started to get to big head producing at uptown. So Andre booted him. He got money from Clive though. Bad Boy Entertainment was Born. Clive asked Lajoyce to garner press for Puffy. Her mission. (That she so chose)“Protect the black boy genius.” And she did. Very well.
Whatever Diddy touched back then, turned to gold and platinum. 1994 was the year. Craig Mack had come out with ‘Flavor in ur ear’ on Puffy's label. The label and Puffy were a huge success. But Biggie is the one that puts Bad Boy on the map. Diddy needed Street cred. And Biggie was it. Don’t get it twisted, though. Puffy was very much part Of Biggies story. He was in all the videos and hype man for most of his songs. If Biggie was around, Puffy was nearby. Puffy was the Bad Boy Brand rep. West Coast was selling more Records though. And Puffy didn’t like that. So naturally a Hip-hop war broke out. Both vying for the #1 spot in rap. What a lot of people don't realize is Death Row was trying to make a Death Row East. They really thought that they could come in and take New York. In a Bold move, Pac is heard in an interview saying “Death Row East was about to take over NYC.”
FIGHTING WORDS. Diddy wasn't having it. And well…we know what happens a few months later…. That would be the last time much music interviewed Pac.
So, Dewitt Gilmore was a club promoter and got a shirt from another club promoter. And almost died because of it…yeah. A bright white shirt with “Death Row East.” Inked in blue on the upper left-hand side, was given to him at a club called PJ in Harlem. He decided to WEAR IT OUT in downtown, LA. Yup. You read that correctly. A few hours later he goes to his Jeep. Puffy rolls up in a sports car and calls him “A Bitch.” Puffs in the passenger side (Of his best friend ride. Trying to Holla at him.) Dewitt tells him to “Keep the drama to himself.” Trying to de-escalate the situation. To Puff though. Dewitt had aligned himself with the West Coast by wearing that t-shirt. Hewitt and his buddy start driving. The car Diddy's is in, veers over, cuts him off, and forces him into an island. They get out of the car. For whatever reason. Probably to check on the car. Then they hear gunshots ring out. Before they knew it. Dewitt and his friend were on a high-speed chase through Manhattan. He Almost died.
"My whole future would be erased. My story is just a smasmallerece to the puzzle of your Mayhem." He said. As he looked directly into the camera with conviction.
It doesn't end there, though….
As a journalist and editor, Danyel Smith has known Diddy all of her career. She was the first Black woman editor and chief of Vibe magazine. She feels it's important to share her story because it is her duty and because of the unique position she has in the music industry. Back then, she claims that it was impossible NOT to work with Puff in the music media world. He was everywhere and involved in everything. She claims.
In 97, Danielle did a cover shoot for Vibe Magazine with Puffy. The idea…get Puffy in angel wings (Ironically). Puffy wanted to see the covers. He was a double feature that month. It was a policy at Vibe magazine not to show the covers to ANYONE. He, being the spoiled asshole that he is. Figured he’d bully her into caving. When he didn’t get his way, Puffy threw a fit and threatened to kill Danyel and put her in the trunk of a car. Being frightened she called her lawyers. Her lawyers told him, if he didn't apologize, they would be pursuing legal action. He eventually faxed an apology. That didn't stop him from hiring 2 guys to ruff her up though. Due to trauma, she blocked the whole thing out. Through her staff and her editor-in-chief at the time. She had learned about that traumatizing incident. In the days prior.
“Two guys were looking for me. For my safety and for the magazine pages to remain intact. I was shuttled from office to office until the coast was clear…And waited outside, standing on the corner with the proof of the pages of the magazine; that were being prepared to go to print. Then my managing editor came downstairs and got the pages from me and put me in a cab to Brooklyn.”
The extent to which Diddy went in his career is astonishing. All the recent allegations of sexual misconduct that he was accused of doing when he was younger. Makes it easier to believe in the allegations he's facing now.
Death, tragedy, brokenness, fear, and intimidation. It seems to always surround Puffy. Puffy was legitimately born into that “Bad Boy for Lyfe” lifestyle. His dad was a drug dealer and rumor on the street his mom was a whore.
Please Tune in tomorrow. I'll have episode 2s breakdown. Be sure to follow me on Instagram for correlating stories.
I appreciated the read Alice! I didn’t know about some of the Howard college days so that was interesting to read about. I always think and say if you figure out who is in charge of Clive Davis, you get closer to who and why Diddy was protected so much. My 2 cents