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.
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