Diddy’s former bodyguard, Gene Deal, is stirring controversy with claims that The Notorious B.I.G. was financially strapped under Bad Boy Records—so much so that he couldn’t even help his close friend Tupac Shakur when he was behind bars.
During an interview on VYRE’s So Reckless podcast, Deal told host M. RECK that he personally saw Biggie’s contract and described it as predatory. “I asked Big about Tupac—I asked him all those questions,” Deal said. “When I asked him about Pac, like, ‘Why you ain’t give Pac the money or nothing like that?’ because Jasmine Guy and Jada Pinkett [Smith] were going around trying to get Pac out of jail… Big said, ‘Because I ain’t have no money. I was broke.’”
Deal added, “I had to sell Puff [Diddy] my publishing. And I knew that because I read the contract when we was coming out to California. Puff gave me the briefcase.”
The allegations add to the mounting scrutiny surrounding Diddy, whose past business practices have come under increasing fire.
In October 1995, Tupac Shakur was released from prison on a $1.4 million bail following his appeal on a sexual assault conviction earlier that year. While it’s long been believed that Suge Knight personally posted the bail in exchange for Tupac signing to Death Row Records—a pivotal moment that intensified the East Coast–West Coast rap war—The Defiant Ones docuseries revealed a different story.
According to former Interscope Records exec Jimmy Iovine, it was actually Interscope and Time Warner who fronted the money for Tupac’s release. “I imagine Tupac himself thought Suge bailed him out. But the truth is we and Time Warner put up the money,” Iovine said. “I mean, look… I was definitely part of bailing out Tupac.” His statement was backed by David Cohen, Interscope’s then-Head of Business Affairs.
Meanwhile, Diddy, the man at the center of Gene Deal’s explosive claims about Biggie’s financial situation, is currently behind bars in a New York correctional facility. He awaits sentencing on a series of federal charges, with a court date now set for October 3.
