Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs Says He Won’t Give Up Biggie’s Publishing Rights Until His Bones Are ‘Grinded To Powder’

When Christopher Wallace, also known as Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie, signed to Bad Boy Records, he helped Sean “Diddy” Combs’ new label grow. He became incredibly successful and began making money for the label. However, according to some sources, he wasn’t making as much as he could have. Diddy kept his publishing rights and refused to give them up.

Sean “Diddy” Combs Refused to Give Up Biggie’s Publishing Rights

Towards the end of his life, Biggie reportedly began considering leaving Bad Boy Records. He had a contract that gave Diddy half of his publishing rights, which other artists on the label considered incredibly unfair.

“Apart from Puff, no one else has prospered from that label,” former Bad Boy rapper Mark Curry wrote in his book Dancing with the Devil: How Puff Burned Hip-Hop’s Bad Boys (by Salon).

Curry claimed Biggie was trapped in a deal that was unfair to him.

“I was in the same situation as Biggie when he signed with Bad Boy,” he wrote. “After Biggie signed the contracts that Puff imposed on him, for example, he only walked away with $25,000.”

Biggie’s lawyers began pushing for more control over the publishing rights, but Diddy fought them at every turn.

“I’ll never give up until I’m dead and my bones are ground into powder,” Diddy said, according to Rolling Stone.

This legal battle apparently only gave Biggie another reason to leave the label.

Sean “Diddy” Combs gave Biggie his publishing rights in 2023

More than two decades after Biggie’s death, Diddy has finally relinquished control of his publishing rights. In 2023, he “decided to reassign his Bad Boy publishing rights to all the Bad Boy artists and writers who helped make Bad Boy the powerhouse it is today,” a source told Variety.

Artists who received their publishing rights include Biggie, Faith Evans, Ma$e and many more. The assets were reportedly valued at hundreds of millions of dollars.

According to the source, Diddy hoped the move would help black artists.

“Combs sees this as part of a larger goal of promoting the economic empowerment of Black artists and culture,” they said.

The rapper’s mother shared her current opinion on Diddy

Diddy’s decision to sign over his publishing rights to Bad Boy artists hasn’t exactly improved Biggie’s mother’s opinion of him. Voletta Wallace said she loved Diddy, but is now disgusted by the accusations made against him by his ex-girlfriend, Cassie Ventura.

“I feel sick to my stomach,” Wallace told Rolling Stone, adding, “I pray for Cassie. I pray for her mother. I don’t want to believe the things I’ve heard, but I saw (the hotel video). I pray that he apologizes to her.”

She said she wished she could hit him.

“I hope to see Sean again one day and all I want to do is slap him. And you can quote me on that,” she said. “Because I loved him. I didn’t want to believe all this horrible stuff, but I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.”