Did he do it? That’s the question many are asking about Sean “Diddy” Combs after watching the second episode of Netflix docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning.
The episode titled “What Goes Down Must Come Up” links the Bad Boy Records founder to the 1996 murder of Tupac Shakur and alleges Combs “ushered” his protégé Notorious B.I.G. to his death in 1997.
Combs has repeatedly denied any involvement in the killings, and he’s never been charged in either case.
Yet, the docuseries alleges he played a key role in both murders.
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Tupac was killed at the height of the feud between East Coast and West Coast rap crews.
At the time, South Side Crips gang members were rumored to be providing security for Bad Boy artists when they traveled West.
Tensions between the East and West Coast rap rivals escalated when Combs and the Notorious B.I.G. released the single “Who Shot Ya?,” which Shakur took as an insult about a shooting at a New York recording studio that left him injured. Shakur responded with the 1996 diss track “Hit ‘Em Up.”
On Sept. 7, 1996, Shakur was shot multiple times on the Las Vegas Strip as he sat in the passenger side of a BMW driven by former Death Row Records CEO Suge Knight. The “California Love” rapper died from his injuries several days later. Knight was injured and survived.
The docuseries includes an audio recording of Tupac murder suspect Duane “Keefe D” Davis discussing the killing with members of an LAPD task force.
“In 2006, I was recruited to work a task force that was going to work on a cold case investigation. At the time, Tupac’s murder was still an unsolved case,” former LAPD detective Greg Kading says in the episode. “Gang crimes are often difficult to solve because you don’t get cooperating witnesses.”
Detectives suspected Keefe D all along. After arresting the South Side Compton Crips shotcaller in a drug case, they offered him a proffer agreement and a deal if he cooperated in the Tupac investigation.
After Keefe D reportedly agreed to the arrangement, Kading says detectives questioned him about his “potential role” in the murder.
A recording of the interrogation was previously published online by The Sun newspaper in July 2024, and we reported on it then. The Netflix docuseries marked the first time parts of the audio were played on television.
“Don’t bullshit me and I won’t bullshit y’all,” Keefe D says in audio played on the docuseries.
The gang leader told detectives Combs and New York City gangster Eric “Von Zip” Martin allegedly ordered Tupac’s killing.
Keefe D alleged Combs offered him a million dollars to eliminate Shakur and Knight.
The West Coast gangster reportedly told detectives “Von Zip” acted as an intermediary between Combs and himself in the alleged contract killing.
“Zip set up the introduction between Combs and Keefe D,” Kading said.
Keefe D described the shooting and told detectives, “That shit was funny as a motherf—r.”
After the shooting, Keefe D alleged Combs called him and asked “Is that us?,” to which he said he responded, “Yeah.”
But Keefe D told police the East Coasters were shady, and never paid him for the killing. He also alleged Combs was not happy that Suge Knight survived.
A statement in the docuseries says Keefe D told producers his statements about Tupac’s killing were made “under duress.” Ironically, Keefe D made some of those same statements in podcast interviews.
While the murder happened in Las Vegas, Los Angeles police said they had authority to investigate because the alleged plot began in L.A. Unfortunately, Kading said the case went cold again because Las Vegas Metropolitan Police didn’t pursue leads the LAPD provided.
Keefe D was arrested in September 2023. He is scheduled to stand trial in Tupac’s murder in Las Vegas in 2026. “Von Zip” and the other suspects in the car the night Tupac was shot have all died.
“Keefe D and Sean Combs are the last men standing that can be held accountable for Tupac Shakur’s murder,” Kading said.
Bad Boy Records co-founder Kirk Burrowes adds in the docuseries, “I think that Sean, now in my mature mind, had a lot to do with the death of Tupac.”
Combs denied ordering Tupac’s murder during a 2016 interview with “The Breakfast Club,” and called rumors about his alleged involvement “nonsense.”
In a clip from an ABC News interview shown in the docuseries, Combs was asked if he knew who killed Tupac. “No I don’t,” he responded.
In another bombshell portion of the episode, Burrowes alleges Combs “ushered Biggie to his death.”
He claimed Combs canceled a European press junket that would have taken Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, out of the country on the day he was killed — March 9, 1997.
Burrowes says Wallace was excited about traveling abroad, but Combs wanted him in Los Angeles to “do a party on enemy turf.”
“Big did not want to go to L.A.,” Burrowes says.
In the past, Combs has said Notorious B.I.G. wanted to be in Los Angeles at the time, which Burrowes refutes.
“He’s lying about that,” Burrowes says. “He ushered Biggie to his death.”
The docuseries includes never-before-broadcast footage of the drive-by shooting that claimed Biggie’s life. Gunshots and the frantic 911 call after the shooting can be heard on the grainy video.
“We got to get him to the hospital!” someone screams.
Kading says Combs “stonewalled” the investigation “because he knows if you make inroads on Biggie’s murder, you’re gonna make inroads on Tupac’s murder and that potentially can lead right back to him.”
Burrowes alleges Combs wanted to change Notorious B.I.G.’s newly signed contract with Bad Boy because the rapper inked a more favorable deal for himself before he died.
He says Combs instructed him to swap out unsigned pages in the middle of the contract to insert “more favorable terms for Bad Boy.”
“I said, ‘That’s not right, I’m not doing it,'” Burrowes says. “Ninety days later, I’m fired.”
Sean Combs: The Reckoning is currently streaming on Netflix.
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