In a seismic expose that’s rocking the hip-hop world to its core, Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs stands accused of orchestrating the cold-blooded murder of Tupac Shakur – the iconic West Coast rapper gunned down in a hail of bullets on the neon-lit streets of Las Vegas back in 1996. The jaw-dropping claims, laid bare in Netflix’s explosive new docuseries Sean Combs: The Reckoning, paint the fallen music mogul as a jealous puppet-master who allegedly dangled a $1 million bounty in front of bloodthirsty gang members to eliminate his rival and Death Row boss Suge Knight, all while fanning the flames of the infamous East Coast-West Coast rivalry that turned beats into body bags.

Produced by Diddy’s longtime nemesis, Curtis ’50 Cent’ Jackson, the four-part series – which dropped like a bombshell on December 3, 2025 – doesn’t just stop at whispers; it unleashes a torrent of insider testimonies, unearthed recordings, and eyebrow-raising financial trails that suggest Diddy wired hush money to shady Vegas contacts right around the time Tupac took his last breath. ‘A lot of bad things happened,’ seethes one former associate in the doc, hinting at a web of humiliation, violence, and betrayal spun by the man once hailed as hip-hop’s golden boy. But as the finger-pointing shifts from Suge Knight to Diddy – now derisively dubbed the ‘Baby Oil consumer’ amid his sex trafficking scandal – the eternal question burns brighter than ever: Who really did it?

Let’s rewind to the blood-soaked night of September 7, 1996, when Tupac Amaru Shakur – the poetic firebrand behind hits like ‘California Love’ and ‘Changes’ – was ambushed in a drive-by shooting after watching Mike Tyson pummel Bruce Seldon at the MGM Grand. Cruising in a black BMW alongside Suge Knight, the 25-year-old was riddled with bullets from a white Cadillac that pulled up beside them at a red light on East Flamingo Road. Tupac clung to life for six agonizing days before succumbing to his wounds on September 13, his death certificate listing internal hemorrhaging and respiratory failure as the culprits. The crime scene was a chaotic blur of shattered glass, screeching tires, and panicked crowds, with no arrests for decades until Duane ‘Keefe D’ Davis – a self-proclaimed Southside Crip – was charged in 2023 for masterminding the hit.

But according to The Reckoning, the real puppet-master wasn’t just some street thug – it was Diddy himself, allegedly pulling strings from his East Coast throne. Kirk Burrowes, Diddy’s former Bad Boy Entertainment partner who co-founded the label in 1993, drops the mother of all bombshells in Episode 2: ‘I think that Sean now in my mature mind had a lot to do with the death of Tupac.’ Burrowes, speaking with the weight of decades-old grudges, accuses Diddy of insane jealousy over Tupac’s friendship with The Notorious B.I.G. (Biggie Smalls), Diddy’s flagship artist. ‘Sean was insanely jealous of Biggie and ’Pac’s friendship,’ Burrowes fumes, portraying Diddy as a manipulator who thrived on control and envied the raw talent of his peers. ‘With Sean, sometimes you’re humiliated. Sometimes you’re made an example of. Sometimes violent things happen to you. Through the years, a lot of bad things happened to good friends.’

The doc doesn’t skimp on the gritty details. It alleges Diddy connected with Keefe D through Harlem drug lord Eric Von Zip, a mutual acquaintance who facilitated shady dealings. In chilling recordings unearthed from Keefe D’s 2008 police interviews – played out in the series for maximum dramatic effect – the gangster claims Diddy approached him and his crew at a party in 1995 or 1996, offering a cool $1 million to ‘handle’ Tupac and Suge Knight. ‘He agreed to pay us to kill Tupac and Suge,’ Keefe D reportedly boasted, though he later admitted the full payment never materialized. Instead, the doc suggests Diddy funneled cash via wire transfers to ‘shady contacts’ in Las Vegas around the time of the shooting, framing it as hush money to keep the hitmen quiet. Court files flashed on screen reference this alleged bounty, tying it back to the simmering beef that exploded after the 1994 Quad Studios robbery.

Ah, the Quad Studios incident – the spark that ignited the powder keg. On November 30, 1994, Tupac was lured to the Manhattan recording studio under the pretense of a collaboration, only to be ambushed by armed robbers who shot him five times, stripping him of his jewelry and leaving him for dead in an elevator. Miraculously surviving, Tupac pointed the finger squarely at Diddy and Biggie, who were upstairs recording at the time. ‘They set me up,’ he raged in interviews, convinced it was an inside job orchestrated by the Bad Boy camp to eliminate competition. The doc revisits this pivotal moment with archival footage and insider accounts, including from a former LAPD detective who investigated both murders and a ex-Mansfield Crip member linked to the Vegas hit. Director Alexandria Stapleton teases ‘a lot of new information’ that ties it all together, insisting no one has ‘put it together like that before.’

From there, the East-West rivalry snowballed into a full-blown war. Tupac, fresh out of prison in 1995 after Suge Knight bailed him out with a $1.4 million bond, signed to Death Row and unleashed diss tracks like ‘Hit ‘Em Up,’ where he mocked Biggie and threatened Diddy with lines like ‘You claim to be a player, but I f***ed your wife.’ Diddy, ever the promoter, allegedly poured gasoline on the fire by pushing his artists into the fray, even urging Biggie to head to Los Angeles despite the palpable threats following Tupac’s murder. Burrowes accuses Diddy of ‘ushering Biggie to his death,’ claiming he lied about the trip being Biggie’s idea and instead used it to amp up promotion for Bad Boy. Just six months after Tupac’s slaying, on March 9, 1997, Biggie was gunned down in a eerily similar drive-by after a Soul Train Awards afterparty, his unsolved murder fueling endless conspiracy theories that point back to Diddy or Suge as the ultimate culprits.

Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace, appears in archival clips blaming the ‘Puffy and Suge Knight war’ for her son’s demise, her grief-stricken words adding a heartbreaking layer to the doc’s narrative. And it’s not just Tupac – the series alleges Diddy exploited Biggie’s death for profit, charging his lavish funeral (complete with horse-drawn carriage and star-studded mourners) as a ‘recoupable expense’ to the rapper’s estate. ‘We’re gonna do the biggest funeral for Biggie that New York has ever seen,’ Diddy reportedly boasted, only to flip the bill onto the dead man’s family. Burrowes even claims Diddy tried to retroactively alter Biggie’s contract for better terms, firing him when he refused. ‘You’ve abused everyone and used most everyone,’ Burrowes blasts.

Of course, Diddy’s camp has come out swinging, branding the series a ‘shameful hit piece’ orchestrated by 50 Cent, a bitter rival who’s been trolling Combs for years over everything from vodka brands to alleged ‘fruity’ antics. ‘This is led by an adversary repeating unverified allegations without context,’ his team snarled, insisting Diddy will fight back in court, not on screen. Combs has long denied any involvement in Tupac’s death, dismissing Keefe D’s claims as the ramblings of a desperate man facing his own charges. And let’s not forget, Keefe D himself has flip-flopped, once claiming the money never came through. Yet, with Diddy currently rotting in a Brooklyn jail cell awaiting trial on federal sex trafficking and racketeering charges – complete with tales of ‘freak-offs,’ baby oil stockpiles, and over a dozen lawsuits alleging rape, abuse, and poisoning – the timing couldn’t be more damning.

50 Cent, reveling in his role as executive producer, has been crowing on social media: ‘This is gonna break records!’ The beef between him and Diddy dates back to the early 2000s, with 50 accusing Combs of shady deals and even linking him to the 2000 shooting that left him with nine bullet wounds. Now, through The Reckoning, 50 delivers a knockout punch, weaving in interviews from ex-Bad Boy artists like Aubrey O’Day, former employees like Capricorn Clark, and even jurors from Diddy’s trials. Episode 1 traces Combs’ Harlem roots – orphaned young after his dad’s drug-related murder – to his hustler days at Uptown Records, where he earned the ‘Puff Daddy’ moniker. Episode 3 dives into his post-Biggie empire-building, amid whispers of abusive relationships, while Episode 4 spotlights the federal raids on his mansions, uncovering guns, drugs, and those infamous lubricant hauls.

Tupac’s own story is a tragic saga of genius and grit. Born Lesane Parish Crooks in 1971 to Black Panther parents, he rose from Baltimore’s streets to become a Shakespearean wordsmith, blending activism with gangsta rap. His 1991 debut 2Pacalypse Now was a raw cry against police brutality, but it was All Eyez on Me in 1996 that cemented his legend, dropping just months before his death. Suge Knight, the hulking Death Row founder with ties to the Bloods, became his protector and provocateur, bailing him out of prison on rape charges (which Tupac denied) and steering him into the feud. ‘Pac’s paranoia post-Quad Studios – where he lost $40,000 in jewelry and nearly his life – led him to believe Diddy and Biggie were behind it, a suspicion echoed in songs like ‘Against All Odds,’ where he directly accuses Puffy of betrayal.

Insiders in the doc claim Diddy’s envy boiled over at a party where he allegedly sealed the deal with Keefe D’s crew, Southside Crips rivals to Knight’s Mob Piru Bloods. The wire transfers? Presented as damning evidence of payoffs, timed suspiciously close to the Vegas ambush. A former Mansfield Crip hints at deeper gang entanglements, while LAPD vets dissect the unsolved cases, noting how the rivalry provided perfect cover for hits. Burrowes adds fuel, alleging Diddy abused him in ‘sexually deviant ways’ and blacklisted him after a lawsuit, painting a portrait of a tyrant who discarded allies like yesterday’s beats.

Yet, doubts linger. Keefe D’s tales have been dismissed as self-serving, especially since his 2023 arrest. Suge Knight, serving 28 years for voluntary manslaughter, once pointed fingers at Diddy too, but conspiracy theorists have spun webs involving everyone from the FBI to Biggie’s own camp. Tupac’s stepbrother Mopreme Shakur has called for investigations into Diddy’s role, while Afeni Shakur’s estate guards her son’s legacy fiercely. As The Reckoning streams to millions, it’s not just rehashing old beefs – it’s forcing a cultural autopsy on hip-hop’s darkest chapter.

Diddy’s fall from grace is epic: From billionaire parties with A-listers to a 6×8 cell, facing life in prison if convicted. His ex Cassie Ventura’s settled abuse suit opened the floodgates, with accusers like producer Lil Rod providing footage of wild antics. The doc’s unseen clips of Diddy pre-arrest – smug and defiant – contrast sharply with his current plight. ‘Blink Again,’ Episode 4 urges, implying we’ve all turned a blind eye to celebrity monsters.

So, who really did it? Was it Diddy’s alleged $1M plot, Suge’s retaliation, or something more sinister? As Keefe D’s trial looms and Diddy’s May 2026 court date approaches, the truth might finally emerge from the shadows. Until then, Sean Combs: The Reckoning serves as a stark reminder: In hip-hop’s golden era, fame came with a fatal price.