The joint Nipsey Hussle and Diddy album that never happened
Nipsey Hussle only released one studio album before he was tragically killed in 2019. The Crenshaw rapper built his career on mixtapes, with projects like The Marathon Continues and Crenshaw among the best of them. He made history with the latter, selling 1,000 copies for $100 each, certifying himself as a trailblazer in music distribution. Had he not been gunned down in Los Angeles, there also might have been a groundbreaking collaborative album with Diddy.
Nipsey had always known Diddy from being in the same industry, but the pair had another connection through his partner, Lauren London. Having starred in a Sean John commercial and been close friends with Cassie, she would often run into Diddy. On one occasion, Puff told London, “Tell Nip to come through, man. Nip don’t fuck with me or what?” Instead of Nipsey having an issue, he simply wasn’t the type to wiggle into relationships.
Speaking to NPR, Nipsey said, “Me and Puff had a real good convo. I was just like, ‘You know, bro, I ain’t one of them dudes that be trying to get up under Diddy’s hand and play n*ggas close and all of that. I know you’ve got a million people that try to get energy from you and your resources up out you.'” In response, Diddy said, “Nah, bro, I’m in LA and I respect the movement. Let’s build.”
He considered Diddy’s Bad Boy Records the “Motown for rap” and felt that he and Biggie Smalls were blessed to have each other to complement their talents. Nipsey told Diddy, “I would love to get in the studio with you and build on that level,” to which he was down. Puff said, “Nah, Nip! I ain’t never done a West Coast album, that’d be crazy. I’ll produce the whole album.” Nipsey was holding him to that.
Despite a whole album never happening, they did collaborate on his Victory Lap album in 2018. The pair teamed up on the song ‘Young N*gga’, which saw Diddy vocals throughout Nipsey’s verse, in addition to the outro. “The session [with Puff] was so legendary,” he said. “I’m like, ‘Puff, you not finna trump my energy on my album. Just know that in your first session with Nip, I’m ’bout to be turnt up more than you.'”
He also had a major influence on another song on the album: ‘Rap N*ggas’. Nipsey asked Diddy to feature on the song, but gave him some critical feedback. “Yeah, ‘Rap N*ggas’ is strong, Hussle, but listen to this,” Puff said, before playing Ice Cube and Dr Dre’s ‘Natural Born Killaz’. He added, “It don’t sound like that though, bro.”
This pushed Nipsey to record a new version of the track, mixing and mastering it to sound louder. Nipsey said, “This is a West Coast street anthem. Let the synth go through the whole song. So we remixed it and brought it back, and Puff was like, ‘Now it’s ready, bro.'” A whole album might not have dropped, but Diddy certainly left his mark on Victory Lap.