Bad Boy Entertainment founder Diddy has rubbed many people up the wrong way as an executive figure in the recording industry. From artists such as Mase to 50 Cent, the mogul has had his fair share of feuds. However, few know about his intense and vicious exchange with the rapper Styles P. As a member of The Lox, Styles P was officially a member of Bad Boy for three years. In 1996, the Yonkers collective signed with Diddy. However, by 1999 things had got so toxic they were forced to leave and ended up on the Bronx-based Ruff Ryders Entertainment label.
Comprised of Styles P, Sheek Louch and Jadakiss, The Lox began their musical journey in their hometown of Yonkers, a suburb of New York City. Here, they aimed to follow in the footsteps of DMX, an emcee from their area who had taken over hip-hop. The group began to make noise following a demo they created produced by the Brooklyn musician Jaz-O.
Looking to support up-and-coming artists from her city, Mary J Blige made Diddy (real name Sean Combs) aware of the group and, upon hearing their music, instantly signed them. However, the partnership became uncomfortable quickly. Although the group featured on the highly successful Diddy single, ‘It’s All About the Benjamins’ in 1997, by 1998, they were looking to disassociate themselves from the sound and aesthetic that came with Bad Boy.
The group began a campaign entitled “Free The Lox” in order to put pressure on Diddy to release the group from their contract. The trio began selling merchandise with the slogan on and made public threats on Angie Martinez’s HOT97 radio show. However, this frustration concerning their label culminated in a physical fight between Combs and Styles P, during which the lyricist hurled a chair at the Bad Boy founder.
In an interview with the online music publication HipHopDX, the musician (real name David Styles) reflected on the heated exchange. Admitting his actions weren’t very well thought out, Styles stated: “The moment with tossing the chair at Puff was a combination of being really fucking stupid and really fucking angry!”
Revealing that Biggie Smalls was usually the man that made everyone see sense, the Yonkers rhymer elaborated: “I think for me, Big was always the barrier, and the mediator, and the middle person. He was always able to make things make sense to me, So I think when Big passed, it was just kind of really hard for me to deal with it and see certain things.”
Although the situation was turbulent and very heated, Styles unveiled that although it was a silly thing to do, he doesn’t regret it, stating, “We don’t regret anything at all. It was like us saying you want some of this old man.” Alluding to the fact that Diddy had a lot of enemies in the industry who he had wronged, Styles concluded by revealing, “It was a very dumb thing to do, but it felt good to do because I think a lot of people wanted to do it. But they ain’t have the balls.” You can hear Jadakiss of The Lox recalling the fight.
