Bow Wow spoke out amid the arrest of Sean “Diddy” Combs, talking about the music mogul’s contributions to hip hop and how his absence is impacting the genre’s social scene.
After Diddy was arrested on charges of racketeering conspiracy and sex trafficking in September, Bow Wow made some eyebrow-raising comments about the music mogul and rapper’s infamous parties and his view on how Diddy’s arrest has impacted the industry.
“He’s like the gatekeeper to the game,” Bow Wow said of Diddy on a recent episode of the More to the Story podcast with Rocsi Diaz. “Like BET Award weekend, the past two they just didn’t feel right because there was no emotion. There was no parties. There was nowhere to go.”
He added that Diddy’s absence felt like a “hole” to the hip hop community, calling it “a very, very messed up situation.”
“For me, thinking on it, bro’s supposed to be on a 250-ft yacht with his wife, leg up, chilling that’s how you ride it out,” he said. “And I think a lot of us probably thought we’d never see this. But for me it’s just unreal. It seems unreal at times. I would never have thought that we’d seen him in this position.”
Bow Wow, whose birth name is Shad Gregory Moss, got his start in the late ‘90s under the rap name Lil Bow Wow, rapping with Snoop Dogg. He noted that Diddy “was the guy that every young hustler looked up to and either wanted to be like or wanted to pass.”
He continued, “He was everything hip-hop. So for that to die out, you just really never thought. Especially when you look at somebody as somebody you studied, somebody you idolized.”
The “Broken Heart” rapper—who shares 13-year-old daughter Shai Moss with his ex Joie Chavis and a 4-year-old son with ex Olivia Sky—also clarified that he was separating Diddy’s contribution to the hip hop community from the allegations against him.
“Once again, I’m separating, right?” he explained. “I’m talking about him as the artist, as the person. It shows how monumental, how important he was to the culture.”
Diddy is currently in prison awaiting trial on charges of sex trafficking and racketeering. He has pleaded not guilty on all counts as new allegations continue to pour in.
Damian Williams, U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, detailed Diddy’s alleged “freak-offs” during a Sept. 17 press conference, accusing Diddy of of using a vast network of employees within his business empire and other associates to cover up crimes including sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery, and the obstruction of justice.
“The indictment alleges that Combs abused and exploited women and other people for years and in a variety of ways,” the prosecutor continued, using “force, threats of force and coercion to cause victims to engage in extended sexual performances with male commercial sex workers.”
The freak-offs would sometimes last for days, Williams said, and often involved Diddy doling out drugs including ketamine, ecstasy and GHB to keep the victims “obedient and compliant.”
Diddy’s trial is set to take place May 5, 2025, with his attorney Marc Agnifilo continuing to maintain his innocence.
“Please reserve your judgment until you have all the facts,” the lawyer previously stated. “These are the acts of an innocent man with nothing to hide, and he looks forward to clearing his name in court.”