Who Is Still Supporting Diddy In Hip-Hop?

We’re lower than two weeks away from Diddy’s sentencing date for his federal conviction, the partial ending to his huge misconduct scandal. Whereas the courtroom discovered him responsible on costs of transportation to interact in prostitution, they acquitted him on intercourse trafficking and racketeering costs. That is not considering the mountain of ongoing, settled, or since-dropped civil lawsuits towards Sean Combs, alleging sexual assault, intercourse trafficking, bodily and emotional abuse, and lots of extra accusations. We realized of many of those confirmed horrors through the trial; much more horrifying allegations stay unconfirmed. But regardless of proof of the crimes the Unhealthy Boy mogul did commit, many of us in hip-hop proceed to help him.

After all, this does not manifest as a really seen, endorsed, or in-sync motion; most celebrities will not contact this with a ten-foot publicist. A majority of well-known rap figures who did converse on this condemned Diddy’s actions. The truth is, witnesses through the trial included Child Cudi himself. However there are nonetheless some high-profile artists who, whether or not constantly or sporadically, threw their platforms behind Sean Combs to various levels. Some are easy. Others are overbearing. However, all of them danger obfuscating this habits and selfishly perpetuating its actual penalties.

As well as, hip-hop media itself can be experiencing some debate. Funk Flex supported Puff within the wake of the decision, and Wack 100 thinks his profession will be simply wonderful. However Wack and people like DJ Akademiks, for instance, do not essentially excuse his actions, however slightly query and typically diminish the narratives towards him. But, it is executed in a manner that results in numerous hate and unreasonable doubt. These artists, alternatively, hardly ever depart any room for nuance.

The newest supporter on this record is Jay Electronica, a longtime good friend and collaborator of Sean Combs. He was beforehand noticed supporting his colleague in July, strolling his canine exterior of the Manhattan federal courthouse the place Diddy confronted trial. However the New Orleans lyricist’s new A Written Testimony albums, Leaflets and Energy At The Fee Of My Desires, include extra fleshed-out defenses.

On the previous, Combs gives an introductory narration, paradoxically saying that hip-hop is in “a harmful place.” Then, on the monitor “4 Billion, 4 Hundred Million,” Jay Electronica raps about him and Cassie. “I used to be residing with Puff and Cass, and by no means confirmed up within the affidavit / I am a smoother felony than Michael Jackson perhaps.”

Then again, PATROMD outright blasts the persecution of Combs on the monitor “Blood Libel. Who’s That Mendacity On God?” “They tried to hold my n***a Love excessive up on the cross / Like Jigga mentioned, they both repo your automobile / Otherwise you get hit unjustly with a RICO / When s**t was all good only a week in the past / Slander your title on the worldwide stage.”

These remarks level to conspiracy theories round bigger powers utilizing Diddy as a scapegoat and unjustly punishing him. Whereas the RICO costs fell by way of, Jay Elec’s bars show a nuanced however harmful disconnect between the preliminary condemnation of Puffy’s confirmed crimes and the combined verdict. Assessments like these excuse private crimes simply because they do not attain the severity of essentially the most excessive accusations, and tie actual particulars up with tinfoil hats.

This can be a much more informal instance of the help behind Diddy, but it surely nonetheless represents a simple manner for folk to overlook in regards to the seriousness of those accusations and convictions. Money Cobain as soon as remarked on social media that he desires to go to the primary get together Sean Combs throws after he leaves jail, which triggered numerous debate. Some people noticed this as an harmless craving for legendary occasions within the tradition within the wake of the acquittals on extra critical costs.

However others had been fast to remind people of the alleged and confirmed crimes and actions that went down at these events. Certain, a few of these people are simply averse to any sexual or queer storylines on their timelines and are hyper-fixating on the incorrect factor. However the New York rapper and producer’s pleasure over a possible Puff get together is an instance of how casually people can dismiss the whole lot about this case simply due to a federal verdict. It weighs quite a bit, sure. Nonetheless, the questions round business requirements, imbalanced energy dynamics, and the normalized, abusive tendencies of these in energy are ones people ought to not less than have the widespread sense to respect, not throw out of the window for time. Even in jest.

Boosie Badazz is an fascinating case. For a lot of followers, his preliminary condemnation of Diddy for bodily assaulting Cassie contradicted his later assaults towards the singer for allegedly making an attempt to extort the Unhealthy Boy mogul. Though this might merely mirror his perception that the federal case towards Combs went too far, it will definitely devolved into invalidating any form of comparable accusation from any girl who’s been with a star.

Whether or not it was accusing Cassie and her husband Alex Fantastic of plotting Puff’s downfall or claiming that Yung Miami’s relationship with him made all these accusers jealous, the Baton Rouge MC’s protection of the chief strayed away from the precise info of the case. As a substitute, it mirrored his ever-present commentary in “gender wars”-adjacent areas, utilizing remoted interpretations and presumptions to color the desire of many ladies with out empathy or understanding.

In Boosie’s case, the protection of Diddy turns into extra about what the accusations towards him signify, and what the result of this accountability would possibly say about both facet of the story. It is not in regards to the particular dynamics of the abusive relationships. And even when the courtroom clears him of the worst allegations, people are too fast to just accept that as the one reply. Name it projection or preconceived animosity, however these staunch backings muddy the notion of this case by decoding it by way of a a lot bigger, extra biased filter.

Then there’s Ray J, who has been so outspoken about his help of Diddy that he even bought himself kicked out of a Kai Cenat livestream due to it. At first, he was condemning his abuse of Cassie and he even bought into an altercation with Combs’ youngsters consequently. However when people like Nicki Minaj and even Puff’s rival 50 Cent thought Ray was going too far, he apologized and adjusted his tune. However as an alternative of simply stepping away from the state of affairs, he referred to as the entire thing a “conspiracy” and went on to defend the Unhealthy Boy mogul with Amber Rose, Chrisean Rock, and lots of extra celebrities and platforms.

For the reason that singer usually makes headlines for his antics, his change of coronary heart right here is one thing that many followers interpreted as a deliberate clout chase. That could be too dismissive or skeptical, but it surely’s clear that it labored, even when unintentionally. That is one other occasion through which people separate what we find out about Cassie and the bigger federal accusations, but it surely’s one with many contradictions all through.

As such, this reveals how these contradictions do not matter to most of the people; solely what the bigger notion of a difficulty dictates at any given second. As testimony after testimony adopted, there was increasingly more media outcry in help of Puff due to the approaching risk of his jail time. Ray J is simply one of many people who dismissed all of his earlier condemnations for the sake of questioning essentially the most excessive allegations. All his different threats to reveal the business and really tackle the problems that triggered these circumstances simply fell to the wayside.

Lastly on this record, we’ve got essentially the most notable public instance of a rapper supporting Diddy, most likely as a result of Kanye West is the most important title to take action. This protection includes the entire earlier narratives: business conspiracy theories relating to Diageo, downplaying the testimonies of victims like Cassie and accusing them of extortion, normalizing abusive habits, casually commenting on critical case facets, and so forth. On high of that, Ye launched an EP with Unhealthy Boy inheritor Christian “King” Combs, went to the trial, was a goal of some accusations towards Combs, and extra.

Just a few different rappers escaped point out on this record, they usually have comparable narratives. To be clear, we’re not saying any of those people ought to need Diddy in jail following his combined verdict or should condemn him publicly and privately. The extra harmful danger that folk just like the Yeezy provocateur signify is that, by talking on the problem within the first place, they open their platforms to a bunch of viewers and Web customers who already carry intense hatred for the retribution of abuse survivors or indictments of the system.

Kanye West might be the closest comparability to Sean Combs himself among the many latter’s supporters, largely due to their scale. Pair that with Ye’s tendency to sink people to his degree, and you’ve got a horrifying and disheartening actuality: energy will all the time excuse peccancy. A well-known determine’s advantage of the doubt will permit a litany of crimes, so long as they do not harm the system. Even when the federal trial was hypothetically a conspired assault and never a legally inadequate argument, these totally defending Diddy refuse to acknowledge the disgusting realities of the business normalcies he perpetuated.