As if the Hip-Hop community needed anymore reason to give Diddy “The Diddler” (allegedly) the side eye for the rest of eternity, Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah just gave the culture even more grounds to demand that the Bad Boy Records founder get substantial prison time once his sentencing date rounds the corner.
In a recent interview on The Bootleg Kev Podcast, Ghostface took everyone on a trip back into the late 1990s when the Wu-Tang Clan was arguably the most popular rap group in the world. New York radio station Hot 97 stopped playing their records as the Wu and the hottest Hip-Hop radio station in the Big Apple weren’t on the best terms at the time. With their highly anticipated sophomore album Wu-Tang Forever releasing in June of 1997, Hot 97 was seemingly keeping any of the album’s records off the air, which at the time was a huge blow to the group’s exposure and royalties, as the internet wasn’t even an option back then.
As it turns out it wasn’t just the group’s beef with the station that kept their music off the airwaves in New York City, but the influence of Diddy who apparently instructed the radio station to refrain from playing any Wu-Tang records, as he and his Bad Boy Records label were basically running the rap scene in the city that never sleeps during that golden era.
“RZA told me this like a year ago and shit like yo, that Puff admitted that to saying that he stopped our records up there and sh*t like that or whatever… It helped them Hot 97 mutha*ckas. That was it. So it was all Bad Boy. So when we dropped ‘Triumph,’ that sh*t was just like no radio play,” Ghostface said.
Diddy must’ve been on that pink nose candy when he admitted this to RZA. Just sayin’.
Luckily, the Wu had such a huge following that Wu-Tang Forever was able to sell 600,000 physical copies in its first week of release and ultimately go on to be certified four times platinum.
Still, Diddy felt that “he had to do it” because the Wu was “too much” of a spotlight stealer for Diddy’s taste at the time.
While many would point out that Ghostface and Raekwon took subliminal shots at Bad Boy’s franchise artist the Notorious B.I.G. (RIP) on their “Shark N*ggaz” skit on Raekwon’s classic album Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, Ghost did admit recently that he and Biggie squashed their beef just prior to Biggie being murdered in Los Angeles in 1997.
Now that we know that Diddy blocked the Wu-Tang Clan from achieving even greater heights with their second group album, should that be factored into his prison sentence for his sex trafficking bid? Of course we kid, but not really.
What do y’all think about Diddy having Wu-Tang blocked from getting burn at Hot 97? Fair or foul? Let us know in the comments section below.
