Jackson, who’s currently pivoting from rap to television production, spoke a bit about everything from reaching middle age (Fiddy Cent will soon be Fiddy-years-old), waffling on his support of Donald Trump, and his lofty (or, fofty) aspirations of building a production empire. But he spoke at length about his longtime suspicions of Sean “Diddy” Combs and his forthcoming exposé of the alleged abuser in the middle of an ongoing federal investigation.
Jackson said he first became acquainted with Combs via Jennifer Lopez in the early aughts and even collaborated with him on a few tracks including “Let’s Get It.” However, their relationship was “mostly work” and he emphasized that he “didn’t ever party or hang out with him,” due largely in part to the number of allegations against Combs that are only now becoming more consequential by the day.
“I’ve been very vocal about not going to Puffy parties and doing shit like that,” Jackson told the publication. “I’ve been staying out of that shit for years. It’s just an uncomfortable energy connected to it.” When asked to elaborate on the “energy,” Jackson discussed a time, years earlier, when Combs asked him to take him shopping.
“I thought that was the weirdest shit in the world because that might be something that a man says to a woman,” he explained. “And I’m just like, ‘Naw, I’m not fucking with this weird energy or weird shit,’ coming off the way he was just moving. From that, I wasn’t comfortable around him.”
Now, if the latter revelation—more specifically, Jackson’s reaction to Combs’ offer—feels ever-so-slightly as if there’s some internalized homophobia at play (Jackson has previously referred to Combs as “fruity” and said he hugs “from the front and the back at the same time”), he got more explicit when asked directly about Combs’ famously dubious fetes. Given how many of Jackson’s peers have been in attendance over the years, he was then asked why they’ve all largely remained silent, despite Jackson voicing his suspicions.
“Some of them were involved, at the parties and enjoyed themselves, so they don’t know what the fuck is on tape or what’s not on tape, so they’re not going to say anything because they might have had too much fun,” Jackson said. “And then you’ve got other people who look and go, ‘Well, that’s not my business and I don’t want to be in it.'”
“Then you’ve got a part of our culture that says, ‘That’s snitching’ or ‘dry snitching’ or shit like that” he went on. “It’s not uncomfortable for me to say what I said because I’ve been saying this shit for four years, five years. I been telling you, ‘I don’t fuck with him. I don’t like the way he moving. This is a little crazy.’ Everybody else is not going to be as comfortable as I am saying it.”
As to where his relationships with many of those people—mutual friend Mary J. Blige, for instance—stand despite his continued criticism of Combs…
“Mary never reached out to me to tell me to not fuck up Puffy, because she knows that he does shit,” he said simply.
Currently, Jackson’s production company, G-Unit Films and Television Inc., is helming a documentary on the allegations against Combs for Netflix. As to how deep the doc will go, Jackson offered little and even went so far as to call himself “the only one from hip-hop culture that’s produced quality projects.” He did, however, give some indication of his personal feelings on the recorded abuse against his former partner, Cassandra “Cassie” Ventura.
“First, he denied that it even happened, and then the tape comes out—so that means everything that n—a says is a lie,” Jackson said. “When someone watches that, if they have a daughter and they can imagine her being under those circumstances, that shit is crazy. Like, they let him get away with it. With all the influence and power you have, the person you’re with is supposed to want to be a part of your life, not be forced.”
Jackson’s take seems obvious, if not somewhat contradictory. After all, he, too, has been accused of rape and physical abuse by his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child and he counts Dr. Dre—who also carries a litany of abuse allegations in his wake—as a mentor.
“It’s fine that they would feel whatever they feel because I don’t know what is true or what’s not true about that situation,” Jackson said, addressing any speculation the public might have of his allegiances. “And these things date back to before I was even signed to Dr. Dre. But this would mean not acknowledging all the things that are positive about him, all the successes I have had and everything, because that’s the time frame we are talking about. That’s crazy to think that you would not produce a doc series now based on that as well.”
Is it crazy? I don’t think so. But it certainly won’t stop me from tuning into this documentary when it eventually drops.
