Suge Knight's Cautionary Message to Diddy About Prison Life

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Suge Knight sitting in chair lifting hands up

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Back in the ’90s, Death Row records founder Suge Knight and Bad Boy Records founder Sean “Diddy” Combs were on opposite sides of the infamous East Coast-West Coast hip-hop feud. But with Diddy now facing serious prison time as his federal sex trafficking trial continues, Knight — who himself is currently serving a 28-year prison sentence after being convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 2018 — decided to give his one-time rival a bit of a warning about life in prison, telling him to keep his head down and not draw too much attention to himself.

Knight offered a fairly nuanced take on the situation during a phone interview with NewsNation’s Chris Cuomo, explaining while he and Diddy have historically been adversaries, he wasn’t going to celebrate the prospect of someone being sent to prison, especially not a Black man. “I’m not saying a lot of people don’t deserve to do their time … but at the same time, that’s not no cheerful thing,” he said. To that end, Knight expressed sympathy towards Diddy’s kids amid the trial.

Regarding Diddy’s alleged crimes, Knight also opined that the founder of Bad Boy was merely a symptom of a much larger problem in the entertainment industry as a whole: “He was taught from people before him, and he did it to the younger people after him.” Assuming Diddy is convicted and sent to prison, though, Knight suggested he take the time to better himself, and also offered some advice on how to handle himself in case anyone he’s in there with gets any violent ideas.

Suge Knight on what Diddy should (and shouldn’t) do in prison

Suge Knight sitting in court wearing orange prison uniform

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During his chat with Chris Cuomo, Suge Knight was hesitant to definitively say if longtime rival and former friend Sean “Diddy” Combs would be in danger behind bars. He also discouraged Diddy himself from suggesting such a thing, as well. Knight’s reasoning was that if Diddy were to be placed on suicide watch, the prison would strip him of things like clothes and bedsheets. That being said, Knight did acknowledge that Diddy being targeted in prison is a possibility.

“I don’t care who you are, prison and jail is a negative environment,” Knight said, adding, “Somebody can do something to him and get a name for themselves … but we also gotta learn, we gotta learn from our mistakes … you gotta better yourself.” Elsewhere in the interview, Knight also suggested that Diddy request kosher meals behind bars, as he says they’re better than the standard prison food and come pre-sealed, seemingly implying that this makes them more tamper-evident.

One of Knight’s final pieces of advice to Diddy: “He should go and get his time out of the way — not no life sentence. If he can get lesser time, he should jump on it, because he had a great run. I’m in prison right now. I had a great run. So, I don’t [go to sleep] mad, I don’t wake up mad. … I’ve been locked up for 10 years, and I ain’t had a bad day yet.”