I never paid too much attention to the West Coast–East Coast gangsta-rap wars of the 1990s, but I learned something interesting while finishing work on Pusherman: Frank Lucas & The True Story of American Gangster, a documentary about the notorious Harlem heroin dealer. Namely that Sean “Diddy” Combs’s father, Melvin Combs, had done business with Lucas and was murdered in his car, parked off of Central Park West in 1972, for being a suspected informer.
In fact, Lucas knew Diddy, though this was decades before he adopted the nickname. “Melvin used to bring [Diddy] over to my house every other day or a couple of times a week, at least,” said Lucas, who died in 2019. “And my daughter had one of those little rocking horses. She wouldn’t let him ride on it. She used to push him off the ride horse. I said, ‘Look at him now, he can build that ride out of million-dollar bills.’ That guy got rich, man. He played good, man. I’m proud to see him like that. That was Melvin Combs’s son. I’m glad he did that. I’m glad he went on. I pray for this kid, man. He’s doing good.”
