Puff Daddy Honors Tupac on Tour, and Avoids Los Angeles

Original: “Puffy Tour Salutes Tupac But Avoids L.A.” · MTV News · no byline · November 14, 1997

On November 9, 1997, Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs launched his “No Way Out” tour in Auburn Hills, Michigan, named after his first album as a rapper. The show was filled with tributes to The Notorious B.I.G., who had been shot dead eight months earlier. Yet it also held a surprise: Puffy had the audience sing Hail Mary, Tupac’s song from the posthumous album The Don Killuminati.

No Guarantee for Los Angeles

The gesture of reconciliation had its limits. Los Angeles, where Biggie died, was the only major city missing from the tour schedule. Combs explained this to MTV citing security concerns: he had nothing against the city and its fans and was often there himself. But he traveled with many people who had families, and he could guarantee “nothing almost nowhere.” He did not want to go through the same thing again.

A Peace Signal on the Bad Boy Stage

The report captured the mood one year after Tupac’s death and a good six months after Biggie’s. As early as February 1997, Combs and Snoop Doggy Dogg had publicly called for an end to the East-West rivalry. Hail Mary on a Bad Boy tour was a strong signal: Tupac had publicly accused Combs and Biggie of knowing about the 1994 robbery at Quad Studios. Both have always denied it.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the tour was also an attempt to establish rap in the major concert business. Despite high record sales, the genre had rarely filled arenas until then. The fact that Combs of all people included a Tupac song could be read as a signal: the dispute was meant to end with the two dead men, not continue.

A Show in Anaheim, Steering Clear of Los Angeles

Skipping Los Angeles showed at the same time how deep the fear ran. The tour did not steer clear of the region entirely, however: according to the Los Angeles Times, a show was scheduled for December 7 at the Pond of Anaheim in the greater Los Angeles area. Biggie’s murder was unsolved in November 1997, and the case remained unsolved into the present.