Sean “Diddy” Combs’ former bodyguard, Gene Deal didn’t hold back when calling out Stevie J’s recent “gangster” image and accused the music producer of drug use while disputing his account of the night The Notorious B.I.G. was murdered in Los Angeles.
Deal said he once protected Stevie J during their time in New York and considered him “like a little nephew.”
However, after Stevie J’s recent remarks downplaying their relationship, claiming Deal exaggerates his role and fabricating stories about their past interactions, Deal fired back.
“I don’t know when he became a gangster,” Deal said during an interview with Art of Dialogue. “Stevie J better sit his little ass down.”
Deal noted Stevie J was in the car directly behind Biggie’s SUV when the rapper was gunned down in 1997.
Gene Deal challenged Stevie J’s version of events, saying the night was anything but ordinary due to the ongoing East Coast-West Coast tension.
“He need to stop that, bro,” Deal said. “He talking to people who was in the streets that was gangsters. And I’m just giving him like a formal, you know, chastising to somebody that once used to care about him. You know it’s the drugs, bro.”
Deal alleged that both Stevie J and Ma$e were warned by Crips about a potential threat to Diddy and Biggie before the shooting but failed to pass that information along. That, he said, made Stevie J’s “regular night” comment even more frustrating.
Adding to the tension, Stevie J previously dismissed Deal’s claims, saying he doesn’t know him and suggesting Deal is exaggerating their past for attention.