Sean Combs Allegedly Charged Biggie’s Funeral to Rapper’s Estate

Allegations have emerged that Sean Combs charged the funeral expenses of The Notorious B.I.G. back to the deceased rapper’s estate, despite publicly appearing to fund the lavish send-off himself.

The claims surfaced in the Netflix documentary Sean Combs: The Reckoning, which premiered this week.

Kirk Burrowes, co-founder of Bad Boy Records, revealed that while Combs planned an extravagant funeral for Christopher Wallace following his murder in March 1997, he allegedly billed the entire cost to Biggie’s estate once he discovered the steep price.

“He was gonna make the funeral be a recoupable charge to Biggie in death,” Burrowes stated in the documentary. “Sean, doing a big show looks good on him. But he’s not gonna tell the world that Biggie was gonna pay for it.”

The Notorious B.I.G.’s funeral took place on March 18th, 1997, nine days after the Brooklyn rapper was gunned down in Los Angeles. Thousands of fans lined the streets as a hearse carrying Wallace’s coffin rolled through his home borough. The star-studded ceremony at the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel on Manhattan’s Upper East Side drew the entire Bad Boy family, including Wallace’s wife Faith Evans and his protégé group Junior M.A.F.I.A.

However, according to Burrowes, the funeral billing represented just one instance of questionable behaviour from Combs following Wallace’s death.

The Bad Boy co-founder claimed that Combs attempted to alter terms of Wallace’s recording contract posthumously to favour the label. “Sean wanted me to change the agreement to more favourable terms for Bad Boy, and [Wallace’s] family and mother would not know,” Burrowes alleged. “And since [Wallace] had signed the agreement, [Combs] wanted those changes to come from out of the centre of the agreement and have those pages replaced with the other terms. I said, ‘That’s not right. I’m not doing it.’”

The documentary also highlighted another contentious decision regarding a Rolling Stone magazine cover opportunity in 1997. While Burrowes advocated for featuring Wallace, Combs pushed for himself to appear on the cover instead.

“I was telling Sean, ‘Let’s make it Biggie. You still have a chance [for a cover in the future],’” Burrowes previously told Rolling Stone. “He’s like ‘No, he’s dead. I’m putting out [Combs’ debut album, No Way Out] in July. I need to be on the cover of Rolling Stone.’”

The revelations come at a time when Combs faces multiple legal challenges, including federal charges related to racketeering and sex trafficking.