The Notorious B.I.G. raps he and Diddy were “close like Starsky and Hutch” on the 1997 single “Hypnotize,” the last song he released before his death. Just one week later, the Hip-Hop legend (born Christopher Wallace) was assassinated at the age of 24 while trailing behind Diddy’s Chevy Suburban.
Nearly 25 years later, publicist Jonathan Hay was hired by Biggie’s son CJ Wallace to reproduce some of the late MC’s biggest hits for the family’s estate. But according to Hays, their business arrangement took a dark turn. He alleges a member of Biggie’s team made sexual advances toward him.
“My experiences with the Biggie Smalls team turned abominable to say the least,” Hays tells AllHipHop. “Similar to Diddy’s alleged practices, The Notorious B.I.G. estate refused to acknowledge my sexual harassment complaints when I awkwardly came forward. I wouldn’t participate in phone sex, nor would I watch one of the representatives of The Notorious B.I.G estate pleasure himself on a video chat during the pandemic.
“For two years after the disgusting incidents, I lived with regret that I didn’t ‘go along’ with all that freaky ass weirdness, as I was instantly shunned and they terminated the project. I lost a significant amount of money and almost two years of exclusive Biggie work.”
Hays says Diddy was still a partner in The Estate of Christopher Wallace publishing fortune, which included musical assets featuring JAY-Z. He only got the courage to disclose what had happened to him in the wake of Diddy’s RICO arrest.
“I have strong resources, but in no way could I go up against the estate of The Notorious B.I.G., Diddy and JAY-Z,” he admits. “It’s only now that I can speak out about this because so many strong women have come forward with lawsuits and alleged criminal complaints against the former Bad Boy mogul.”
In another incident, Hays claims he was on a Zoom call with Diddy, King Combs and two members of the Estate shortly after the release of Hays and Frank White’s “Big Poppa (House Mix).” As Diddy complained about the song not being “good enough,” Hays says he observed him sniffing what he assumed to be either ketamine or cocaine.
“Diddy said that I needed to make house music with ketamine, as that’s how all the ravers would hear it at places like Burning Man and Miami Ultra Music Fest,” Hays continues. “While on this bizarre pep talk call from Diddy, he was also sniffing Ketamine or cocaine, which was so crazy to me at the time. I was flabbergasted he was sniffing, especially with this kid being on the Zoom too.”
After the deal fell apart, Hays, who’d relocated to Brooklyn by this time, made a “last ditch effort” and contacted Faith Evans through her manager.
“I let them know that a representative of The Notorious B.I.G estate had made extremely unwanted sexual advances toward me,” he explained. “I also attached the gross mp3 [heard by AllHipHop] of Biggie’s rep singing repeatedly that he loved me in a very weird way. Faith Evans ex-husband and the active stepfather of Biggie’s son, Todd Russaw, sent me an email acknowledging that it was ‘disturbing’ and that he would follow up… but he never did.
“It became somewhat concerning when I started receiving random texts of threats from Diddy’s associates and those associated with Biggie’s estate. For almost a year I stayed low-key with my girlfriend in Washington Heights, Manhattan after we temporarily moved to Texas to get out of Brooklyn.”
Hays was eventually sent a cease-and-desist letter over the Biggie project. It read in part, “Our client informed us that you are threatening to release the above-referenced album without its authorization. The album and all the master recordings embodied therein shall be individually and collectively referred to hereinafter in this letter as the ‘Album.’
“Particularly, you stated the following in an email to Christopher J. Wallace and Willie Mack on July 2, 2021: ‘I can release it [the Album] on my own, without any affiliation of anything involving Think Big, Frank White, Biggie’s Estate, etc.’ Your statement is unequivocally false.”
The letter also suggested Hays might have violated a non-disclosure agreement. It went on, “Our client has shared some of your correspondence with its team members and third parties implying you may have breached the Non-Disclosure Agreement you signed on April 14, 2020 (the ‘NDA’). Our investigation continues, and we hereby reserve all of our client’s rights regarding this matter. We encourage you to review the NDA and make sure that you do not intentionally or inadvertently violate it going forward.”
Needless to say, the project never fully materialized. Hays had primarily put the incident behind him but felt compelled to speak up after more and more people came forward with their alleged Diddy horror stories. The unsealed indictment claims that between 2008 and the present, Diddy abused, threatened and coerced women and others, and led a racketeering conspiracy that engaged in sex trafficking, forced labor, kidnapping, arson, bribery and obstruction of justice, among other crimes. Diddy remains in the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn. He pleaded not guilty to all charges.
It was all a dream…until it wasn’t.
