Jim Jones continues to feel the blowback from his controversial Lip Service interview. While much of the aftermath has been focused on his relationship with Mama Jones, elsewhere in the hour-long talk, he delves into other aspects of his life and career. In one segment the Harlem MC revealed that while on tour with Sean “Diddy” Combs in the ’90s, he made little to no money. $10 bucks a day to be exact.
Jim Jones and Dipset’s success was based heavily on the hype surrounding frontman Cam’ron. Cam was becoming a big star in the late ’90s and caught the attention of hip-hop Mogul Diddy, known as Puff Daddy back then. Puff decided to take Cam and his team Dipset out on tour with him during the run for his debut album “No Way Out.” The 60-day trek was a big deal for Dipset because they had never even done shows before. For Cam, the tour was another win after signing a pretty major record deal. However, for Jim, the tour meant he had to give up hustling to go on tour and the money did not initially add up for him.
Jim recalls the tour being the time of his life, but also the most broke he has ever been. ‘We got on the road for $600. I’m used to hustling. I’m from the projects. Every day on the block, I can make money.” When asked by the ladies of Lip Service to clarify, Jim said that Diddy gave them each $600 for the full 60 dates and made them split their per diem. “$600 for me, $600 for Cam. All they gave you was per diem. Cam signed a deal, big a** deal. It don’t feel good to get $600.” If you do the math, the $600 for 60 days comes out to $10 a day.
For Jim, the real prize was the knowledge he gained on tour with the likes of Busta Rhymes, Diddy and many others. However, he initially felt jilted admitting he was giving up a lot of money he could have been making hustling in the projects instead of going on tour. He fondly recalled, “they just put us right on tour with Busta Rhymes. By the time we finished that tour, the whole show would come out and watch us open. I left that tour with more than $600. You learn quick.”
While Jones did not specify if it was Diddy’s call for them to get paid so little, the narrative does line up with Combs’s history of underpaying his talent. Last year, fans called out Diddy for his bad deals and shady business practices after Diddy tried to launch an initiative to help support black people and get Donald Trump out of office. “Never forget that every artist Diddy signed is still begging for the money they are owed.” reminds one Twitter user. Another writes, “Diddy needs to start a pay them damn artists back party before anything else.” Aubrey O’Day of Making the Band and Danity Kane tweeted, “Diddy has mismanaged artists & stolen their money his whole career (including Danity Kane), and now he is showing up with 18 days left before the election to get Trump out of office.”
