Who Is Styles P? Legendary Rapper Reportedly Throws Chair At Sean 'Diddy' Combs
What went wrong?
Getty Images Even though he's making the news these days because of a heated discussion with an infamous hip hop mogul, he's actually one of the most respected artists in hip hop. As one-third of The Lox, he, perhaps, single-handedly helped define the New York hip hop sound alongside his childhood friends Jadakiss and Sheek Louch.
He's also had quite a successful solo career, during which he has collaborated with the likes of Lloyd Banks of G-Unit, Currensy, and even is considered part of the Ruff Ryders collective.
So, who is Styles P? Let's look at what we know about him, and why he's making the news these days.
1. Who is Styles P? He reportedly threw a chair at Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs during a heated argument.
In a recent interview, Styles P's fellow Lox member Jadakiss detailed a time when Styles P had all he was going to take of Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs. You can watch the whole video above. Back in 1995, The Lox were signed to Bad Boy Records, the label Diddy founded. Originally known as The Warlock, Diddy insisted that the collective change its name to The Lox. After a while, however, the group wanted out of their contract — but Diddy wasn't having it. Finally, after confronting Diddy in his office — and Styles P throwing a chair at the mogul — they were released from their Bad Boy contract. (This story, of course, is a bit of hip hop lore, and has been told in various forms since the mid-1990s.)
2. He's known for having "beefs" with other artists — but keeps his verbal sparring limited to the booth.
Over the years, Styles P has had beef with various hip hop artists — with his most infamous beef being with Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson. (It was interesting that Styles P would later collaborate with Lloyd Banks, who was signed to G-Unit's record label, on "Home Sweet Home.") But Styles P said that the reason things didn't step outside the studio was because he understood, perhaps better than anyone else, that verbal sparring — or "beefs" as they're known in hip hop — are best confined to the booth.
3. His stepdaughter died by suicide.
Even though Styles P wasn't the biological father of Tai Styles — Adjua's daughter from a previous relationship — he still raised her like his own daughter. Unfortunately, at the young age of 20, Tai died by suicide. Styles P paid tribute to her in an Instagram post, which you can see below.
4. And he says that it affects his marriage negatively to this day.
On a recent episode of Marriage Boot Camp, Styles P addressed how his step-daughter's suicide still affects their family in a negative way. He also said that in the past, he "disrespected" his wife when he didn't need to, and he felt that he was responsible for those problems in their marriage.
5. He served time after stabbing a man.
In 2002, while at a party in New York City, Styles P got involved in a fight that got way too heated, way too fast. Ultimately, he stabbed a man in the buttocks and was sentenced to 8 months in prison as a result. He surrendered and started serving time in November 2002, and was released in August 2003.
6. Styles P has a juice bar now.
These days, Styles P prefers to be known for his entrepreneurial pursuits as well as his talents behind the mic. His biggest accomplishment is his juice bars — he currently co-owns four of them, and Jadakiss from The Lox is one of his business partners.
"I think eating clean, period, make you feel lighter," he said in a video promoting the juice bars. "If I show you all the neighborhoods where my homies eat you'll see a food desert, nothing to eat. You'll see supermarkets with barely any organic products. Food access in these communities are horrible. We have to go to [an] upper-class neighborhood to get some asparagus and, you know, kale."
Bernadette Giacomazzo is an editor, writer, publicist, and photographer whose work has appeared in Teen Vogue, People, Us Weekly, The Source, XXL, HipHopDX, The Los Angeles Times, The New York Post, BET.com, and more.