It has been a while since Diddy and J. Cole’s infamous scuffle during an after-party for the 2013 VMAs. Despite the fight taking place over a decade ago, the story continues to interest people, with the most recent recount coming from TDE President Terrence “Punch” Henderson during his appearance on the “R&B Money Podcast.”
The 42-year-old executive joined hosts Tank and J. Valentine to discuss various aspects of the music industry. However, the show has an “I Ain’t Saying No Names” segment, where guests recall wild and interesting stories without name-dropping. Even though Punch did not specify who his story was about, fans familiar with rap beef knew that it was about J. Cole and Diddy.
According to Punch, the tension had been brewing for some time before the after-party and stemmed from Kendrick Lamar crowning himself as the “King Of New York” and the “King Of The Coast” on Big Sean’s “Control” single. The self-proclamation sent the rap world into a frenzy and resulted in a chain of events that ultimately led to the 2013 fight.
“The homie just did this song, right? Piss the gang of people off. Everybody was mad at it,” Punch began. “When the song came out, he was overseas, then he came back to the States. First place we stopped in was New York City and the first thing we do is say, ‘Let’s go to the club’ because we want to check the temperature, see what everybody was on—L.A. stuff.”
He continued, “We get to the club. One of the homies approached us and talking about this particular record. So we’re going back and forth, ‘Oh, it’s not personal. It’s just this, this and that. It’s cool, whatever, whatever.’ Another one of the homies walk up, he look drunk [and] said, ‘Yeah, y’all n****as need to go back and forth and keep it on wax or whatever, whatever, whatever.’ So the two dudes who approached, they get into a little back and forth, little argument with each other now. What we didn’t know is they got into an argument before we got there.”
Shortly after, things started to settle down as Punch and the crew moved to a VIP area in the club that was filled with other celebrities. However, the situation was far from over and almost ended in bloodshed.
“The homie that got into it with the other one, he’s sitting two steps down from me on the couch,” Punch added. “Then they came back to him, the ones who got an alteration earlier. He was like, ‘Yeah, and if you ever say what you said to me earlier, n***a, I’ll—,’ and he grabbed a bottle from the table ’cause he got all of the alcohol. And he said, ‘What you gon’ do? Hit me on my head with a bottle?’ ‘Like nah, I’m gonna break [it] on the table, I’m gonna cut your throat.'”
It wasn’t difficult to figure out who Punch was speaking about, especially since he previously told the same story on a 2022 episode of Math Hoffa’s “My Expert Opinion” podcast and actually shared the names of the individuals.
“[Jay-Z] and Puff is doing the dinner that they usually do. This whole thing, it was packed like 70-30 celebrities,” Punch said at the time. “Puff and Cole was talking about the verse, and they end up getting into a little back and forth. When we come in, Cole and Kendrick was talking about…the verse. Puff came back over and they argument sparked up again. So from there they ended up getting in the whole scuffle in the club.”
Nonetheless, multiple reports claimed that Diddy was “visibly intoxicated” at the time of the situation and attempted to pour alcohol on Lamar in response to his “Control” verse. At that point, J. Cole intervened, which resulted in the incident escalating into the scuffle.
Neither Diddy, J. Cole, nor Lamar have responded publicly to Punch’s latest story.
