Old hip-hop foes Combs, Dogg unite for Europe tour

HELSINKI, Mar 10 (Reuters) US rap stars Sean ''Diddy'' Combs and Snoop Dogg, once bitter rivals in a notorious feud between east and west coast hip-hop in the 1990s, said they had buried the hatchet once and for all.

At a news conference in Helsinki to launch a joint European tour, they said they had ''moved on'' from the days when members of the two music scenes clashed rather than collaborated.

''That was a time in history,'' Combs told reporters ahead of the tour's opening concert. Snoop Dogg's Web site lists 22 gigs, ending in Nottingham, England, on April 2.

''We want to entertain, we want to make music, we want to make people feel good. We ain't no gangsters. We are men first, we are fathers,'' added the 37-year-old, who wore a white T-shirt, red cap and dark shades.

''Everybody has a past, everybody grows up, matures and moves on. And right now our mission is to make people dance and feel good.'' During the 1990s, Combs and Snoop Dogg were on opposite sides of a high-profile hip-hop feud between the east and west coasts of the United States.

Combs, as head of the New York-based Bad Boy Entertainment, represented the east, while Snoop Dogg was signed up to his big rival Death Row Records based in Los Angeles.

Although the battle was fought largely through public pronouncements and antagonistic lyrics, it did occasionally spill into violence.

SHOOTINGS Tupac Shakur, a hugely successful rapper in the 1990s who recorded some albums on the Death Row label, was shot in Las Vegas in 1996 and later died of his wounds.

The following year, and 10 years ago to the day yesterday, Notorious BIG, a leading east coast rap and hip-hop star, was killed in a shooting in Los Angeles.

Snoop Dogg, 35, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, said Notorious BIG would be amused to see the two musicians linking up.

''He ('Biggie') is going to be smiling when he sees me and Puff (Combs) on the stage today,'' said the California rapper, who was wearing a brown tracksuit jacket.

''That is all that matters, that the spirit of hip-hop lives on.

Everything that was not right, we are getting right.'' Combs added: ''God works in mysterious ways. This day was not booked up when we started the tour ... It's definitely an emotional day for me and Snoop as well. We never forget our brothers.'' While the talk yesterday was of maturity and peace, both rappers have had run-ins with the law recently.

Combs is being sued by a man who said the artist punched him outside a Hollywood nightclub, a charge he denies.

And Snoop Dogg pleaded innocent in January to charges of deadly weapons possession after he was stopped by airport security with what they said was a collapsible baton.

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