Sean “Diddy” Combs Love pays Sting of the Police $5,000 a day for a sample of “Every Breath You Take” on the rap mogul’s 1997 hit single “I’ll Be Missing You,” a song dedicated to Notorious B.I.G.
A 2018 interview Sting did with The Breakfast Club resurfaced on Twitter, and in the video, the English rocker says Diddy sampled his song without permission and humbly pays him $2,000 a day.
However, Diddy responded to the viral tweet with a correction, saying, “Nope, 5K a day.”
Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting! 😎 ✊🏿🫶🏿 https://t.co/sHdjd0UZEy
— LOVE (@Diddy) April 5, 2023
“Love to my brother Sting!” he added.
“We’re very good friends now,” Sting said. “It was a beautiful version of that song.”
Both songs are recognizable in their own right, but Diddy’s unauthorized song serves as a tribute to the late Notorious B.I.G., who was murdered on March 9, 1997, at the age of 24.
On March 25, 1997, Diddy’s song was released on Big’s second and final album, Life After Death, 16 days after his murder.
During the height of Big’s murder, sales escalated, making it one of the best-selling singles of all time.
The final studio album debuted at No. 1 on Billboard 200, and it was eventually certified Diamond by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of more than 10 million copies.
“Life After Death” is widely regarded as one of the greatest hip-hop albums of all time and remains a staple in the genre more than two decades after its release.
The album’s legacy has been celebrated through various tributes, including the recent Netflix documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell.
Sting received 100 percent of the song’s royalties.
Big was gunned down in a drive-by shooting while riding in an SUV in Los Angeles. Diddy, who was in a vehicle ahead of Biggie’s, saw his Bad Boy artist die before him.
Christopher “Biggie Small” Wallace is survived by his wife, Faith Evans; son, Christopher Jr.; daughter, T’yanna; and mother, Voletta.
There is much speculation as to how Biggie’s murder went unsolved, but former FBI agent Phil Carson, a person who served for two decades, said he never witnessed a case as mishandled as Notorious B.I.G.’s and believes that Suge Knight may have hired a hitman with ties to the Los Angeles Police Department.
