Diddy has been dropped by numerous brands and business partners since being accused of sexual assault, but now he’s been booted off one of his own songs thanks to a new remix from Cipha Sounds.
In the wake of the Bad Boy boss’ ongoing legal drama, the former Hot 97 DJ has reimagined “It’s All About the Benjamins,” the classic posse cut from Puffy’s 1997 album No Way Out.
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This new unofficial version, dubbed the “No Diddy” remix, erases Diddy from the track and instead finds Jadakiss rapping his opening verse — with the help of artificial intelligence.
The end result is an AI Kiss, practically indistinguishable from the real-life version, spitting classic lines like: “Now, what y’all wanna do?/ Wanna be ballers, shot callers, brawlers?/ Who be dippin’ in the Benz with the spoilers?/ On the low from the jake in the Taurus/ Tryin’ to get my hands on some Grants like Horace.”
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In a video posted on Instagram explaining his creation, Cipha Sounds said the idea stemmed from the boycott against Diddy’s music on radio stations.
“P. Diddy is canceled. Whatever crazy shit happened with him, that’s over there. I’m talking about Hip Hop-wise, as a DJ from New York City — I’m on 94.7 The Block — they telling me I can’t play P. Diddy’s music no more,” he said.
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“I can’t play ‘All About the Benjamins’?! Are you crazy?! How am I even supposed to live as a DJ in New York City and I can’t even play ‘All About the Benjamins’? You need to understand, ‘All About the Benjamins’ is one of the greatest Hip Hop New York songs ever recorded!”
Ciph then noted that Jadakiss actually wrote Diddy’s verse on the song, adding: “Why can’t I then now use modern-day AI technology — you see where I’m going with this — and put Jadakiss’ voice where Puffy’s voice was? It ain’t weird ’cause he wrote the rhymes!”
Listen to “It’s All About the Benjamins (No Diddy Remix)” below.
Jadakiss spoke about writing Diddy’s verse on “It’s All About the Benjamins” in an interview on Talib Kweli’s People’s Party podcast in 2020.
When asked by co-host Jasmin Leigh who penned Puffy’s rhymes, Kiss replied: “That would be me. It’s a funny story ’cause we was in the MIDI room just rapping […] and [Puffy] happened to come in and hear me rhyming.
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“I already had that rhyme and he heard it and was like, ‘Naw, that’s me. Lemme get that rhyme right there.’ So he took that and put that on ‘The Benjamins.'”
The LOX lyricist also admitted that he and Sheek Louch initially didn’t like the beat and had to be “forced” by Diddy to record their verses.
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“We didn’t really understand what that beat was; it didn’t grab us at the time,” he said. “[But] Diddy knew. That’s what makes Diddy Diddy. He knew once he got that joint from D-Dot [Hitman producer Deric Angelettie], he knew what it was.”
He added: “That really was, like, our first commercial and hood hit that catapulted us, besides the mixtape stuff that we were doing.”
Jadakiss has also confessed that he “hated” ghostwriting for Diddy when The LOX were signed to Bad Boy in the late 1990s.
“I really hate it,” he said on Smoke DZA‘s Personal Party podcast. “After giving [Diddy] ‘Benjamins,’ ‘Victory,’ ‘Senorita’ and a couple remixes, I used to feel like it was taking away too much of me.
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“I didn’t know how to morph. It ain’t like he was a n-gga that I knew my whole life and I could describe him how I think he should be. I ain’t feel like I could write the bars for myself and give it to him because I didn’t feel like it fit it.
“He had too much money. I was still extra grungy and my mind couldn’t think about that much Versace or being on that type of financial level, so it used to conflict with me writing for him.”
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He continued: “But [Diddy] used to tell me, ‘Give me the shit that you would say for you.’ But I’m like, ‘It ain’t gonna fit for you.’ He used to know how to make it work. Until I got older and realized how easy it was.”
