Diddy has shown some love to Sting after revealing that he now pays the British rocker $5,000 per day for sampling The Police on his 1997 Biggie tribute, “I’ll Be Missing You.”
On Wednesday (April 5), the Bad Boy mogul clarified a 2018 interview in which Sting said Diddy pays him $2,000 daily for using his band’s 1983 hit “Every Breath You Take.”
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According to Diddy, the fee has bumped up an additional $3,000, but he doesn’t seem to be bitter about it. “Nope. 5K a day,” Diddy tweeted. “Love to my brother @OfficialSting.”
Find the tweet below:
Sting confirmed rumors after Charlamagne Tha God pressed him about the four-figure daily payment in an interview with The Breakfast Club back in 2018.
“Yeah, for the rest of his life,” Sting said before explaining to Charlamagne that Diddy asked for permission after “I’ll Be Missing You” was already released, but it’s all water under the bridge as they’re “very good friends now.” He added: “It was a beautiful version of that song.”
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Diddy commemorated his friend and artist The Notorious B.I.G. a couple of months after the legendary rapper’s March 9, 1997 death with “I’ll Be Missing You,” which was built around The Police’s 1983 “Every Breath You Take” sample and featured Biggie’s ex-wife Faith Evans and 112 on the hook.
You can listen to the song below:
The tribute anthem spent 11 weeks on top of the Billboard Hot 100 and won Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards. “I’ll Be Missing You” was the second single to be taken from Diddy’s 1998 debut album, No Way Out.
If Diddy’s $5,000 payment transfers hit every 24 hours, Sting would recoup about $1.8 million every year.
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And this isn’t the only lucrative payday Sting has scored in recent years when it comes to samples as he reportedly took 85 percent of the royalty profits made from Juice WRLD’s “Lucid Dreams,” which interpolates “Shape of My Heart,” according to the song’s producer Nick Mira.
Sting has downplayed reports of a lawsuit against Juice and his Grade A Productions label and called the late rapper’s interpolation his favorite when it came to “Shape of My Heart” following his 2019 death.
“This is such a tragic loss for the world of music, a young life with so much potential and a unique and precious talent,” he said. “‘Lucid Dreams’ was my favorite of all the many interpolations of ‘Shape of My Heart,’ it will resonate for many years to come. My sincere condolences to the family.”
At one point in 2018, Sting joked that royalties from “Lucid Dreams” would put his “grandkids through college.”
Grade A Productions head Lil Bibby told VladTVhis team were in the process of clearing “Lucid Dreams,” which interpolates Sting’s 1993 hit, but couldn’t get the paperwork finalized in time with the scorching record already reaching the masses in 2018.
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“We was in the process of clearing it, but this shit was blowing up,” Bibby said. “[Sting] loves the song, wouldn’t you?
“I gotta shake Sting down, he’s gotta donate some money to my mom’s charity. That was a huge hit, but my lil’ bro was a machine. Juice don’t care about money, he just like creating.”
