CELEBRITIES
Diddy gives Sting $5K a day for using track without permission
The rapper confirms on Twitter that he pays Sting $5000 per day for using the musician’s track on his single ‘I’ll Be Missing You’.
Diddy has confirmed that he pays Sting $5000 a day for using the former Police frontman’s 1983 track, ‘Every Breath you Take’ without permissions on his 1997 song, ‘I’ll Be Missing You’.
The rapper did ask Sting for permissions — but only after the song had been released.
Why did Diddy use Sting’s track?
Diddy wrote the song as a tribute to his late friend and fellow rapper, Biggie Smalls, known as the Notorious B.I.G., with a sample of Sting’s song on it, and the tune became a smash hit.
Diddy and Sting have since buried the hatchet, as Sting says the two “are very good friends now”.
Diddy confirms the $5K
In response to a post from the official Black Millionaires account that claimed Diddy reportedly pays $2,000 a day to Sting, Diddy, whose name on Twitter is LOVE, set the record straight.
“Nope,” the rapper wrote. “5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting.”
The Twitter user was referring to a 2018 interview where Sting had said the payments were $2000 a day.
Sting is cool with it now
Sting confirmed in a 2018 interview with Rolling Stone that there are no hard feelings and the two men are pals now.
“We’re very good friends now,” Sting said. “It was a beautiful version of that song.”
Much earlier in a 2003 interview with Rolling Stone, Sting confirmed that there were payments even then, revealing that the payments from Diddy’s ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ were already making him a substantial sum of money.
“Those guys just take your s***, put it on a record and deal with the legality later,” Sting said at the time.
“I put a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds, and me and P. Diddy are good pals still,” the singer said.
Elton John advised Sting it was a good thing
It was musician Elton John that told Sting about Diddy’s song based on ‘Every Breath You Take’, and that the iconic singer advised him it would make millions.
“Elton John told me, ‘You gotta hear [’I’ll Be Missing You’], you’re gonna be a millionaire!’” Sting recalled during the 2003 Rolling Stone sit-down. “I said, ‘I am a millionaire!’ He said, ‘You’re gonna be a millionaire twice over!’”