Diddy is opening up about his friendship with Sting, revealing that the pair are on good terms, even after the rapper sampled his hit song ‘Every Breath You Take’ without permission back in 1997.
Following the tragic death of the Notorious B.I.G. Diddy wanted to honor the iconic artist with a new song. However he failed to ask Sting for permission, after producing ‘I’ll Be Missing You.’ And while the song became a total success and spent 11 weeks at the Billboard Hot 100, the release was followed by some legal issues.
Back in 2003 Sting talked about what happened during an interview with Rolling Stone, revealing that it was Elton John who showed him Diddy’s song and urged him to pursue legal action. “You gotta hear [I’ll Be Missing You], you’re gonna be a millionaire,” Elton said to him.
“Those guys just take your s—, put it on a record and deal with the legality later,” he said when asked about the song. Diddy had previously revealed that he had to pay $2,000 a day to the artist for the rest of his life after releasing the song, however he recently confirmed that it was actually $5,000 a day. “Love to my brother Sting,” he wrote on Twitter.
Sting also went on to say that he used the money to pay for his kids’ tuition, and despite the situation he considers Diddy a friend. “I put a couple of my kids through college with the proceeds, and me and P. Diddy are good pals still.“
