And so we meet the year’s third now-problematic chart-topper. I have to admit that I’m not quite up on what Sean Combs has/hasn’t been accused of*, while I think a lawyer would advise me to mention that he’s not been found guilty of anything. It seems, though, he’s quickly heading the way of R. Kelly and Michael Jackson.
I’ll Be Missing You, by Puff Daddy (his 1st of three #1s) & Faith Evans ft. 112
3 weeks, from 22nd June – 13th July 1997 / 3 weeks from 20th July – 10th August 1997 (6 weeks total)
Back in 1997, Combs was head of his own label, Bad Boy Records. He’d signed the rapper Notorious B.I.G., and had produced for acts like Usher, TLC, Mariah Carey, even Aretha Franklin. That March, B.I.G. had been shot dead just as Combs had been preparing his own debut album. ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ is a hastily-recorded tribute to his dead pal, featuring fellow Bad Boy artists 112, and Faith Evan’s (Biggie’s widow).
So, on the one hand, it feels churlish to criticise a tribute to a recently deceased man. On the other… there’s just so much to criticise. Reviews at the time called it ‘maudlin’, and ‘turgid’, and it’s hard to disagree. The lyrics – which I once knew word-for-word – are extremely clunky. It’s kinda hard with you not around, Know you’re in heaven smiling down… Watchin’ us while we pray for you, Every day we pray for you…
It’s main hook is that it’s based around ‘Every Breath You Take’, by The Police, as well as the hymn ‘I’ll Fly Away’. In earlier posts I bemoaned not knowing the difference between a sample and an interpolation, so imagine my joy to discover that ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ features both! So blatant is it that Sting and Co., who hadn’t been asked permission, sued for 100% of the royalties (and won).
The clear highlight of this saccharine number is Evans, whose voice soars above the sentimentalism, especially in her middle-eight: Somebody tell me why… Other than that, it is catchy, and it is heartfelt. But I can’t help but see something cynical in the way it goes for the heartstrings so remorselessly. It reminds me of Wiz Khalifa’s ‘See You Again’, another rap/pop crossover about a dead man, which I think is one of the sickliest pieces of music ever recorded (sorry, spoilers, but it’s a while before we’ll come to it…)
Thing is, though, I loved this song as an eleven year old. Like I said, I knew all the words. If I’d been eleven when ‘See You Again’ came out, I’d probably have felt the same about it. But that’s the song’s problem: it lacks nuance, depth, and relies too much on simplistic lyrics about turning back the hands of time, and living life after death. If this record helps a kid process their emotions following a loved one’s death, then great. But as an adult I would need something a little more substantial.
Though maybe I’m in the minority on this, as ‘I’ll Be Missing You’ stayed at number one for six weeks in total (an impressive feat, as chart turnover was ever increasing) and would have been 1997’s biggest-seller, if it weren’t for the small matter of the most succesful record ever released coming along a few weeks later: another tribute to a dead person. It remains the 23rd highest-selling record in the UK, and the country’s biggest-ever hip-hop song. Sean Combs, AKA Puff Daddy, AKA P. Diddy, AKA Diddy (I believe he’s the only artist to have topped the charts under three different stage names) will return to this countdown eventually, though with nothing resembling the success of his first big hit.
*Long before the current accusations against him, there was a rumour that Diddy had put the hit out on the Notorious B.I.G. himself.
The UK Number Ones Blog 
In regards to Puff Daddy, he has received multiple serious accusations of sexual assault, abuse, and other misconduct. These allegations have primarily emerged from a federal lawsuit filed by his former partner, Cassie Ventura, in November 2023. Ventura’s lawsuit claims that Combs physically and sexually abused her throughout their relationship, coerced her into participating in sexual activities with prostitutes, and used drugs to control her. One particularly harrowing claim is that Combs raped her in 2018. Additionally, Combs has been accused of threatening and attempting to blow up Kid Cudi’s car during a period when Ventura was dating Cudi.
(Also, he most likely ordered the hit on 2Pac but that’s not relevant)
Sting is such a baller for getting 100% of the royalties (poor Andy Summers, he writes the main riff yet gets nothing). Puff is a moron for not getting the sample cleared when it does so much of the heavy lifting.
I actually really like this. I wasn’t alive when this song came out so I wonder how’d I feel if I had lived through it. I get why people dismiss it, but I have no issue with it. I dunno, maybe because I love “Every Breath You Take” so much and I’m a Biggie fan, it works for me. Evans is definitely the best part of the song.
I didn’t mean to dismiss the allegations against him, and more stuff has come out since I wrote the actual post, but at the same time I suppose it’s not the main story here. For me, it’s a pretty crap song even without having the excuse of cancelling Puff Daddy.
If he did order the hit on Biggie, then launch his music career with a song written in tribute, then that would be a spectacularly, audaciously cynical move. Almost Shakesperian.
I had no idea about the theory that Puffy ordered the hit on Biggie. But reading up on it, there might be truth to it. It makes sense. There were rumours that Biggie was planning to disassociate from Puffy and align more with Jay Z and his crew. My initial guess was that it was Suge Knight in retaliation for 2Pac’s murder. The more and more I research, I honestly think Biggie at least had nothing to do with 2Pac’s death. I definitely strongly believe that that even if Puff didn’t order the hit on 2Pac, he knew about it was going to happen (also, I think you’ll be covering 2Pac when we reach the 2000s, which is cool).
Maybe we’ll find out once the feds can hold of Puffy.
Honestly, it’s this type of drama and excitement that made hip hop become more interesting to teens than rock.
This was awful.I’m not the world’s greatest rap fan but think back to Gangsta’s Paradise and the Fugees two number ones, and think of what’s to come with things like Stan and Lose Yourself, and this crap is the UK’s best selling hip hop track?
Yeah, I’m with you on this! A travesty.
It’s rubbish. I quite liked it for a few weeks in sympathy for Biggie’s widow, and she is the only saving grace about it, but I grew to dislike it pretty quickly, not least for reducing my love for Every Breath You Take from overplay of this maudlin insincere slosh. Sting deserves the royalties (who at least always tried to do the right thing as a human being, yet got slagged off for his troubles where rappers don’t, even when some of them deserve it way more) as this was an opportunistic cash-in and I never had much in the way of liking Puff Daddy much as an artist, or having any scruples as a business-man money maker. Its all about the dosh.
I’ve no time for murderers or glorifying violence or turning victims of gun violence into some sort of Saint while entirely supporting gun violence. Yeh right, pull the other one. I’ve seen that video doing the rounds, and if anything it makes me think even less of the man. Kicking and punching your wife is inexcusable, a career ender.
Always turn this off if it comes on the radio – plus side it will be surely banished from the airwaves in future, hooray!
Yes, one good thing about cancel culture is when it cancels crap like this. I haven’t seen the video, and don’t know half the charges against him, but it always seems that when things do eventually come to light about stars (R Kelly, Sean Combs etc.) it turns out people have often known for years, enabling and covering for them…
I hate when they borrow riffs like that…and I dont’ like the original ‘Every Breath You Take’ on top of it lol….much less this.
Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of ‘Every Breath You Take’ either, and I’m even less a fan of this…
We are totally in agreement with this. Yea…even less if that is possible!