The Notorious B.I.G.’s death hit everyone hard. While many were stunned after the tragic shooting on March 9, 1997, Puff Daddy gave his friend an honorable goodbye when he dropped his Grammy Award-winning single “I’ll Be Missing You.”
The multi-platinum single wasn’t just heartfelt, it was a huge hit, selling more than 8 million copies and debuting at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after its official release on May 27, 1997. And though Puffy was at the center of it all, “I’ll Be Missing You” was indeed a family affair. It featured Biggie’s widow Faith Evans and his labelmates 112 on the hook, a popular Police sample and simple-yet-somber lyrics written by Brooklyn MC Sauce Money.
Everyone knows Puff isn’t a writer; on 2001’s “Bad Boy For Life” he famously rapped “Don’t worry if I write rhymes, I write checks.” So, when it was time to hire a pen to help him with “I’ll Be Missing You,” Diddy’s first choice was Biggie’s friend and two-time collaborator Jay Z. Hov turned Puff down, instead suggesting Diddy work with Sauce Money, a street-bred lyricist who Jay grew up with in Marcy Projects.
“[Big and Jay] were pretty tight. It could be difficult at that time to open up and try to eulogize a good friend,” Sauce told Genius of why he thought Jay declined to write the song. “You might be a little bit too close to the situation. For whatever reason he reached out to me.”
Jay told Sauce to meet Puff in the studio but never told him which song he would be writing. “When we got into the studio and [Puff] started explaining what it was I was blown away,” he recalled. “I’m still affected by Big’s death, but to have a chance to participate in something like this was a honor.”
According to Sauce, Puff gave some simple instructions. “He made it clear that he wanted to touch on any type of relationship you have with a brother. He wanted to capture some of the things that they did and conversations that they had,” the credited writer explained.
Sauce was still reeling from the loss of his mother, who had passed away three years earlier. He tapped into those emotions; it took him about 30 minutes to write the verses. “Through ‘Missing You’ I was kind of talking to my mother… So it was easy for me to jump into that character,” he said.
Now, 19 years later, the song and the Notorious B.I.G.’s legacy lives on. Saturday (May 21) would mark Biggie’s 44th birthday. To celebrate, Puff and his Bad Boy Family are taking over Brooklyn’s Barclays Center for two sold-out shows. There are several planned tributes to the Notorious One and a spirited performance of “I’ll Be Missing You” is pretty much a guarantee.
“It’s just like anything that’s classic. Whether it be Adidas Shelltoes, or Air Force Ones, or Jordan 3s. It doesn’t matter, 20 years later they’re going to have the same impact. Classic is classic,” Sauce reasoned. “With classic music, you can hear it 20 years later and say, ‘Wow this could be a hit right now’ because it’s just timeless.”
