Victory (Puff Daddy song)

"Victory" is a song by American rapper and producer Sean Combs, under his then stage name "Puff Daddy". The song features vocals from rappers such as the late Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes. It features heavy use of mafioso-style lyrics, as was popular at the time. The song also heavily sampled the Bill Conti song "Going the Distance", which featured on the soundtrack to the movie Rocky making it a darker start to a rap album that featured many (at the time) club-standard singles. It also featured the last verses recorded by The Notorious B.I.G. before his 1997 death, as these verses were recorded a day before his shooting. Released as the fifth and final single from No Way Out in March 1998, it peaked at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was certified gold by the RIAA later that year.

"Victory"
Single by Puff Daddy featuring The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes
from the album No Way Out
B-side	"Bad Boy's Been Around the World (remix)"
Released	March 17, 1998
Recorded	March 8, 1997
Genre	East Coast hip hop mafioso rap
Length	4:55
Label	Bad Boy Arista
Songwriter(s)	Jason Phillips Christopher Wallace Trevor Smith
Producer(s)	Puff Daddy Stevie J
Puff Daddy singles chronology
"Nothin' Move But the Money" (1998) "Victory" (1998) "Come with Me" (1998)
The Notorious B.I.G. singles chronology
"Sky's the Limit" / "Going Back to Cali" (1997) "Victory" (1998) "Dead Wrong" (1999)
Busta Rhymes singles chronology
"Curious" (1998) "Victory" (1998) "Turn It Up (Remix) / Fire It Up" (1998)

Music video

The music video for the song was directed by Marcus Nispel on March 31, 1998 (although he was supposed to remain anonymous at the time of premiere) and is an homage to The Running Man. The almost eight-minute-long video featured cameos from Dennis Hopper as a New World Order dictator ("President Victor Castiglione") and Danny DeVito as a live action reporter. English socialites Tamara Beckwith and Tara Palmer-Tomkinson were also in the video. Hopper and DeVito reportedly appeared in the video pro bono as a favor to Combs.

Sean Combs' character (known as "Contestant #5" or codename "PD") runs through the dark streets of the year 3002 AD, chased by armed gestapo-esque forces of Chase TV. At one point, Contestant #5 is cornered on a rooftop, where he decides to leap off instead of submitting to the armed troops.

Footage from Biggie's "One More Chance" video was used in "ghost" images, representing flashbacks for Combs' character. Busta Rhymes, dressed in black feathers, raps atop a statue representing Victoria, the goddess of victory. The Victoria statue overlooks the chase scenes. Biggie appears in the video only through archive footage due to his death a year earlier.^[1][2]

The production costs ran upwards of $2,700,000.^[3] It is listed as one of the most expensive music videos ever made.

Remixes and Freestyles

• In 2002, 50 Cent and Lloyd Banks freestyled over the instrumental for their mixtape, No Mercy, No Fear, which Diddy used a year later as the official remix, "Victory 2004", for Bad Boy's 10th Anniversary... The Hits album. This remix also has a new verse from P. Diddy.
• In 2002, Mike Jones freestyled over the instrumental for Swishahouse's Before Da Kappa 2K2 mixtape.
• In 2003, while not remixed, the song was used as the main theme in EA Sports Fight Night 2004.
• In 2009, there was an unofficial remix leaked that featured 50 Cent, Lloyd Banks, Diddy, Busta Rhymes, The Notorious B.I.G., and also features Jay-Z rapping over Diddy's first lines.
• In 2010, another unofficial remix titled "Legends" leaked which featured Diddy, 50 Cent, 2Pac and an unknown artist. The original "Victory" beat was replaced with a motivational-emotional Piano and String instrumental.
• In 2010, British rapper Lowkey used the instrumental for his diss track The Warning which was aimed at Chip. The freestyle was a result of an altercation on Twitter between the pair.^[4][5]
• In 2019, Shaquille O'Neal made a diss track against Damian Lillard called Second Round Knockout. Victory was used as a sample song.^[6]

Track listing

Victory (Remixes)

1. Victory (Album Version) (4:58)
2. Victory (Nine Inch Nails Remix) (5:33)

• Producer, Featuring - Trent Reznor
• Remix - Nine Inch Nails

3. Victory (Drama Mix) (4:58)

• Vocals - Ron Grant, Terri Hawkins

4. Bad Boy's "Been Around The World" (Remix) (5:30)

• Co-remix - Jay Garfield Additional Production By: Jesse Wilson
• Featuring - Mase
• Producer - Deric "D-Dot" Angelettie, Ron "Amen-Ra" Lawrence
• Remix - Nashiem Myrick
• Vocals - Carl Thomas

Charts

Weekly charts Chart (1998) Peak position US Billboard Hot 100[7] 19 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[8] 13 US Hot Rap Songs (Billboard)[9] 2

Year-end charts Chart (1998) Position US Billboard Hot 100[10] 68 US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[11] 49

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/sales
United States (RIAA)[12]	Gold	700,000[13]