Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs reveals he pays US$5000 a day to Sting after sampling The Police song without permission

Recording artists Sting and Sean 'Diddy' Combs attend the 60th Annual Grammy Awards at Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018 in New York City. Photo / Getty Images

Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs forks out US$5000 a day to Sting after sampling his tune Every Breath You Take without permission.

The 53-year-old hip hop star has confirmed he pays the 71-year-old musician a five-figure sum, after sampling the 1983 Police song on his 1997 hit track I’ll Be Missing You.

Diddy confirmed the figure on Twitter in response to a tweet suggesting he pays US$2000 a day to Sting for sampling the song without permission.

He wrote: “Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting (sic)”.

A resurfaced clip of Sting’s 2018 interview with The Breakfast Club also emerged, in which Sting says Diddy only asked for permission after release.

He says: “We’re very good friends now. It was a beautiful version of that song.”

Diddy’s iconic tune is dedicated to The Notorious B.I.G. - whose real name was Christopher Wallace, but he was also known as Biggie Smalls - who was murdered in March 1997 aged 24.

Nope. 5K a day. Love to my brother @OfficialSting! 😎 ✊🏿🫶🏿 https://t.co/sHdjd0UZEy

— LOVE (@Diddy) April 5, 2023

The track is performed by Diddy and Biggie’s widow, US singer Faith Evans, and is based on a sample of The Police’s 1983 song Every BreathYou Take.

Last month, Diddy paid tribute to Biggie, describing him as the ”greatest rapper of all time” on the 26th anniversary of his death.

He tweeted: “There will NEVER be another. The GREATEST RAPPER OF ALL TIME. Today we celebrate and honor you king. Love and miss you!!”

Biggie was shot dead in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in March 1997, just six months after fellow rapper Tupac Shakur was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas.