"Victory" is a song by American rapper and producer

Sean Combs Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, New York, Mount Ve ...

, under his then stage name "Puff Daddy". The song features vocals from rappers such as the late

Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

and

Busta Rhymes Trevor George Smith Jr. (born May 20, 1972), known professionally as Busta Rhymes, is an American rapper, singer and actor. Chuck D of Public Enemy gave him the moniker Busta Rhymes, after National Football League, NFL and Canadian Football Lea ...

. It features heavy use of mafioso-style lyrics, as was popular at the time. The song also heavily sampled the

Bill Conti William Conti (born April 13, 1942) is an American composer and conductor. He is best known for his film scores, including ''Rocky'' (1976), '' Rocky II'' (1979), '' Rocky III'' (1982), '' Rocky V'' (1990), '' Rocky Balboa'' (2006), '' The Karat ...

song "Going the Distance", which featured on the soundtrack to the movie ''

Rocky ''Rocky'' is a 1976 American independent film, independent sports drama film directed by John G. Avildsen and written by and starring Sylvester Stallone. It is the first installment in the Rocky (film series), ''Rocky'' franchise and also star ...

'' 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 Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ...

by the

RIAA The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) is a trade organization that represents the music recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors that the RIAA says "create, manufacture, and/o ...

later that year.

Music video

The

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for the song was directed by

Marcus Nispel Marcus Nispel (born 26 May 1963) is a German film director and Film producer, producer, best known for several high-profile American remakes such as ''The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (2003 film), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre'' (2003). He has also di ...

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 Dennis Lee Hopper (May 17, 1936 – May 29, 2010) was an American actor, filmmaker, photographer and visual artist. He was considered one of the key figures of New Hollywood. He earned prizes from the Cannes Film Festival and Venice Internatio ...

as a New World Order dictator ("President Victor Castiglione") and

Danny DeVito Daniel Michael DeVito Jr. (born November 17, 1944) is an American actor and filmmaker. He gained prominence for his portrayal of the taxi dispatcher Louie De Palma in the television series ''Taxi (TV series), Taxi'' (1978–1983), which won him ...

as a live action reporter. English socialites

Tamara Beckwith Tamara Camilla Jane Beckwith (born 17 April 1970) is an English socialite and television personality. In the 1990s, she was regarded as one of the "It girls" of the London social scene. Early life The daughter of property developer Peter Beckw ...

and

Tara Palmer-Tomkinson Tara Claire Palmer-Tomkinson (23 December 1971 – 8 February 2017) was an English socialite and television personality. She appeared in several television shows, including the reality programme ''I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British ...

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 A code name, codename, call sign, or cryptonym is a code word or name used, sometimes clandestinely, to refer to another name, word, project, or person. Code names are often used for military purposes, or in espionage. They may also be used in ...

"PD") runs through the dark streets of the year

3002 3 (three) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 2 and preceding 4, and is the smallest odd prime number and the only prime preceding a square number. It has religious and cultural significance in many societies ...

AD, chased by armed

gestapo The (, ), Syllabic abbreviation, abbreviated Gestapo (), was the official secret police of Nazi Germany and in German-occupied Europe. The force was created by Hermann Göring in 1933 by combining the various political police agencies of F ...

-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 Victoria most commonly refers to: * Queen Victoria (1819–1901), Queen of the United Kingdom and Empress of India * Victoria (state), a state of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, a provincial capital * Victoria, Seychelles, the capi ...

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

Remixes and Freestyles

*In 2002,

50 Cent Curtis James Jackson III (born July 6, 1975), known professionally as 50 Cent, is an American rapper, actor, and television producer. Born in Queens, a borough of New York City, Jackson began pursuing a musical career in 1996. In 1999–2000, ...

and

Lloyd Banks Christopher Charles Lloyd (born April 30, 1982), better known by his stage name Lloyd Banks, is an American rapper. He began his career as a member of East Coast hip-hop, East Coast hip hop group G-Unit, which he formed with childhood friends ...

freestyled over the instrumental for their mixtape, ''

No Mercy, No Fear ''No Mercy, No Fear'' is the second mixtape by hip hop group G-Unit, released on August 1, 2002. Originally released independently as a free mixtape, it was re-released in 2006 by BCD Music Group. ''No Mercy, No Fear'' was recorded after the gro ...

'', 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 'Swishahouse'' is a Southern hip hop record label owned and founded by Michael "5000" Watts based in Houston, Texas in 1997. History Swishahouse was founded in North Houston in 1997 by founder and President Michael "5000" Watts and OG Ron C as ...

's Before Da Kappa 2K2 mixtape. *In 2003, while not remixed, the song was used as the main theme in

EA Sports EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...

'' Fight Night 2004''. *In 2009, there was an unofficial remix leaked that featured

Diddy Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), better known by his stage name Diddy, and formerly Puff Daddy and P. Diddy, is an American rapper, record producer, and record executive. Born in Harlem and raised in Mount Vernon, Combs worked as a ...

The Notorious B.I.G. Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997), better known by his stage names the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, or simply Biggie, was an American rapper. Rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap tradi ...

, and also features

Jay-Z Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American Rapping, rapper, businessman, and record executive. Rooted in East Coast hip-hop, he was named Billboard and Vibe's 50 Greatest Rappers of All Time, the ...

rapping over Diddy's first lines. *In 2010, another unofficial remix titled "Legends" leaked which featured

2Pac Tupac Amaru Shakur (; born Lesane Parish Crooks; June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), also known by his stage names 2Pac and Makaveli, was an American rapper and actor, regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all tim ...

and an unknown artist. The original "Victory" beat was replaced with a motivational-emotional Piano and String instrumental. *In 2010, British rapper

Lowkey Kareem Dennis (born 23 May 1986), better known by his stage name Lowkey, is a British rapper and activist from London. He first became known through a series of mixtapes he released before he was 18, before taking a hiatus from the music busi ...

used the instrumental for his diss track ''The Warning'' which was aimed at

Chip Chip may refer to: Food * Chip (snack), thinly sliced and deep-fried gastro item ** Potato chips (US) or crisp (UK) * Chips (fried potato strips) (UK) or french fries (US) (common as a takeout side) * Game chips, thin chip/French fries * Choco ...

. The freestyle was a result of an altercation on Twitter between the pair. *In 2019,

Shaquille O'Neal Shaquille Rashaun O'Neal ( ; born March 6, 1972), commonly known as Shaq ( ), is an American former professional basketball player who is a sports analyst on the television program ''Inside the NBA''. He is a and Center (basketball), center ...

made a diss track against

Damian Lillard Damian Lamonte Ollie Lillard Sr. (born July 15, 1990) is an American professional basketball player for the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Dame Time", he played college basketball for the Weber State Wi ...

called Second Round Knockout. Victory was used as a sample song.

Track listing

;Victory (Remixes)'

#Victory (Album Version) (4:58) #Victory (

Nine Inch Nails Nine Inch Nails, commonly abbreviated as NIN (stylized as NIИ), is an American industrial rock band formed in Cleveland, Ohio in 1988. Its members are the singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and producer Trent Reznor and his frequent col ...

Remix) (5:33) :*Producer, Featuring -

Trent Reznor Michael Trent Reznor (born May 17, 1965) is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and composer. He came to prominence as the founder, lead singer, multi-instrumentalist, and primary songwriter of the industrial rock band Nine Inch Nails. T ...

:*Remix - Nine Inch Nails #

Victory (Drama Mix) (4:58) :*Vocals - Ron Grant, Terri Hawkins #

Bad Boy's "Been Around The World" (Remix) (5:30) :*Co-remix -

Jay Garfield Jay Lazar Garfield (born 13 November 1955) is an American professor of philosophy who specializes in Tibetan Buddhism. He also specializes on the philosophy of mind, cognitive science, epistemology, metaphysics, philosophy of language, ethics, and ...

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

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Victory (Puff Daddy Song) 1997 songs 1998 singles Sean Combs songs The Notorious B.I.G. songs Bad Boy Records singles Songs written by Sean Combs Songs written by the Notorious B.I.G. Songs written by Jadakiss Songs written by Nelly Songs written by Bill Conti Music videos directed by Marcus Nispel Mafioso rap songs Songs written by Stevie J