Released March 17, 1998 Genre Hip hop Label Bad Boy
Arista | Recorded 1997 Length 4:55 | |
Format CD single
12" single
cassette | ||
"Victory" is a song recorded by American hip hop recording artist Puff Daddy. The song was originally written by Christopher Wallace, Trevor Smith, Jason Phillips and Steven Jordan for his debut studio album No Way Out (1997). It features heavy use of mafioso-style lyrics, as was popular at the time. It features The Notorious B.I.G., who raps two verses, and Busta Rhymes, who raps the song's chorus. 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. The song was released as a single in 1998, peaking at number 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. This song featured the very last verses recorded by The Notorious B.I.G. before his 1997 death as these verses were recorded a day before his shooting.
Contents
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. Tamara Beckwith was 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 a flashback for Sean Comb's 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 did not appear in the video 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
Track listing
- Victory (Album Version) (4:58)
- Victory (Nine Inch Nails Remix) (5:33)
- Victory (Drama Mix) (4:58)
- Bad Boy's "Been Around The World" (Remix) (5:30)