Credit: Alamy

Sean ‘Diddy‘ Combs and Jay-Z narrowly missed out on coming together on a number-one single, on top of their many other collaborations over the years. The two New York moguls teamed up on ‘Young G’s’, produced by Rashad Smith, in 1997, which was almost one of two songs the pair would have on the No Way Out album.

‘I’ll Be Missing You’ served as an emotional tribute to Biggie Smalls following his death on March 9th, 1997, from a drive-by shooting. What you might not know is that Jay-Z, who was also friends with Biggie, had the chance to write Diddy’s verses but ultimately turned down the opportunity.

Instead, Hov recommended Brooklyn rapper Sauce Money, whom he grew up with in the Marcy Projects, who ended up being the artist who wrote the song. Although it’s unknown why Jay-Z opted against the collaboration, Money believed it could be due to the emotional nature of the record.

“They were pretty tight,” he told Genius about Jay-Z and Biggie. “It could be difficult at that time to open up and try to eulogise a good friend. You might be a little bit too close to the situation. For whatever reason, he reached out to me.”

‘I’ll Be Missing You’ famously samples The Police’s 1983 hit ‘Every Breath You Take’. Biggie’s widow, Faith Evans, features on the song alongside fellow Bad Boy signing 112 on the chorus. The track peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent 11 weeks at the top of the chart. Not only that, but the song won ‘Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group’ at the Grammy Awards in 1998.

Diddy and Sauce Money met at the recording studio but the latter was never informed which song he would be tasked with writing. “When we got into the studio and [Diddy] started explaining what it was, I was blown away,” he said. “I’m still affected by Big’s death, but to have a chance to participate in something like this was a honour.”

Sauce Money was instructed by Diddy to tap into any emotions he had regarding someone close to him. “He made it clear that he wanted to touch on any type of relationship you have with a brother,” he said. “He wanted to capture some of the things that they did and conversations that they had.”

Instead of a brother, he actually used his mother as a vessel to write the verses in just 30 minutes. “Through ‘Missing You’ I was kind of talking to my mother,” he said. “So it was easy for me to jump into that character.

Diddy not writing his own lyrics is no secret, having famously rapped, “Don’t worry if I write rhymes, I write checks,” on his 2001 hit ‘Bad Boy for Life’. As well as ‘Young G’s’, other collaborations between Diddy and Jay-Z include ‘I Know What Girls Like’ from 1997’s In My Lifetime, Vol. 1 and ‘Do You Like It… Doo You Want It…’ from 1999’s Forever.