| Victory | |
| Cover: | Puff Daddy - Victory.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Puff Daddy featuring The Notorious B.I.G. and Busta Rhymes |
| Album: | No Way Out |
| B-Side: | Bad Boy's Been Around the World (remix) |
| Released: | March 17, 1998 |
| Recorded: | March 8, 1997 |
| Genre: |
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| Length: | 4:55 |
| Chronology: | Puff Daddy |
| Prev Title: | Nothin' Move But the Money |
| Prev Year: | 1998 |
| Next Title: | Come with Me |
| Next Year: | 1998 |
"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.
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 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 appears in the video only through archive footage due to his death a year earlier.
The production costs ran upwards of $2,700,000.[1] It is listed as one of the most expensive music videos ever made.
| Chart (1998) | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| US Billboard Hot 100[5] | 68 | |
| US Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs (Billboard)[6] | 49 |
|}