“A Tribute to The Notorious B.I.G.” (Press Kit, May 1997)

"On Wednesday, May 14, at 12 noon over 200 radio stations across the country participated in a 30 second moment of silence in honor of the late Notorious B.I.G., followed by the world premiere of two new tribute tracks "I'll Be Missing You" and "We'll Always Love Big Poppa." At the same time, MTV aired the tribute video to "I'll Be Missing You." Bad Boy Entertainment's CEO, producer and artist Sean "Puffy" Combs comments on why he decided to honor Biggie in this way, "I wanted to tell B.I.G. how I was feeling. I wanted to have one last conversation with him. The concept of the tribute single was to express my personal feelings and the feelings from the Bad Boy family. This is our way of speaking to Biggie, letting him know how much we loved him." ... "I'll Be Missing You" features vocals by Combs with Evans and 112; it was written by Faith Evans and Todd Gaither (Sauce Money) and produced by Combs and Stevie J. The song was inspired by the Police hit, "Every Breath You Take" and the chorus of the song is reflective of Puffy's and Faith's personal feelings of B.I.G."

"The flipside, "We'll Always Love Big Poppa" is written and performed by Bad Boy Entertainment's newest group The L.O.X. The track is produced by Damon Blackmon and was first performed at B.I.G.'s funeral. "It was their personal artistic expression of how the group felt about Biggie and how he affected the lives of so many people," said Combs. "If you knew him, you would love him," said Jay from The L.O.X. "It is sad we had to do this song as our first video." ... Bad Boy Records, Arista Records and BMG Distribution have agreed to donate all profits from sales of the tribute single to a trust for the benefit of Christopher Wallace's two children, T'Yanna and Christopher." R.I.P. B.I.G.

The original press kit from May 22, 1997...

Sauce Money "Next" Feature in Vibe Magazine (March, 1999)

"Anything worth having," says Sauce Money ... "is worth working towards." Todd "Sauce Money" Gaither, a product of Brooklyn's infamous Marcy Projects knows of what he speaks. Best known for penning Puff Daddy's mega-selling 1997 B.I.G. tribute, "I'll Be Missing You", Sauce spent the better part of this decade serving hard time in hip-hop's underground scene. He did everything from ghostwriting for Shaq to rhyming on the virtually forgotten Big Daddy Kane posse cut "Show & Prove" from Daddy's Home (MCA, 1994), all while he maintained a full-time job - until misfortune struck. "Them bastards fired me," says Sauce, as exasperated as if it happened last week instead of nearly two years ago. "I was like, How dare you? I worked in the fuckin' mail room at this bank for five years, and it was pure hell. And then I got the boot!" But two days later, thanks to a stellar appearance on DJ Clue's '96 Show Me The Money mix tape ("You must be Chinese / The way you try to duck Sauce"), Money scored a recording contract with Geffen (around the same time he had written "I'll Be Missing You"). After the 1998 joint venture with MCA and Geffen hip hop acts, he became an MCA artist. In creating his debut, Middle Finger U (from the title cut: "If you interfere with how I'm trying to get this paper -- fuck you!), due in late March, Sauce applied the same drive he had playing sports for Allen University in Columbia, S.C. "I got a scholarship to play baseball and basketball, and I was real good," he says with a smile. "That's what happened with rap. Once you find something that you're good at, there's nothing like it -- especially if you can make money doing it." Now that things are really going his way, don't expect Sauce to rest until he reaches the top. "I'm up 5:30 every morning," he says. "While n!@@as is sleepin', I've already written three or four songs. God blesses me, and I'm gonna keep workin'." It seems a hit maker's job is never done. - Vibe (3/99)

Jay-Z "Pre-Reasonable Doubt" (Demo Tape)

The breadth of Jay Z‘s raw talent is on full display with the emergence of a Pre-Reasonable Doubt demo tape that finds a hungry spitter from Marcy pulling out all the stops. The great and powerful internet comes through yet again, serving up a 10-track window into the making of one of Brooklyn’s most famous sons. Mass Appeal was kind enough to drop this gem, which is equal parts hip-hop history lesson and a master class in cadence for rising MCs. Crashing the boards with a bevy of entendres and a consistently clever approach, young Hova offers much more than a fleeting glimpse at the titanic talent he would eventually deploy to take the rap world by storm. - OKP. Dig...