The Notorious B.I.G. Apologized to Tiny For Dissing Xscape 30 Minutes Before His Death
Dissing other artists is a huge part of hip-hop culture, and that was especially true in the 1990s. Rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G. and Nas dominated the scene and took shots at other artists in lyrics and in real life.
The Notorious B.I.G. dissed Xscape in his hit song ‘Just Playing (Dreams)’
One of The Notorious B.I.G.’s most recognizable songs is also filled with a number of disses aimed at other artists. His 1994 single “Just Playing (Dreams)” named several R&B artists that he’d love to have sex with, including Mariah Carey, Mary J. Blige, and Chanté Moore.
However, Biggie wasn’t so kind to singers in R&B groups. “Even groups like SWV and TLC can’t see B.I.G. with telepathy,” he rapped. In the next verse, he declared, “I’ll f*ck RuPaul before I fuck them ugly-ass Xscape b*tches.”
Xscape didn’t want to see Biggie after he dissed them
At the time, Xscape was one of the hottest new R&B girl groups on the scene, so they weren’t appreciative of Biggie’s words about them. In a 2020 interview for VladTV, Xscape singer Tiny Harris explained how they all felt.
“There was a couple of times after the ‘Dreams’ song that we had a couple of shows, and Jermaine [Dupri] would be like, ‘Yo, Biggie wants to see y’all. He wants to talk to y’all.’ And, you know, some of the girls were like, ‘No,’” she said. “I just remember us not wanting to deal with him, not wanting to talk to him.”
Biggie apologized to Tiny and the rest of Xscape
Xscape kept their distance from Biggie for a long time. But one night, they ran into the “Hypnotize” rapper at a Vibe magazine party, and he wanted to apologize for including them in the song.
“Someone came to us and said Biggie wanted to speak to us,” Tiny recalled. “Kandi [Burruss] was like, ‘I’m not going over there. I don’t wanna talk to him.’ So I was just like, ‘I’ll go over there.’ So I went.”
Biggie then righted his wrongs and admitted to Tiny that he shouldn’t have said what he said on the track. “He basically apologized for saying that, that he thought we were beautiful,” she said. “He was like, ‘I’m an ugly motherf*cker, and I ain’t had no business talking about nobody.”
Biggie was killed shortly after apologizing
“We laughed and we hugged or whatever, and it was all good,” she continued. His apology came in March 1997 when he was facing criticism in the hip-hop community for his beef with his frenemy Tupac Shakur. He left the event later that evening with his entourage and was gunned down no longer than an hour after he apologized to Tiny.
According to Tiny, Burruss immediately regretted not getting to speak with him. “For Kandi, she was like, ‘Dang! I should’ve said something!'”
“I was just glad that I got a chance to even say anything and speak to him,” Tiny concluded. “We got a chance to talk and he got a chance to tell me how he felt. He apologized and it was all good.”
