Music

Mariah Carey has been an icon in the music industry for decades. She rose to fame in the 1990s at the same time rappers such as The Notorious B.I.G. a.k.a. Biggie Smalls were making a name for themselves. When Biggie shouted out Carey in one of his hit songs, she wasn't pleased

Published on July 20, 2021

2 min read

Mariah Carey is a Grammy-winning singer with countless hits to her name. Carey has collaborated with many rappers throughout her career. One rapper who she didn’t care for when she first encountered him was none other than Biggie Smalls.

Biggie’s hit song ‘Just Playing (Dreams)’ mentioned Mariah Carey

The beginning of Carey and Biggie’s personal relationship dates back to the release of Biggie’s hit single “Just Playing (Dreams)” in 1994. Throughout the song, Biggie shouted out different women singers, actors, and other entertainment figures that he wanted to have sex with, or that he otherwise admired.

In the song’s first verse, Biggie said plainly, “Mariah Carey’s kinda scary.”

The “Fantasy” singer reflected on how she felt at the time in her 2020 memoir The Meaning of Mariah Carey. “I had never met Biggie, but there was a running story that I had beef with him because of his song ‘Dreams of F—ing an R&B B—-,'” she recalled. She was understandably taken aback when she first heard the line about her. “I was kinda scary? What does that mean?” she thought. “F— him. If he only knew some of the scary s— I’d actually been through.”

Biggie and Mariah Carey’s friendly relationship

She went on to recount when Biggie told her that he didn’t mean what he said — or rather, how she took it. It was 1997, nearly three years after the release of “Just Playing (Dreams),” and Carey was hoping to get Biggie on the remix of her hit single “Honey.”

“Puffy called him one day when we were working in the studio and put me on the phone,” she remembered. “In true Biggie form — half pimp, half preacher — he said, ‘Naw, ma, you know, no disrespect,’ assuring me the song was all in fun.”

“So things were cool between us,” she continued. “On the call, we talked about the music and flow, and even clowned a little bit. It was a chill and creative conversation. He was confident about what he wanted to bring to ‘Honey,’ and I had no doubt he would come in the studio and crush it; that’s what Biggie did.”

Carey spoke about their brief conversation in a 2018 interview with DJ SussOne on Power 105.1. “The swag was just so enormous that everything was all love after that,” she smiled. “There was never any problem… it was me being sensitive, because I’m just a sensitive girl.”

Biggie died before doing Mariah Carey’s ‘Honey’ remix

Carey was especially excited after her phone call with Biggie to record the remix of “Honey” with him. Sadly, it wasn’t long after their conversation in early 1997 that he was gunned down in Los Angeles at just 24 years old.

“As much as I loved ‘Honey,’ my only major disappointment was that Biggie (The Notorious B.I.G.) never made it onto the remix,” she lamented. “Tragically, he didn’t live long enough to make our studio date. The ‘Honey (Bad Boy Remix)’ featuring Mase and The Lox was a smash, but there’s a part of me that still misses Biggie on that song, and certainly in this world.”

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