How did Biggie Smalls meet Sean “Diddy” Combs?
For better or for worse, the career and legacy of Biggie Smalls is inseparable from the influence of Sean “Diddy” Combs. Diddy helped put the Notorious B.I.G. on the map, but how, exactly, did they first meet?
Biggie himself reflected on his first encounter with Diddy during a 1994 conversation with Interview magazine, explaining how it all began with him and a friend messing around making music. Things, eventually, became more serious and business-minded after Diddy got involved.
“Well, me and my DJ, 50 Grand, used to make tapes in the basement when we’d drink and get high,” Biggie recalled. “I used to just bug on the mike, and he would play instrumental beats and tape them.”
The tapes that Biggie and 50 Grand recorded eventually found their way into the hands of a seasoned musician, which, ultimately, sparked a further chain reaction. Biggie’s name quickly spread throughout the industry, ultimately culminating in Diddy being made aware of him.
“[50 Grand] let Mr Cee, Big Daddy Kane’s DJ, hear it, and from Mr Cee it went to The Source magazine, for an album they were putting out, featuring ‘Unsigned Hype’ shit,” Biggie explained. “Then the guy that organised that, Matty C, saw Puff and asked him if he had some new n*ggas that had some hard shit. And Matt let him hear my shit. It all happened from there.”
Talent only gets a person so far in the music industry, with so much resting on networking and getting the right people to like and back you. Biggie’s early demos passed through several people before eventually making it to Diddy, who, duly, helped to make the Notorious B.I.G. into a legend.
For his part, Diddy has also spoken about his first encounter with Biggie. During an interview with Revolt in 2017, Diddy recalled going for a meal with Big in a soul food restaurant called Sylvia’s in Harlem. Biggie, Diddy noticed, seemed nervous.
“I remember him sitting down and he really didn’t have anything to say,” Diddy said. “So you have this big guy who has this in-your-face rap attitude, but was quiet.”
Sylvia’s had a reputation for its great food, but Biggie wasn’t hungry. “He didn’t wanna eat,” Diddy recalled. “I realised that’s how big this moment was for him. This was really his dream. He couldn’t even eat. He just wanted for this to really happen. And it happened. It was all a dream. True story.”