When The Notorious B.I.G. was preparing his debut album, Ready to Die, he had a promotional song, “Just Playing (Dreams)” that dissed the members of the girl group, Xscape. One of the members of the group, Tiny, said that the Brooklyn rapper apologized for the diss moments before he was shot to death in Los Angeles.
According to a video clip circulating from the Morning Hustle Show, three members of the formerly four-member girl group appeared on the show and discussed Jermaine Dupri’s recent comment about promoting the group. He reportedly said that Xscape was one of the hardest groups to promote because people didn’t think the group, as a whole, was cute, although they were talented.
While talking about that, Kandi Burrus mentions that the group’s look was brought to light when The Notorious B.I.G. called them ugly on the “Just Playing” track. During the song, which details the industry women he wanted to be, let’s say, romantic with, he stated that he’d rather get with drag performer and reality TV maven, RuPaul, than “them ugly-ass Xscape b**ches.”
Kandi admitted that when word got to them that Biggie wanted to speak to them, she wasn’t trying to hear him due to the song. However, Tiny stated that she did go to talk to him, and he apologized to them for the line. Kandi regretted not speaking to him because, according to Tiny, “20, 30 minutes after” the conversation, the Brooklyn rapper was shot and later died.
When the group was approached about meeting the “Hypnotize” lyricist, Tiny recalled saying, “I’m going to see what he’s talking about. And you know, he was very nice, apologetic, and basically said, ‘I don’t know what I was thinking. Look, I’m ugly—I’m ugly as hell. Y’all is beautiful, and I just wanted to say I apologize.”
As mentioned, that night Biggie died, March 9, 1997. The unsolved murder took place after a Soul Train Awards afterparty in Los Angeles. He was shot four times and was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
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