When Biggie hit the scene, he was inseparable from Diddy. After Sean Combs interned at Uptown Records and eventually left, he took the late Brooklyn legend with him and founded Bad Boy Records. The Notorious B.I.G. became the big cash cow for the record label and crafted two of the greatest rap albums of all time within the span of a couple of years. But how did they meet?
In a 1994 profile with Interview Magazine, Biggie recalled making tapes in a basement with his DJ at the time 50 Grand. Initially, it was just for the love of hip-hop; they’d drink, get high, and make music. Eventually, 50 Grand played those tapes for Mr. Cee, the DJ for Big Daddy Kane, eventually spiraling into a nod in The Source. During his time at Uptown, Diddy was obviously on the prowl for new artists to bring to the label. When the head person at The Source let Combs hear what Big had to offer, the rest was history.
How Biggie Connected With Diddy Through Music Tapes He Made in a Basement
“Well, me and my DJ, 50 Grand, used to make tapes in the basement when we’d drink and get high. I used to just bug on the mike, and he would play instrumental beats and tape them. He let Mr. Cee, Big Daddy Kane’s DK, hear it, and from Mr. Cee it went to The Source magazine, for an album they were putting out, featuring ‘Unsigned Hype’ s**t,” Biggie explained. “Then the guy that organized that, Matty C, saw Puff and asked him if he had some new n*ggas that had some hard sh*t. And Matt let him hear my sh*t. It all happened from there.”
Ever since, Biggie has become a massive sensation in hip-hop. None of that quite registered to him at the time though. The only time any of the success mattered to him was when he would eventually hit the lauded platinum status. “That’s nothing to me,” he said of his records selling well. “I mean, when Puff tells me he’s selling this amount of records a week, I’m like, ‘Is that good?’ All I know is gold and platinum, and I want to be platinum. I’m just trying to blow up. I figure if this sh*t blows up, a lotta other n*ggas gonna come right behind me and scoop it up more and just bring us all up.”
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