17 Years After Biggie’s Death, Faith Will Release Album of Duets with Late Husband

faith-evans-biggie-smallsAlmost two decades after the famed rapper’s passing, Faith Evans is making a duets album with her former husband, Notorious BIG.

Using music by the Brooklyn rapper and modeled on Nat “King” Cole and Natalie Cole’s version of “Unforgettable,” the LP record will be a tribute to Evans’ late husband.

“It’s gonna be really, really dope,” Evans told HipHollywood. “It’s something I’ve been thinking about doing for many, many years … [and] I finally got all my ducks in a row to try and make it happen.”

Evans assured fans that they didn’t need to worry that this album would be full of things they had already listened to.

“It’s definitely unheard music,” she said. “Unheard music in the presentation of it, that’s what I will say.” Evans plans to call the album “The King & I.” While Evans has a lot on her plate, currently promoting her newest album “Incomparable,” her duet album with Biggie is set to fully release sometime in the next year.

This album comes almost a decade after the release of Notorious BIG’s last post-death album, “Duets: The Final Chapter,” which consisted of various collaborations. “Duets” featured Evans on two songs, alongside collaborations between Biggie and performers like Missy Elliott, Eminem, Jay Z and Korn.

Born Christopher Wallace, Biggie released his debut album “Ready to Die” in 1994, and thus became a central figure in the hip hop scene. Massive hits like “Big Poppa,” “Going Back to Cali” and “Mo Money Mo Problems” solidified the rapper’s position at the top of the rap game. He married Evans in August of 1994.

On March 9, 1997, Biggie was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles by an unknown killer. His murder still remains unsolved. His first posthumous album “Life After Death” was released 16 days later and was certified diamond in 2000.

 

Democracy needs journalism it can trust.

This election season, the stakes are higher than usual — and so is the pressure on newsrooms to soften their coverage, stay quiet, or just disappear. Independent reporting, the kind that answers to readers instead of advertisers or political pressure, matters more in a moment like this, not less.

For over 14 years, Atlanta Black Star has stayed independent and reader-funded. We have no corporate owner and no shareholders telling us what to cover or how to cover it. That independence is also our biggest vulnerability: nothing protects it except readers choosing to fund it directly.

Newspaper ad revenue has fallen more than 80% since 2005, and local newsrooms are closing at a rate of roughly two a week nationwide. When outlets go under in a moment like this, it's rarely the independent, reader-funded ones that get to stick around.

We know a request for support isn't why you came here. But without readers choosing to fund this work directly, the depth of reporting we can do at home and abroad shrinks along with everyone else's. If you're not in a position to give, that doesn't change how much we value you as a reader.

If you are able to, a recurring contribution does more for us than a single one-time gift, because it lets us plan the next investigation instead of just the next invoice. It takes about 30 seconds, no long form, no account. Thank you for continuing to support independent journalism and freedom of the press.

Back to top