Before he launched Bad Boy Records, Diddy was a rising executive with Uptown Records. Heavy D, a personal friend of Diddy’s, helped him land a job with the label. During his brief stint with Uptown Records, Diddy brought such talent as The Notorious B.I.G. and Mary J. Blige to the label. However, after having a falling out with Andre Harrell, Diddy left to form his own label, taking Biggie with him.
For two years, The Notorious B.I.G. and Heavy D were label-mates. During this time, the two rappers became close friends. Due to the success of Heavy D, Uptown Records was willing to give Biggie a shot. After successfully starting his own career, B.I.G. developed his own artists, Junior M.A.F.I.A., and Lil’ Cease was among the members of the young crew. Most of Lil’ Cease’s fame came during this period of time and he began to dominate the headlines, during the East Coast/West Coast feud.
However, following the death of The Notorious B.I.G., Lil’ Cease has watched as his popularity waned. When Biggie died, the entire hip hop community was shaken and rappers decided to end their feuds, once and for all. Heavy D had built a successful career befriending nearly every talent in the industry. He was among the ones who were hurt when he discovered Biggie had died. Last week, the world learned Heavy D died and now the hip hop community has united to pay their respects to the original big rapper. Lil’ Cease, who was around Heavy D during the 1990s, revealed he and Biggie had major plans.
During The Notorious B.I.G.’s Uptown days, Heavy D actually wanted to record an album with him, Lil’ Cease revealed. However, when he left Uptown for Bad Boy and his own career took off, their respective schedules were too hectic to record together. Biggie, even after his career took off, remained interested in working with Heavy D. Their joint album was still on his mind and the two recorded several tracks together. Lil’ Cease said the duo were recording all these tracks together to feel each other’s style out and to lay the groundwork for a full album.
Obviously, the death of The Notorious B.I.G. prevented he and Heavy D from ever recording an album together.
