Notorious B.I.G. and Faith Evans: Hip-hop's greatest love story was fraught with affairs, jealousy and murder
Close to 23 years after his death, the authorities have still not apprehended the man responsible for the murder of a man many consider to be the greatest rapper of all-time: Christopher Wallace, aka The Notorious B.I.G.
There are dozens of conspiracy theories still abound on why the rapper was killed, with many of the belief that it had to do with his feud with Tupac Shakur and his apparent involvement in his contemporary's shooting death. Dig a little more into the Tupac theory, and the webs get even more tangled. It is a poorly kept secret that B.I.G, who was married to R&B singer Faith Evans at the time, was having affairs with Lil' Kim and Charli Baltimore, and that Evans was somehow caught in the middle of her husband's feud.
However, these and more juicy details from the story of The Notorious B.I.G's and Faith Evans' tumultuous relationship will now be featured in Lifetime's 'Hopelessly in Love,' a tentpole documentary film series that will explore the love stories of infamous couples in pop culture. Their relationship has been described as "the most controversial love story in hip-hop history, told by those who lived it," by the network.
B.I.G. had met Evans, then a newcomer just like him, in 1994 during a photoshoot for Sean 'Puffy' Combs' Bad Boy Records, to which both of them were signed.
Evans was immediately attracted to B.I.G. because of his confidence, reported Cheatsheet, and the pair immediately hit it off during a car ride after the rapper asked her if he could go with her to Brooklyn. Eight days later, the wedding bells had rung and they were husband and wife.
"I married her after knowing her eight days and I was happy," he told Vibe Magazine in an interview. "That was my baby. At the same time, with us being so spontaneous, we did it backward."
They were, for all intents and purposes, hip-hop royalty, and often worked together on a lot of each other's music.
She was something of a lucky charm as well, with B.I.G.'s first pop chart success as a solo artist coming with double A-side 'Juicy/Unbelievable,' which released five days after he met Evans. His debut album, 'Ready to Die,' came a month after and went on be certified four times Platinum.
But trouble had been brewing under the surface. Their relationship was straining under rumors that B.I.G. was having an affair with Junior M.A.F.I.A member Lil' Kim, who had released her first album under his direction. In a bid to distract his wife from the affair, B.I.G is said to have asked Evans to help Kim with her image and confidence.
Just when those rumors were beginning to die down, reports claimed B.I.G. was having another affair, this time with Charli Baltimore, a rapper who was supposed to be a part of his hip hop supergroup, 'the Commission,' which would also have Jay-Z, Lil' Cease, and Combs.
Things took a disastrous turn when, in June 1996, Tupac released a diss track called 'Hit 'Em Up' in which he claimed he had sex with Evans, who was already estranged from B.I.G. at the time.
While Evans refuted the claims made about her alleged involvement with Tupac, B.I.G. was seemingly not convinced and referenced the track on Jay-Z's 'Brookyn's Finest,' where he raps, "If Faye have twins, she'd probably have two 'Pacs. Get it? 2Pac's?"
B.I.G went on to say in an interview that their marriage was rushed as well. "Maybe she won’t admit it, but I will," he said. "We should have gotten to know each other and then got married. The relationship kind of dissolved, but we’re still going to be friends."
Their relationship deteriorated further from that point, and while they did try to reconcile, it never panned out, and B.I.G. went as far as to deny that he was the father of the child Evans gave birth to in October 1996.
While they did not officially divorce they were separated and Evans was dating her second husband Todd Russau when B.I.G was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles in 1997.
"Twenty years after the iconic rapper’s murder, Faith Evans is ready to confront her pain and revisit the most intimate moments of their relationship . . . from their whirlwind engagement to Biggie’s ongoing affairs with Lil’ Kim and Charli Baltimore, to the East Coast-West Coast rivalry that led to Tupac and Big’s deaths," a description reads on the network.
Evans, who had initially given her approval for the episode, has now slammed it and claimed she had been duped into participating in the "sensational" documentary.
"I feel upset that I’m attached to it. I was told that it would be a positive piece with a little more of my personal background," she told Page Six. "It wasn’t pitched to me as a story rehashing the sensationalized events that took place."
"I am beyond that and have no need to open old wounds, damage repaired relationships and, above all, soil the legacy of Christopher Wallace a k a the Notorious B.I.G," she added.
Each episode in the series will be two hours long and will cover the relationships through the eyes of the couple, as well as those close to them.
Besides B.I.G and Evans, 'Hopelessly in Love' will also delve into the stories of Lisa 'Left Eye' Lopes and Andre Rison, Anna Nicole Smith and Larry Birkhead, and more.
The couple's episode will air on January 10.