Consequence On Hanging In The Studio With Biggie, Almost Signing With Bad Boy
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Consequence is no stranger to working with legendary artists, as he made his bones alongside A Tribe Called Quest before going on to join Kanye West’s G.O.O.D. Music faction. The Queens rapper recently spoke with HipHopDX about his experience being in the presence of The Notorious B.I.G. prior to his death.
While Cons says he didn’t get the opportunity to collaborate with the Brooklyn icon, he had a great creative relationship with his wife, R&B star Faith Evans and was able to hang with Biggie in the studio on multiple occasions.
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“I didn’t get a chance to work with Big, but I did get a chance to work with Faith [Evans] on ‘Stressed Out,’” the “Whatever You Want” artist told the outlet. “I was in the studio with Big when he was supposed to be on Busta Rhymes’ album with Nas and Method Man.”
He says that the last time he saw Biggie was in a creative capacity with Evans, and that he regrets not having gotten to do a record with him. “Also, I had linked with him in the studio when he was doing a session with Faith. I would have loved to have done a joint with Big, but unfortunately it never transpired.”
According to the 45-year-old, he also was on the radar of Sean “Diddy” Combs at the time and nearly signed a deal with Bad Boy Records during the mid-’90s.
“At the time, Q-Tip was working on my demo and we had a record called ‘Living It Up’ which not only Puff, but — rest in peace — Chris Lighty had loved,” Consequence reveals. “When Q-Tip played ‘Living It Up’ for Puff, Puff was like, ‘Yo, lemme get playboy, I’ll sign him right now. He’s fire.’” However, his older cousin and A Tribe Called Quest member Q-Tip swooped in and decided to include him as the newest member of ATCQ before the paperwork could be delivered.
“Which led to Q-Tip and I having a conversation, which led to Q-Tip deciding that instead of me signing to Puff, he wanted me to join A Tribe Called Quest as the new member. Which, you know, probably one of the craziest ways anybody could start their career in the ’90s. I was blessed.”
He also says that unbeknownst to many, A Tribe Called Quest’s relationship with Bad Boy was strong, as the group would work with Puff and Craig Mack on the remix to Mack’s single “Get Down” and even hit the stage with him in their hometown. “At the time, Q-Tip had been working with Puff because he had done the ‘Get Down’ remix for Craig Mack. He did the beat and also put a feature verse at the end in which he shouted me out,” Cons explained.
“In addition to the remix and the feature, we did a couple shows. We came out at the Beacon Theatre with Craig Mack, so we were mingling with Bad Boy.” He continued, adding, “It’s funny ’cause a lot of people wouldn’t think it on paper, but Tribe and Bad Boy, we were definitely cool peoples and did a lot of business together.”
Last year, Consequence announced that he had successfully recovered following a Lupus diagnosis in 2020. At the time, he called the doctors’ update on his condition “the best news of his life.” He is currently gearing up for the release of his forthcoming studio album Nice Doing Business With You, which is led by the Kanye West-produced single “Blood Stain.”
Watch Consequence’s “Blood Stain” music video below.
