Whatever Happened To Faith Evans?
Faith Evans is the original bad girl. The R&B singer has had an undeniably successful career since becoming the first woman to sign to P. Diddy's label, Bad Boy Entertainment. Still don't recognize her? She's also the voice behind the gutting, Grammy Award-winning single "I'll Be Missing You," a song which highlighted the grief of losing her husband The Notorious B.I.G.
Evans' milestones are well-deserved. Her multitude of top 10 hits are a testament to the perseverance of a woman tasked with living in the shadow of her late husband. She famously married the rapper little more than a week after meeting him and their tumultuous relationship was marred with infamous rap-star feuds, affairs, and murder.
Since losing Biggie in 1997, Evans has put the drama behind her and dedicated her life to preserving his legacy. From lawsuits and drug arrests to cathartic stadium tours, Evans' career is showing no signs of slowing down, mishaps and all.
We're not crying, you're crying
Faith Evans famously married The Notorious B.I.G just nine days after meeting him in 1994. Since then, she's remained dedicated to the rapper and his legacy. During the 20th anniversary of Biggie's death, Evans released The King and I to pay her respects. The concept album was comprised of posthumous duets with the rapper featuring guest spots from some of Biggie's closest friends and family, including Jadakiss and Snoop Dogg.
"It's a blessing to [have] been a part of his life," said Evans, explaining her intentions behind the album. "Not only is he just incredible, to see how 20 years later people that didn't even know him personally like we do, it seems like their love for him exudes the same way."
As gutting as it is to hear posthumous duets with the famed rapper, the tribute didn't exactly sit well with critics and fans. As of February 2018, the album had only sold 24,000 copies in the United States. Pitchfork gave the record a scathing review and hailed the track "Tryna Get By" as "the last way anybody wants to remember [Biggie]."
She buried the hatchet with Lil' Kim
It's no secret that Biggie was involved in one of the most scandalous love triangles in the world of '90s hip hop. His affair with Lil' Kim sparked a seemingly unending feud between Faith Evans and the rap songstress. In an interview with Wendy Williams, Evans admitted that she walked in on Lil' Kim and Biggie together in bed, then spent the rest of the day making Christmas dinner knowing it would be one of the last times she was with Biggie in that way. Things allegedly got so heated during their argument that Lil' Kim may or may not have purposely scratched Evans' car (though the pair swore they'd never discuss the actual incident in the press).
Today, the notorious Evans-Kim feud is all water under the bridge. Evans claimed she buried the hatchet with the rapper shortly after B.I.G. passed away. Staying mad at your late husband's mistress seems kind of petty after he's already gone, right?
And they even collaborated
Evans should teach a masterclass on taking the high road. The artist pulled the girl power move of the century when she invited her husband's mistress to collaborate on a tribute album. Remember: Biggie was important to Lil' Kim, too.
Evans originally floated the idea of a Lil' Kim collaboration years prior when she was making her first independent album. As much beef as there may have been, you can't deny Kim's got skills. Though that collaboration never came to fruition, Evans knew she needed to lock in the rapper after writing the hook for "Loving You for Life." She claimed the song needed Kim's signature growl. Evans ended up approaching her during rehearsal for the Bad Boy Family Reunion Tour, and the rest is history.
"If we're showing that we've moved past that point and we're women enough and mature enough to come together and work together, it shouldn't take a lot," she told Rap-Up. "We're grown. We have children and families and there's really no need to hang onto bitterness. I just felt like that would be even doper, to give her that platform to talk about how she felt about him."
It kind of makes you feel bad for stalking your ex's new girlfriend on Facebook, doesn't it?
She finally addressed those long-standing rumors
Biggie's murder has never been solved, despite his mother, Voletta Wallace, claiming to have a "very good idea" about who did it. Both Evans and Wallace have dedicated numerous resources to finding his killer and pressuring the LAPD to continue their search. The pair even sued the LAPD, who were found to be intentionally withholding evidence, numerous times. By now, Evans is intimately acquainted with the details surrounding Biggie's death, and she finally sounded off about a certain long-standing conspiracy theory.
Like any unsolved celebrity death, Biggie's murder launched a host of online conspiracy theories, many of which blamed his longtime collaborator P. Diddy for his murder. But Evans squashed the notion once and for all.
"What I know is that Puff would never have Big killed. Would never be involved in murdering one of his best friends, that's outside of him being his artist. You know what I'm saying?" she said in an interview with Hollywood Unlocked UNCENSORED, adding, "I know without a doubt that if that's the case then we would have sued Puff a long time ago if we felt that way. You don't think they tried to get us to do that?"
She reunited with some bad boys
In 2016, Evans reunited with a few bad boys — the Bad Boys Records family. To commemorate the label's 20th anniversary and Biggie's 44th birthday, P. Diddy threw a record label reunion at Brooklyn's Barclays Center. The show featured a mix of special guests and label acts including Evans, Lil' Kim, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Usher, and Diddy himself.
The rap mogul hailed the concert as part of "hip-hop history" and expanded it to encompass 24 North American cities. Biggie was also set to appear in the shows as a hologram. It's unclear if the hologram actually made it to the gig, but Evans said it would rely on a lot of factors. Sadly, the Internet appears completely devoid of Biggie's posthumous hologram debut, if it even happened at all.
Evans may have at least avoided intense embarrassment in front of her late husband's synthetic ghost, assuming that the hologram never came to be, when Internet users noticed she accidentally flashed the crowd in Boston. The event was so scandalous she ended up trending on Twitter. All press is good press, right?
But got sued by a concert promoter
Diddy's Bad Boy Reunion was arguably one of the biggest rap tours of 2016; however, it got Evans into a little bit of trouble. The R&B singer was sued by a concert promoter after she was forced to violate their contract because of Bad Boy gigs.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, the Bad Boy Records Reunion Tour hit Atlanta, Ga. two days before her scheduled performance at the Wolf Creek Amphitheater. The issue was that Evans had signed a hefty non-compete clause, which is standard in major performance contracts. She wasn't allowed to play within 100 miles of the city for the six months leading up to the gig. Jeremy Hill, who promoted the show, had already given the R&B singer a $17,500 deposit and wanted $100,000 in damages as a result of this breach. Apparently, he claimed it would cause him a lot of pain and suffering if Evans backed out of their deal.
Evans maintained the fact that Hill had no legal grounds to sue her because she signed a deal with The Middle Georgia Entertainment Group — not with him. Eventually, she settled out of court anyway. Hill filed for a voluntary dismissal when they reached an agreement.
Evans can't stop and won't stop
Faith Evans may have rose to massive success in the '90s, but 2017 was arguably her year. Not only did she release an album filled with posthumous duets with her late husband, but her seven-album career ended up launching her from the stage to the big screen.
Diddy's documentary, Can't Stop, Won't Stop: The Bad Boy Story, was filmed in the days leading up to Bad Boy Family Reunion dates at Barclays Center. It followed the vodka entrepreneur and music mogul through three weeks of grueling rehearsals as he tried to reunite the fam. It had everything: pyrotechnics, bad boys for life, black-and-white footage to represent emotional turmoil, and Evans and Lil' Kim pretending they're not totally over their drama. Surprisingly, Diddy didn't even make anyone walk to Junior's cheesecake to teach them a lesson. The music industry has apparently gotten a hold of Postmates since Making The Band.
The film premiered at Tribeca Film Festival but received rather grim ratings. The Hollywood Reporter claimed it didn't live up to its ambition, and it maintains a pitiful 38 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes. At least it fared better than All Eyez On Me. Points for the East Coast.
She tried her hand in the TV industry
When you think of Faith Evans, you don't exactly think of an executive producer. It's kind of like how no one noticed Whitney Houston was partially responsible for the early '00s Anne Hathaway classic The Princess Diaries. Nonetheless, Evans jumped from the stage and Diddy's doc to the small screen.
The 20th anniversary of Biggie's death sparked a number of TV projects, including USA Network's Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G and Fox's Who Shot Biggie & Tupac? Evans lent her talents and immense knowledge of her late husband's affairs to the A&E documentary Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G. The project was the first Biggie documentary authorized by the rapper's estate, which is run jointly by Voletta Wallace and Evans. Both women served as executive producers for the three-hour film.
According to IndieWire, Evans and Wallace contributed to many key parts of the film's production. They secured interviews with big names like P. Diddy and Jay-Z and helped curate rare archival footage of the star as a teen. As a result, Evans' doc was a success and received a 7.4 rating on IMDb – not bad for her first shot at TV.
She had trouble finding love after Biggie
Even though Biggie was only in Evans' life for a few years, she admitted to IndieWire that their love was — and still is — undeniably real. She still wasn't able to find "the one" over 20 years after his tragic passing.
However, Evans did move on from Biggie shortly after his death. The night the rapper died, she turned to music executive Todd Russaw for comfort. The pair wed later that year. Though they ended up having two children, their marriage wasn't without problems.
According to CNN, the two were arrested in 2004 after police found marijuana and cocaine in their vehicle. Though the charges were dropped after the couple completed a 13-week drug intervention program, the incident may have been an indicator of larger marital problems. The pair officially separated the following year. Suspiciously enough, they had their second son, Ryder, in 2007, before they finally filed for divorce in 2011. Are all of Evans' relationships this exhausting?
She dove into the dating world
Evans went straight from Biggie to Russaw, so she never had the unfortunate experience of enduring a disastrous blind date or digging through Match.com. But still, she wanted that age-old experience and dove into the world of dating.
In 2016, Evans was romantically linked to Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Stevie J, whom she's known for the last 25 years. Their relationship eventually progressed from close friends (Stevie actually referred to her as his best friend) to lovers, a move which was terrifying for the record producer. Unfortunately, his fears weren't misplaced. Their lowkey romance came to an end in 2017.
"I've been married most of my adult life. I never really dated until the last four years," Evans admitted in an interview. "It was weird for me but he said he loved me and said I been there for him. He said everything that was true, but it did not mean we should be together."
Evans finally tied the knot with Stevie J
There may be plenty of fish in the sea, but Faith Evans decided to catch the same one again and again until she eventually locked him down for good. In an unexpected turn of events, Evans reportedly married Love & Hip Hop: Atlanta star Stevie J in Vegas. Wait, what?
Stevie J and Evans had called it quits sometime in 2017, with Evans telling The Breakfast Club, "I just don't like the drama and I think he might be a little bit addicted to the drama." By all accounts, it sounded like she just wasn't that romantically into him. But apparently she must've felt a little bit bored without the drama because TMZ reported that the couple had reconciled and had applied for a Clark County marriage license on June 18, 2018. Later that night, they allegedly tied the knot in their Las Vegas hotel room in front of family and friends.
Evans' third wedding certainly follows the pattern of her previous speedy marriages. Guess when a girl knows, she knows.