Rich Homie Quan On Messing Up Biggie Verse: Screen Went Black!
Rich Homie Quan on My Expert Opinion details the infamous night he forgot Biggie Smalls’ verse when performing ”Get Money.”
Back in 2016, Rich Homie Quan took the stage alongside Lil Kim for VH-1’s Hip Hop Honors. The Atlanta artist was asked personally by Kim to perform Biggie Smalls’ verse of Junior M.A.F.I.A.’s hit single ”Get Money.”
Although the song is a well known hip hop classic, it was an odd task to be called upon for the Atlanta rapper. ”I’m like it’s Lil Kim, I can’t tell her no. Kim whatever you need I got you. I’m still thinking of the Word Up! magazine pictures on the wall that I use to jack off to,” Quan said.
Quan was not in the original plans as explained by Lil Kim the day after the viral performance. “I can honestly say, Vh1 was really good about making sure that I had everybody that I wanted and everybody that they suggested.” She said on Sway In The Morning, “‘Get Money’ was never in my set list. There were two other songs in my set list and I had two other, major artists that I was supposed to perform with…At the ninth hour, both of those artists pulled out.”
Quan proceeded with the assignment despite not knowing the lyrics to Biggie’s verse for ”Get Money.’ The Atlanta native had a game plan, as he requested a teleprompter during rehearsal.
Fast forward to showtime, Kim calls out Quan as he raps, ”You wanna sip mo’ on my living room flo’?
Play Nintendo with cease a Leo.” Unfortunately for Quan what happened next was the worst possible thing imagined.
“That mothaf**ka goes black!,” Quan says in reference to the teleprompter. As a result, Quan could not complete the Biggie verse, the video goes viral and receives backlash from the hip hop community, especially New York.
The rapper would apologize via a statement. “I assure you that I never intended to disrespect the Memory of Biggie Smalls,” he said. “I have long respected his work and his contribution to the rap game. I greatly apologize not only to Biggie Smalls, but also to all of my fans, Biggie Smalls fans and to New York. The city of New York has been nothing but good to me. I felt honored to stand on stage with artists I grew up listening to. Once on stage I had some technical difficulties and must admit I got nervous. I will forever be sorry New York, my fans, Biggie Smalls, Biggie Smalls Fans, Lil Kim, and all the Hip Hop community for my performance. I hope you can accept my apology. To Lil Kim, Thank you for the opportunity.”