The Lox have had a storied career since the humble beginnings in Yonkers to their quick rise through Diddy’s Bad Boy label in the ’90s. They’re one of the few groups who can say they recorded with the late, great Notorious B.I.G. during his lifetime. And they’re also ones who can say for certain they were on the receiving end of one of Biggie’s patented subliminals a la Kendrick on Big Sean’s “Control.”
The trio sat down with Genius for their My First Song series to explain how their 1996 promo single “You’ll See” came together. As they tell it, at the time, Diddy was the only person they actually knew at Bad Boy and no one else. Somehow the label boss convinced Biggie to bless the young gunners with a 16 for their track. “He gave us that beat and let us do it and then he threw Big on it,” Jadakiss explains. “That was the introduction of the LOX being on Bad Boy,”
Obviously, B.I.G. agreed to the favor but he didn’t do it so without adding in a slight to the upstart crew. It’s buried in the lines “N****s talkin’ it but ain’t livin’ it, Cristal pops I’m sippin’ it, mob hats and lizard sh*t.”
“We was talking what we wanted,” Styles says “he was talking what he already had.” They laugh about it now and history proves they were able to speak things into existence, given their early success. Jadakiss says, “When we [eventually] met him it was all love, he embraced us with open arms, told us he was glad we were down with [him].”
But imagine having one of the greatest in the game pull a Kendrick move and son you on your own song?
Flashback to Bad Boy’s heyday and listen to “You’ll See” below.
