Before 50 Cent took on half of Hip-Hop with his ire-inspiring song “How To Rob,” The Notorious B.I.G. laid the groundwork with his hilarious yet irreverent “(Just Playing) Dreams.” 

Despite the song’s title, some of the songs subjects were not laughing about how they were cast in B.I.G.’s imaginary movie, with lines like “Mariah Carey’s kinda scary,” “Smack Tina Turner, give her flashbacks of Ike,” and possibly worst of all, “I’d fuck RuPaul before I fuck them ugly ass Xscape bitches.” 

Hip-Hop photography icon, Ernie Paniccioli, not only got to take photos of The Notorious B.I.G. numerous times throughout the MC’s lifetime, but the two actually became pretty good friends. Ernie has spoken on how the two would often crack jokes on each other, and remembers one time in particular, the joke was on B.I.G. when he came face-to-face with the ladies of Xscape.

“I was at the Vibe show where Xscape was performing and Biggie had done that lyric [from “Dreams”],” remembered Paniccioli. “I go backstage and I hear Xscape ripping him and he’s trying to apologize. He said he was high, he was lifted. He apologized for the lyrics [‘I’d rather fuck Rupaul than them ugly ass Xscape bitches’].”

Ernie said it got so heated he even had to make sure his expensive gear didn’t fall victim to any kind of melee. 

“They cornered him backstage, and I even put my camera away cause I thought it was gonna get violent,” said Paniccioli. “B.I.G. just went into his teddy bear routine and tried to be sweet and tried to play it off, and those women were not trying to hear it, but at the same time they were amused. I remember that as one of the funniest moments ever because he got caught out there and it was the first time I had ever seen Biggie at a loss for words and wishing he was anywhere in the world but there.”

Luckily for everyone, the situation did not escalate into anything physical and for B.I.G., a famously charming individual it certainly seemed to prove one of his greatest tests according to Paniccioli.

"They were not playin’ man, and at the same time there was humor in it, cause that’s how he made lyrics, he’d make things up out of his head, and every time he’d open his mouth a different one of the women from the group would have something to say,” Paniccioli noted. “It was like he was trying to run but just could not hide. Here’s this big guy towering over these women but at the same time they had him cornered and he was trying to finesse his way out of it.”