Faith Evans talks ahead of Birmingham show

She’ll play songs from her hit 2017 album The King & I, recorded with her late husband, The Notorious B.I.G., when she takes to the stage at Birmingham’s O2 Institute tomorrow (Saturday).

The record was released to mark the 20th Anniversary of the passing of the Notorious B.I.G.

The death of her husband has left a void. “There is still no closure for us, but we just got tired of fighting what seemed to be a never-ending battle. It’s not any easier for us today 20 years later than it was for us at seven or eight years.

“The funny thing is I didn’t plan for our album to drop last year, it was supposed to drop the year before. But to me it’s the little things that let me know that Big approves the album because there were lots of little ways that I felt he was a part of the process.”

Faith is already working on a biopic based on her 2009 memoir, Keep the Faith, which chronicles her life and career, including her marriage to Biggie and his much-publicized infidelity.

Despite the drama that transpired between Faith, Lil’ Kim and other women involved with Biggie in the autobiography, the songstress makes it clear it won’t be heavily played onscreen.

“I’m the executive producer on it, and I’m working closely with the screenwriters. It’s definitely not going to be something other than what I would want to see. I like to be very tactful – but honest.”

Faith says The King and I was a cathartic project.

“The title actually was divine inspiration. I didn’t have a list of like, any thoughts of what the album title was going to be, but funny enough that’s the first thing that just dropped in my lap before I recorded one song.”

She was glad to make peace with Lil’ Kim on there.

“Well I don’t know . . . because like you said, I haven’t had those feelings in a while. I can’t speak for her whenever she felt like, “OK, it’s time to kind of let it go,” but thankfully she’s in a different place. I really don’t know when. I’ve seen her several times in passing throughout the years, but then when we were rehearsing for the Bad Boy Tour was probably the first time I actually had a full conversation with her since back when we actually hung out.

“You know, back in the day. That was – I won’t say different because it’s not like I don’t know who Kim is –but it was different just to feel comfortable. I felt like she understood where I was coming from; it was a feeling. She actually was receptive and as soon as I asked her about being on the album, she’s like, “Of course!” So I don’t think that was the defining moment of a hatchet being buried or anything. In previous times, it was never like she didn’t say hello back if I said hi. I always said hi if I saw her, but [the Bad Boy Tour] was certainly a forum where we got to see each other a little more often. Doing shows everyday, I would stop in her dressing room and play with her baby and stuff like that. The tour certainly was a catalyst for the recovery of our relationship, I would say.”

Faith thinks about her whirlwind relationship with Biggie on a daily basis. Her memories are ever-present and she reflects constantly on the impact he had on her life.

“I can’t say I think about it like, ‘What if we didn’t get married?’ but I can’t say that I’ve never reflected on it like, ‘Yeah, we did move really fast’. We’re doing a documentary with A&E Films about Big, and I just recently saw the rough cut and there were some clips of interview pieces of him that I had never heard. He was like, ‘You know, maybe she won’t admit it but I’ll admit it. We were moving too fast and everything, but we was in love!’ So obviously what he was saying was probably in response to someone asking him about how fast, but we fell in love! We did, and knowing that things would definitely not be the same in so many ways, I’m glad that I was already prepared to kind of look at the bigger picture in many ways with things.”

Faith wasn’t actually a huge fan of Biggie’s before they got married.

“I wasn’t familiar with his music prior to when we met. But Puff had a Father’s Day party which was the first night he ended up going home with me and we made love and all that. But when I saw him on stage, I was just blown away. I’m just in the audience like, ‘Oh, he’s performing?’ because he’d just kept asking me was I coming to this party and I saw him on stage. I didn’t know any of the songs either, but I just was looking at him and just how he had the crowd and how he didn’t have to do that much because he just had a certain confidence and swagger. I was like, ‘wow’.”