Redman has nothing but respect for his fellow Brick City star—and former flame—Faith Evans.
In a new interview with Acton Entertainment shared Wednesday (Sept. 9), the Newark rapper opened up about his past with the R&B singer and how he felt when she started dating The Notorious B.I.G.
Evans and Biggie tied the knot in August 1994, just two months after meeting at a Bad Boy Records promo photoshoot. They later welcomed their son, Christopher Jordan “C.J.” Wallace, in 1996, less than a year before Biggie’s tragic death in Los Angeles.
“When she started her relationship with Biggie, I was jealous,” Redman joked around the 8:45 mark of the interview. “First of all, Faith and I—Faith was my sister’s best friend, and I met Faith through my sister… Yeah, we were all young.”
He went on to call Evans a “sweetheart” and revealed that he once tried to bring her in as a collaborator for EPMD, though he admitted R&B wasn’t really the group’s lane.
“She was amazing and still is today—one of the best queens of R&B to me,” Redman said. “I wanted to put her on, but I was just getting on myself, so I really couldn’t do too much.”
Although EPMD—especially Erick Sermon—wasn’t really working in R&B, Redman recalled that Evans would still come around before she “made a connection and got on” with Bad Boy.
“When she started dating Biggie and stuff… I was doing my thing. I was already on tour wylin’ out with chicks, you know,” he admitted. “Me and her had split and parted ways, of course, but she would still come to see me. Then she finally got on, and I was happy for them. So when she dated Biggie, man, I was like, you know, Faith has always been a smart person. You know, she’s Brick City. She’s Jersey all day. So, of course, she’s going to move with good discernment.”
Redman said he was “amazed” by Evans’ rise, noting how she became part of “one of the hottest rap crews at the time.”
“I was, ‘Wow, she’s doing her thing.’ So the only thing I could do was salute her, pray for her, and wish her the best,” he added.
The two have remained friends, even linking up on the 2024 track “Hoodstar” from Muddy Waters Too. Redman revealed that he’s always there for her if she needs him, though he usually hits her up to poke fun.
“When I call her and text her, it’s usually me clowning on her about something, or I’ll be like, ‘Yo, Faye, look at them shoes you had on back in the ’80s,’” he laughed. “I found some old pictures of her with some old ass shoes on and I text her with that or whatever.”
Back in 2018, during an episode of Drink Champs, Evans herself shared that Redman was actually her boyfriend when she was in ninth grade—and at the time, he was a church drummer.
