Mariah Carey is one of the most successful artists in music history. From her five octave voice to her songwriting, Carey's artistry has resulted in millions of records being sold around the world. In addition to being an inductee to the Songwriters Hall of Fame, Carey earned a record 19 number one singles on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.

While working on her 1997 album "Butterfly," Carey worked with many new collaborators. Among these collaborators were Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Carey had separated from Tommy Mottola and rumors were swirling about her dating life. Combs was one of the men Carey was linked to at the time. When talking to MTV that year, Carey surprisingly responded to the rumor.

Mariah Denied She Was Dating Diddy During An Interview With MTV In The 90's

As the summer of 1997 was coming to a close, Mariah Carey was getting ready to release her sixth studio album "Butterfly."

The album would see her moving past the carefully-crafted pop sound of her early records. Her true R&B influences would be expanded on even further this time around. She would also delve even further into hip hop this time around. She collaborated with everyone from Missy Elliot, Stevie J, Mobb Deep, and even Sean "Diddy" Combs.

Carey was also separated from her then-husband Tommy Mottola, whom she married in 1993. Given the new state of Carey's love life, rumors were swirling about who she was dating.

Normally, stars don't like to encourage attention to such stories. Most stars of Carey's stature would only dignify them with a response if asked. However, in a 1997 interview with MTV, Carey poked fun at the rumor without being asked when talking to former VJ Tabitha Soren.

While at a party to celebrate the release of Carey's upcoming album, Soren asked the singer, "Should we go find Puffy?"

"Why not?" Carey responded before sarcastically asking, "You mean my boyfriend Puffy?"

"Easy," Soren said, as if to warn Carey not to add any fuel to the fire.

"We're not together, just so the world knows. I love Puffy," Carey said. "Puffy and I are not together, so can we stop the rumors please?"

Mariah First Worked With Diddy On The 'Fantasy' Remix With O.D.B.

For her previous album, "Daydream," Carey had a big hit with the song "Fantasy."

While the original song was a big pop hit, Carey would move further into the hip hop arena with the song's remix. The remix featured O.D.B. and was produced by Combs, with Cory Rooney serving as the song's A&R rep.

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Rooney spoke about working with both Mottola and Combs on the song's remix while speaking to Billboard in 2016.

"Tommy said, 'Man, who could we get to remix this record, bring it to the center of pop and urban?' And without even hesitating, I said Puffy," Rooney remembered. "I knew Puffy from the Uptown [Records] days — since he was an intern for us there."

Rooney continued, "He’s so rude sometimes, but there’s a method to his madness. He would just bluntly come in, like, 'Oh my god, that’s whack — erase that.' And you’re looking at him like, 'Who the hell are you? You’re not a musician, what the hell do you know. You don’t know s*** about music.' But when you backed away from the board, you’d go, 'Damn, this s*** is alright.' Just raw hip-hop. That’s what his ears told him to do, and he did it. You got to respect the ears of someone like Puffy — he was a consumer more than anything."

Diddy Helped Mariah Clear The Air With The Notorious B.I.G. While In The Studio

When Carey began working on her "Butterfly" album, she intended to bring the musical elements she only previously explored on her remixes onto the main album.

Case in point, Carey decided to bring Combs onto the main version of the song "Honey," which was the album's first single. When Carey was working with Combs in the studio on the song, she wanted to bring The Notorious B.I.G. into the studio for the remix.

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However, Carey was unsure how Biggie felt about her after hearing him mention her on a prior song. Combs was able to get Biggie on the phone to speak with Carey and helped the two clear the air.

"As much as I loved ‘Honey,’ my only major disappointment was that Biggie (the Notorious B.I.G.) never made it onto the remix," Carey wrote in her 2020 memoir "The Meaning Of Mariah Carey." "I had never met Biggie, but there was a running story that I had beef with him because of his song ‘Dreams of F****** an R&B B****.'”

In the lyrics to the song titled, “Just Playing (Dreams),” Biggie says, "Mariah Carey’s kinda scary." Carey then revealed how their phone conversation went.

"In true Biggie form — half pimp, half preacher — he said, ‘Naw, ma, you know, no disrespect,’ assuring me the song was all in fun," Carey wrote. "So things were cool between us."

"On the call, we talked about the music and flow, and even clowned a little bit. It was a chill and creative conversation," she continued. "He was confident about what he wanted to bring to ‘Honey,’ and I had no doubt he would come into the studio and crush it; that’s what Biggie did."

"Tragically, he didn’t live long enough to make our studio date," Carey wrote. "The ‘Honey (Bad Boy Remix)’ featuring Mase and The Lox was a smash, but there’s a part of me that still misses Biggie on that song, and certainly in this world."

Biggie was murdered in March 1997 at the age of 24.