Voletta Wallace, Notorious B.I.G.’s Mother, Dies at 78
Voletta Wallace, the mother of late rapper The Notorious B.I.G, has died. She was 78.
Wallace died at her home in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, of natural causes after spending time in hospice care, the local coroner told The Associated Press.
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Wallace was an outspoken advocate for her son, born Christopher Wallace, and his legacy after he died in a shooting in 1997. The case remains unsolved.
In a particularly memorable public appearance, she attended the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, which took place roughly six months after Biggie died.
She accepted an award he won for “Hypnotize” and noted that if her son were there, he’d say, “big-up to Brooklyn.”
Though she initially called her son’s music “noise,” she told The Associated Press that when she listened to his songs, she understood his gifts.
“I cried so much that day just listening to the music,” she said. “I remember I sat, I stood. I rested my head on the stereo and I just cried like a baby. And that was therapy for me. And I said, ‘Oh my God — that was a talented young man to put those words together.’ He had a beautiful voice. I love his voice.”
She penned the 2005 memoir Biggie. In an interview with NPR that year, she spoke about her son’s legacy and how she continues to mourn him.
“He has touched so many people and so many people loved him and, you know, still do. That cannot take my pain away,” she said. “What I am feeling inside is like a 100-pound lead weighing down in my chest. It’s very cold and it’s very heavy and I am so dying to get rid of it. But it’s not something you can get rid of, because that was my son. He was my baby. I am a mother and I will always be a mother.”
And Wallace produced the 2009 biopic about her son, Notorious, in which she was portrayed by Angela Bassett.
She also executive produced the 2021 Netflix documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell.
Born in Jamaica before immigrating to the U.S., Wallace worked as a teacher while raising her son in Brooklyn.
Biggie’s 1994 debut album Ready to Die has sold more than 6 million copies and included hits “Big Poppa” and “Juicy.”
His second album, Life After Death, released two weeks after he died, sold more than 11 million copies and included hits “Hypnotize” and “Mo Money Mo Problems.”
Biggie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.
Disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, then known as “Puff Daddy,” was a close associate of The Notorious B.I.G., producing his music, which was released on Diddy’s Bad Boy Records, and taking a lead role in the tributes to Biggie in the wake of his death, including his Police cover tribute song and video, “I’ll Be Missing You,” which was performed at the 1997 VMAs, alongside Sting, Faith Evans and 112. And Diddy was part of the group that accompanied Wallace onstage at the VMAs to accept her son’s award.
But Wallace spoke out against Diddy last spring, as he faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and was shown physically attacking longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a 2016 surveillance video that surfaced in 2024.
Speaking to Rolling Stone, Wallace said the allegations of violence and sexual abuse made her “sick to my stomach.”
“I’m praying for Cassie. I’m praying for his mother,” Wallace said. “I don’t want to believe the things that I’ve heard, but I’ve seen [the video]. I pray that he apologizes to her.”
And she said if she saw Diddy again she’d want to “slap the daylights out of him.”
“I liked him,” she said. “I didn’t want to believe all the awful things, but I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.”
Diddy has since been indicted on sex-trafficking charges and remains behind bars as he awaits trial.
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