Voletta Wallace, Notorious B.I.G.’s Mom, Dead at 78

Voletta Wallace, the mother of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G., has died. She was 78.

TMZ was the first to break the news that Wallace passed away on Friday, February 21. Wallace was in hospice care at the time of her death and reportedly died of natural causes.

Wallace took on the role of protecting her son’s career and legacy after his untimely death in 1997 at the age of 24. Though she worked as a preschool teacher before her son was killed, she quickly shifted focus and became the person responsible for shaping conversations about her son for decades.

It was Wallace who accepted the MTV Video Music Award for Biggie’s album Life After Death just six months after he died. Wallace also stood on stage with Afeni Shakur, the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur, two years later — at the time, both women asked for fans to unite in honor of their sons, who were once friends but ultimately became enemies before they were both shot to death in separate incidents.

Wallace also founded the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, through which she worked with other mothers who lost their children at early ages.

She was also part of the team that brought the 2021 film City of Lies to the big screen, which examined the alleged police cover-ups related to Biggie’s death. In an interview for the film, Wallace spoke to Screen Rant about where her son might be if he were still alive.

“I try not to think about it, because sometimes, it could be depressing. I always wonder, if my son was here, what would he be doing?” she told the publication at the time. “I told somebody that maybe he would be in jail by now, but I know he would be a successful human being because he spoke about it and it was something that he believed in.”

“He influenced a lot of young individuals, because I see kids who weren’t even born yet when he died and still they’re saying how much they love my son’s music,” she added. “These are people who weren’t even born yet when he died, so what would happen? What would have happened to him? Oh, Lord, I don’t even want to fathom that thought.”

One of her last public statements was against Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs in the wake of his legal issues stemming from numerous allegations of sexual assault, among other crimes. Diddy worked with and performed alongside Biggie before and up to the time of his death. (Combs denies all allegations against him and currently awaiting trial.)

“I hope that I see Sean one day, and the only thing I want to do is slap the daylights out of him. And you can quote me on that,” she told Rolling Stone in May 2024. “Because I liked him. I didn’t want to believe all the awful things, but I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.”