Voletta Wallace, the mom of late rapper The Infamous B.I.G, has died. She was 78.
Wallace died at her residence in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania of pure causes after spending time in hospice care, the native coroner instructed the Related Press.
Wallace was an outspoken advocate for her son, born Christopher Wallace, and his legacy after he died in a deadly capturing in 1997. The case stays unsolved.
In a very memorable public look, she attended the 1997 MTV Video Music Awards, which came about roughly six months after Biggie died.
She accepted an award he received for “Hypnotize” and famous that if her son have been there, he’d say, “big-up to Brooklyn.”
Although she initially referred to as her son’s music “noise,” she instructed the Related Press that when she listened to his songs, she understood his items.
“I cried a lot that day simply listening to the music,” she stated. “I bear in mind I sat, I stood. I rested my head on the stereo and I simply cried like a child. And that was remedy for me. And I stated, ‘Oh my God — that was a gifted younger man to place these phrases collectively.’ He had an exquisite voice. I like his voice.”
She penned the 2005 memoir Biggie. In an interview with NPR that 12 months, she spoke about her son’s legacy and the way she continues to mourn him.
“He has touched so many individuals and so many individuals beloved him and, , nonetheless do. That can’t take my ache away,” she stated. “What I’m feeling inside is sort of a 100-pound lead weighing down in my chest. It’s very chilly and it’s very heavy and I’m so dying to do away with it. Nevertheless it’s not one thing you possibly can do away with, as a result of that was my son. He was my child. I’m a mom and I’ll at all times be a mom.”
And Wallace produced the 2009 biopic about her son, Infamous, by which she was portrayed by Angela Bassett.
She additionally government produced the 2021 Netflix documentary Biggie: I Received a Story to Inform.
Born in Jamaica earlier than immigrating to the U.S., Wallace labored as a instructor whereas elevating her son in Brooklyn.
Biggie’s 1994 debut album Able to Die has bought greater than six million copies and included hits “Massive Poppa” and “Juicy.”
His second album, Life After Loss of life, launched two weeks after he died, bought greater than 11 million copies and included hits “Hypnotize” and “Mo Cash Mo Issues.”
Biggie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Corridor of Fame in 2020.
Disgraced rap mogul Sean “Diddy” Combs, then often known as “Puff Daddy,” was an in depth affiliate of The Infamous B.I.G., producing his music, which was launched on Diddy’s Dangerous Boy Information, and taking a lead function within the tributes to Biggie within the wake of his demise, together with his Police cowl tribute music and video, “I’ll Be Lacking You,” which was carried out on the 1997 VMAs, alongside Sting, Religion Evans and 112. And Diddy was a part of the group that accompanied Wallace onstage on the VMAs to just accept her son’s award.
However Wallace spoke out in opposition to Diddy final spring, as he confronted quite a few allegations of sexual misconduct and was proven bodily attacking longtime girlfriend Cassie Ventura in a 2016 surveillance video that surfaced in 2024.
Chatting with Rolling Stone, Wallace stated the allegations of violence and sexual abuse made her “sick to my abdomen.”
“I’m praying for Cassie. I’m praying for his mom,” Wallace stated. “I don’t need to consider the issues that I’ve heard, however I’ve seen [the video]. I pray that he apologizes to her.”
And he or she stated if she noticed Diddy once more she’d need to “slap the daylights out of him.”
“I favored him,” she stated. “I didn’t need to consider all of the terrible issues, however I’m so ashamed and embarrassed.”
Diddy has since been indicted on sex-trafficking fees and stays behind bars as he awaits trial.
