Voletta Wallace: The Mother of Iconic Hip Hop Legend The Notorious B.I.G., Passes Away at 78

Voletta Wallace attended the Lincoln Center orchestral tribute to Notorious B.I.G at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City on June 10, 2022. John Lamparski/Getty Images reports that Voletta Wallace, mother of rap icon The Notorious B.I.G., has passed away at the age of 78.

Billboard confirmed Wallaces death with Monroe County Coroners Office in Pennsylvania on Friday (Feb. 21). According to Tom Yanac from the Monroe County Coroner’s office, Voletta died “of natural causes” while on hospice care at her residence in Stroudsburg, Penn.

A representative for The Notorious B.I.G.s estate also confirmed Wallaces passing early Friday. TMZ was the first to report that Wallace had passed away.

Wallace is remembered as a Jamaican immigrant who gave birth to Christopher Wallace (the real name of The Notorious B.I.G.) on May 21, 1972, in Brooklyn. She worked as a preschool teacher and raised Biggie as a single mother until his death at the age of 24 by gunshots in Los Angeles in March 1997.

Biggie became a hip-hop superstar while signed to Diddys Bad Boy Records, releasing two critically acclaimed albums: Ready to Die and Life After Death. The latter debuted atop the Billboard 200 charts just weeks before his passing. Some of his most well-known hits include “Juicy,” “Hypnotize,” “Ten Crack Commandments,” “Going Back to Cali,” and “Mo Money Mo Problems.” He is considered one of the pillars of East Coast hip-hop during the ’90s’ golden era.

In tribute to her son, Wallace launched the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation. She also served as a producer on The Notorious B.I.G.s biopic, which was released in 2009 and featured Angela Bassett playing Volettas role. Biggie’s mother attended his induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2020.

In recent months, Wallace celebrated her son on Instagram by sharing posts about his music achievements that included 992 million Spotify streams in 2024 and over two billion all-time streams on Apple Music. Voletta is survived by her grandchildren, C.J. Wallace and T’yanna Wallace, who are The Notorious B.I.G.’s children.