Notorious B.I.G.’s Mom Voletta Wallace Dead at 72  – E! Online

In wake of the tragic death of her son—who was also known as Biggie Smalls—Voletta detailed that she was unexpectedly thrown into the spotlight, and previously scoffed at the preconceived public perception of her. 

“They weren’t looking for an intelligent mother, a school-teacher mother,” she told the Pocono Record in 2003. “They were looking for a bum.”

And while Voletta was vocal about her distaste for rap music—and said she was “furious” when B.I.G. told her he wanted to be a rapper—she respected her son’s art. 

“I didn’t like it because I didn’t know what they were saying, but my son, I knew his words,” she told the Pocono Record. “He could articulate his story. I never liked profanity. I still don’t, but I understand what he was saying.”