The ex-wife of The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace), Faith Evans, and his former manager, Wayne Barrow—the executor of the estate of Voletta Wallace, the rapper’s late mother—are embroiled in a lawsuit over allegedly withheld proceeds stemming from the sale of Biggie’s catalog (by his mother) to Primary Wave, a music publishing and talent management company. The deal was worth a reported $100 million, and Voletta secured the sale before her passing in February 2025.
According to Billboard, Voletta managed an LLC holding Biggie’s assets after his death in March 1997. Voletta then sold a 50 percent stake to Primary Wave for $100 million for Biggie’s music publishing and recordings, as well as certain name, image, and likeness rights. Upon Voletta’s death, management of the LLC transferred to Faith Evans, Biggie’s ex-wife. According to the July 2 court filing by Barrow, Evans was responsible for providing the estate its cut of the profits from the sale, but has yet to do so.
“Ms. Evans has distributed sale proceeds to Ty’anna, CJ, and presumably to herself. She, however, has wrongfully withheld the Trust’s [redacted] share of the proceeds, in the amount of [redacted],” shared Barrow in his suit.
In addition to his claim that Evans has withheld profits from Voletta’s estate, he also claims that she refuses to acknowledge Voletta’s estate as a 50 percent partner in the holding company, thereby keeping her estate (Barrow) completely in the dark about all business of the company.
Barrow is trying to secure a court order requiring Evans to provide Voletta’s trust its share of the proceeds and have Evans removed as manager of the rapper’s asset holding company citing her “continued misconduct and disregard for her obligations,” and looking to be named manager of the holding company.
Neither Evans nor Primary Wave had responded to the petition.
