Biggie: Voletta Wallace Remembers Her Son, Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious B.I.G.

Biggie: Voletta Wallace Remembers Her Son, Christopher Wallace, aka Notorious B.I.G. by Wallace, Voletta. hardcover edition. ISBN: 9780743470209.

This is a memoir of Ms. Wallaces star child and recounts her own story of immigration. As a young woman of modest means in Jamaica, she dreamed the American Dream. Like so many West Indians, she built a life from scratch, settling in Brooklyn, New Yorks Bed-Stuyvesant neighborhood. She worked as a teacher of young children and raised her son without the support of his father. She lived a quiet and conservative life as a practicing Jehovahs Witness who tried hard to keep her bright precocious son on the straight and narrow. Christopher got his knack for writing verse from his mother. She had no idea though that "all that noise" he was making with his friends in the bedroom of their small apartment would one day become platinum selling records. She also had no idea that her industrious son was becoming a leader in his circle and a small-time drug dealer. The book charts her sons climb to stardom and his death, the result of a drive-by shooting that occurred on March 9, 1997 in Los Angeles, CA. He was leaving a post-Soul Train Music Awards party hosted by Vibe magazine. The murder remains unsolved. Ms. Wallace and Faith Evans, who was married to the hip hop star filed a wrongful death and federal civil rights lawsuit against the city of Los Angeles, the LAPD, Police Chief Bernard C. Parks and former Chiefts Willie Williams and Bayan Lewis. Wallace is survived by two children. She talks about the issues surrounding her sons murder and the unsavory people and practices of the music and entertainment industry, but more than that she speaks as an ordinary woman and mother dedicated to raising her son and teaching the sons and daughters of parents faced with the same trials and tribulations as she. Her aim is to "give back" the resources that have come to her through a terrible and tragic loss as a way to inspire young people to do good.