NOW VIEWINGRecord
HomeJourneyCollectionsStoriesPathsMusic RoomGamesExploreMapDebateNews
Explore

ENTITY · PERSON (ARTIST, SELECTOR, PRODUCER…)

The Notorious B.I.G. (Christopher Wallace)

Well supported

Christopher Wallace, the Brooklyn rapper known as the Notorious B.I.G. and Biggie Smalls, was the son of Voletta Wallace, who emigrated to New York from Trelawny Parish, Jamaica. Voletta regularly took him back to Jamaica to see family, including her musically inclined brothers. His first appearance on record was as an added voice, alongside Mary J.

Blige and Puff Daddy, on a 1993 remix of Super Cat's "Dolly My Baby" — a Jamaican single reaching toward Brooklyn before the American majors went looking for their own Jamaican signings. He was murdered in Los Angeles on 9 March 1997.

No photograph yet — add one you hold the rights toOpenly licensed or your own work. We publish the credit and the licence beside it.

At a glance

Confidence
Well supported
Sources
Jamaica Observer, "Voletta Wallace, Jamaican-born mother of Notorious B.I.G., has died," 21 Feb 2025; jamaicans.com, "8 Things You Didn't Know About the Notorious B.I.G.".

Coverage areas

Diaspora & global influence

Tap a tag to explore related records across the atlas.

Share a memoryWrite it, say it, or send a photo.Correct this recordA date, a name, a spelling we got wrong.Add a source leadA flyer, tape, article or photograph.

Connections

In stories

Story · ProbableFrom Kingston to the Bronx: DJ Kool Herc and the Sound-System Roots of Hip-Hop

How a Jamaican teenager carried the logic of the dancehall sound system into a South Bronx rec room and helped set hip-hop in motion.

Share this record

WhatsAppXFacebookEmail

Compiled and researched by The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk. The sources that informed it are credited above.

Share it freely. Quote it, teach from it, print it, put it on your own site — all we ask is that you credit The Jamaica Music Atlas music desk and link back where a link is possible, so the next reader can follow the trail to the sources. If you publish something built on this, tell us and we will link to you in return.