Delaware court grants The Notorious B.I.G.'s former manager access to Voletta Wallace's stake in the rapper's music catalog worth millions from Primary Wave deal.
By Adam Makins · 
A Delaware judge has dealt a significant blow to Faith Evans in the ongoing battle over The Notorious B.I.G.’s valuable music catalog, ruling Friday that Wayne Barrow, the late Voletta Wallace’s chosen estate trustee, is entitled to control her 50% stake in the rapper’s intellectual property.
The decision marks a major victory for Barrow, who managed Biggie before his 1997 death. Evans, the hip-hop legend’s widow, had been blocking Barrow from accessing Voletta’s 25% cut of profits from a landmark Primary Wave deal valued at roughly $100 million. That barrier has now been removed by the court.
Delaware Chancellor Kathaleen McCormick was blunt in her reasoning, stating Evans’ legal position “fails at many levels.” The judge determined that Barrow is entitled to both a 50% membership interest and 25% distribution rights in the intellectual property portfolio, effectively validating Voletta’s decision to name him as her successor before her death in February 2025.
Barrow’s attorney Jay Freiberg celebrated the ruling as “a complete vindication,” telling Billboard that “Faith had no basis whatsoever to withhold the money and to lock Wayne out.” The legal team’s confidence appears justified given McCormick’s straightforward language in the decision.
What makes this ruling particularly interesting is how the judge framed the entire conflict. McCormick noted the lawsuit was “perhaps the inevitable result” of Voletta and Evans becoming 50-50 partners in Biggie’s music catalog after his death. The chancellor even quoted the rapper himself, referencing the “Ten Crack Commandments” from Life After Death: “Keep your family and business completely separated.” It’s a poignant reminder that Biggie himself warned against mixing family and business interests, and that’s exactly what happened with his estate.
Under Voletta’s will, her share of the Primary Wave proceeds will flow to the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation rather than staying with the family. This charitable direction adds another layer to the dispute, suggesting Voletta had specific intentions about how her stake in her son’s legacy should be used.
Meanwhile, the remaining profits from the deal are to be split evenly among Biggie’s two children, CJ and Ty’anna Wallace, and Evans herself. This division has created a complex web of competing interests that continues to entangle the estate.
Evans and Primary Wave have not commented on the ruling, maintaining silence as the legal dust settles from round one of what’s becoming an increasingly contentious entertainment industry battle.
Despite this significant setback for Evans, Barrow’s troubles are far from finished. CJ Wallace, Biggie’s son, has filed his own lawsuit in Pennsylvania alleging that Barrow manipulated Voletta into giving him complete control of her estate shortly before her death. Originally, Voletta’s will named both CJ and Barrow as joint executors, but amendments made months before she died changed that arrangement.
That Pennsylvania case remains in early stages, meaning the Wallace family and their various advisors could be tied up in legal proceedings for years to come. The complexity only deepens when you consider Primary Wave’s involvement, the memorial foundation’s interests, and the competing claims from multiple family members.
This saga perfectly encapsulates why judges and financial advisors constantly warn against entangling family relationships with business ownership. Even with careful estate planning, the human emotions and competing interests can derail everything. Biggie’s posthumous legacy, rather than being a source of unity and pride, has become a contentious battleground where his mother, widow, and children find themselves at odds over money and control.
The real question now is whether any of these disputes will ultimately benefit the legacy of one of hip-hop’s most influential artists, or whether lawyers and judges will simply be the primary beneficiaries of what should have been a straightforward estate settlement.
Source: Billboard
