"Notorious" DVD Release with Kat & Mrs. Wallace ( Biggie's mum )

To promote the release of "Notorious" on DVD - I was asked to go on an amazing promo trip to Brookyln, NYC, to interview Christopher "Notorious BIG" Wallace's mother - Mrs. Voletta Wallace. Now if you are a hip hop head - you have no doubt heard about this inspirational woman - she has overcome breast cancer 3 times AND had to suffer the high profile ( and still unsolved after 12 years!?!?!) murder of her superstar son Biggie Smalls.

Armed with my presenter Kat, we were escorted around Biggie's neighbourhood by the woman that knew him best - Mrs. Wallace.

First up - we went to his childhood home. This was the place where he lived when he married Faith Evans and first met Lil Kim, whom he had a tumultuous on & off relationship with. (Apparently Lil Kim was upset with her portrayal in the movie and has publicly attacked Mrs. Wallace since it's release ). Mrs. Wallace graciously accepted the attack and said that she "would love to meet with her - mother to daughter" to discuss this. She also condemned her son's treatment of Lil Kim but said at the end of the day "This movie isn't about her - it's about Christopher".

Biggie's now iconic music video, "Juicy" was also filmed on the steps of his childhood home. I was told that the neighbourhood looks really different to when Biggie lived there - it's been gentrified over the years and a lot of money has been ploughed into the area!

Next up on our hit list - myself, Kat and Mrs. Wallace visited Fort Green Middle School - a Catholic School that Biggie studied at from a young age. It was also the first place where he was christened with the name "Big" due to his height and stature! He also excelled in English there. This was also the spot where Biggie's real life son with Faith Evans, CJ, shot some scenes in his portrayal of a young Biggie. Mrs. Wallace said she was proud of her grandson's acting and would support him if he chose to go into music or entertainment.

Finally - we visited Biggie's high school - Fort Westinghouse in Brooklyn. Ironically - this school was also home to Busta Rhymes, Jay Z and DMX! Talk about an amazing hip hop legacy of students! Sadly Mrs. Wallace had no recollection of the young wannabe rappers – although she said her son knew them when he was a student there! She also revealed that Biggie’s decision to drop out of Fort Westinghouse at the age of 17, to focus on music, made her want to kill him. She didn’t understand why he wanted to pursue music when “he couldn’t even sing”. Her parting words to us were “Biggie promised me that (music) would make him!” ....and that it did!

Go cop “Notorious “ on dvd if you haven’t already – it’s released at the end of June!
In the meantime you can catch Kat and Mrs. Wallace talking all things Biggie all this month on THE LICK – Sunday, 7th June @ 5pm.