The Notorious B.I.G.’s estate is owned by his immediate family through a company called Notorious B.I.G. LLC, with Primary Wave Music holding a 50% stake it bought in March 2025. On the family side, Faith Evans (Wallace’s widow) and the revocable trust of his late mother Voletta Wallace each claim membership in the LLC, and the exact split between them is the subject of an active lawsuit in Delaware Chancery Court. Wallace’s two children, T’yanna Wallace and Christopher “CJ” Wallace Jr., are beneficiaries who receive distributions.
Notorious B.I.G. LLC: The Family’s Holding Company
The business side of the legacy runs through Notorious B.I.G. LLC. The company holds the family’s interests in Wallace’s recordings, songwriting credits, and the commercial rights to his name, image, and likeness. The LLC approves deals, collects royalties, and licenses the brand, keeping estate operations separate from the family’s personal finances.
For nearly three decades, Voletta Wallace and Faith Evans shared ownership of the LLC. Voletta managed the estate alongside Evans and Wayne Barrow, who served as the day-to-day business president. That arrangement held until Voletta’s death in February 2025 at age 78. Evans has since allegedly operated as the sole remaining member of the LLC, a position the Wallace side disputes.
Primary Wave’s 50% Stake
Shortly before her death, Voletta Wallace closed one of the largest transactions in the estate’s history. On March 20, 2025, Primary Wave Music acquired a 50% stake covering Wallace’s recorded music, his songwriting catalog, and his name, image, and likeness rights. The Wall Street Journal reported the deal valued the estate at roughly $200 million.
Primary Wave is a company that specializes in acquiring legacy music catalogs, and it brings its own marketing infrastructure, sync licensing team, and brand partnership network. That means half of the commercial decision-making over Wallace’s catalog now sits with an outside company, and half of the proceeds that used to flow entirely to the family now flow to Primary Wave.
Who Receives the Money
Revenue that reaches the family side gets distributed to Wallace’s immediate relatives. Faith Evans holds a direct ownership interest as his surviving spouse. T’yanna Wallace and CJ Wallace are beneficiaries entitled to distributions from the LLC’s income.
Voletta Wallace was a central beneficiary during her lifetime and used much of her share to fund the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, a nonprofit she established in 1997 that provides scholarships, grants, and educational programming for young people. After her death, her interest passed to her revocable trust, which Wayne Barrow now manages as trustee. The trust claims a 50% membership stake in Notorious B.I.G. LLC, meaning Voletta’s share did not disappear with her but continues through the trust for her designated beneficiaries.
The Delaware Lawsuit Over Control
In July 2025, Wayne Barrow, acting as trustee of Voletta’s trust, filed suit against Faith Evans in Delaware Chancery Court. The core allegation is that Evans has been running Notorious B.I.G. LLC unilaterally since Voletta’s death, ignoring the trust’s claimed 50% stake and distributing Primary Wave sale proceeds to Wallace’s children and presumably to herself without accounting for the trust’s share.
The lawsuit asks the court to declare the trust a 50% member of the LLC, grant access to the company’s financial books, order proportionate cash distributions, and enforce the LLC agreement’s deadlock resolution provisions. The case was originally filed under seal, and as of mid-2026 it remained unresolved. Its outcome will determine how estate income is divided going forward and who has decision-making authority over the brand.
What the Estate Actually Owns
Ownership of Wallace’s music splits into two categories that often get confused: master recordings and publishing rights. The estate’s position in each is different.
Master Recordings
The estate does not own the masters. Wallace recorded for Bad Boy Records, and the classic Bad Boy masters from that era, including “Ready to Die” and “Life After Death,” are owned by Bad Boy Entertainment LLC. Warner Music Group holds a 50% interest in those recordings, with distribution handled through its Rhino Entertainment catalog division. The estate receives royalty payments from streams, sales, and licensing, but not ownership of the recordings themselves.
Publishing Rights
Publishing was a separate story for years because Bad Boy’s publishing arm controlled the songwriting credits. In September 2023, Sean Combs announced he would return publishing rights to Bad Boy artists and songwriters, and the Notorious B.I.G. estate signed agreements to receive those rights back. That gave the family a direct financial stake in the fees generated whenever Wallace’s compositions are performed, broadcast, or used in film and television. Primary Wave’s 2025 purchase then took a 50% interest in that publishing catalog and in the recording royalties flowing to the estate.
So the money from Wallace’s music splits several ways: Warner Music Group earns from the masters, Primary Wave takes its negotiated share of what reaches the estate, and the remaining family members collect what flows through the LLC.
Name, Image, and Likeness
Notorious B.I.G. LLC owns federal trademarks covering Wallace’s stage names, which lets the company approve or block merchandise, apparel, and commercial uses of his face and persona.1Justia Trademarks. BIGGIE SMALLS Trademark Application of Notorious B.I.G., LLC Those rights were part of what Primary Wave bought into, so licensing decisions over Wallace’s likeness now involve the outside partner as well as the family.
Why Future Ownership Could Shift Again
Federal copyright law gives authors’ heirs the right to reclaim copyrights they previously signed away. Under the Copyright Act, heirs can terminate a copyright grant starting 35 years after it was executed. For grants that include publication rights, the window opens 35 years after publication or 40 years after the grant was signed, whichever comes first.2U.S. Copyright Office. Termination of Transfers and Licenses Under 17 USC 203
Wallace signed his recording contracts in the early-to-mid 1990s, and “Ready to Die” was published in 1994. The earliest termination window for those grants could open around 2029 to 2032, depending on contract dates. When an author has died, the termination interest splits between the surviving spouse (who gets half if there are living children) and the author’s children (who share the other half). Wallace’s family could potentially use this mechanism to reclaim his copyrights from Bad Boy and Warner Music Group, though exercising the right requires serving formal notice within specific statutory timeframes.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 17 – Section 203
That is why the Delaware lawsuit matters beyond the Primary Wave money. Whoever controls the estate when those windows open will decide whether to exercise the termination rights, and reclaiming the masters would be the single most valuable move the estate could make.
What the Estate Is Worth Today
The Primary Wave transaction valued the estate at approximately $200 million, reflecting past catalog earnings and the projected future value of Wallace’s brand, streaming royalties, and licensing potential. That is enormous growth from the roughly $10 million the estate was worth at the time of Wallace’s death in 1997. Income comes from streaming royalties, mechanical and performance royalties on his compositions, licensing fees for film and television, merchandise, and brand partnerships, divided according to the ownership structure above and whatever the Delaware court ultimately decides about the family’s internal split.