Notorious B.I.G. Estate Ruling, My Chemical Romance Case, Drake Lawsuit & More Music Law News
Billboard ·
In this week's Legal Beat newsletter, a ruling on Biggie's estate, a battle over cheerleader uniforms, a quick end to a case against Drake and much more.
THE BIG STORY: A messy lawsuit over The Notorious B.I.G. got a final ruling, but a broader legal war over the rap legend’s estate is far from over.
A judge ruled last week that Faith Evans must immediately distribute $14 million in estate profits to a trust set up by his late mother, Voletta Wallace, before she died last year. Much of the disputed money came from the estate’s landmark 2025 catalog deal with Primary Wave, which acquired a stake in the iconic rapper’s copyrights and likeness rights.
The monetary judgment resolved a case filed by Wayne Barrow , Biggie’s former manager who runs that trust, that claimed Evans was refusing to recognize that the group had inherited Voletta’s 25 percent cut of estate profits. It followed an August ruling in which the judge sided decisively with Barrow on that dispute — even quoting from Biggie’s posthumous track “Ten Crack Commandments.”
“Wallace presciently cautioned: ‘Keep your family and business completely separated,’” wrote the judge. “After Wallace’s tragic death, however, his mother and widow did exactly the opposite.”
Barring reversal on appeal, last week’s ruling will end the lawsuit between Barrow and Evans. But it won’t resolve a separate case, filed by Biggie’s son CJ, that claims Barrow manipulated Voletta into giving him complete control of her estate before she died. The manager has denied those accusations and claimed CJ’s lawsuit was engineered by Evans, which her lawyers deny.
That case remains in the earliest stages, meaning that even after last week’s big ruling, we still have months or years of legal battles ahead over the final affairs of The Notorious B.I.G. Stay tuned.
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