Wow, this is a big move for Primary Wave Music! They bought a stake in late-rapper The Notorious B.I.G.‘s music publishing and recordings and certain name, image, and likeness rights.
Boom. You know they gotta be thinking: Cue the biopic!
Obviously terms weren’t disclosed (they almost never are), The Wall Street Journal reported (on Thursday, March 20) that Biggie Smalls’ mother, Voletta Wallace, reached the deal with Primary Wave shortly before her death earlier this year.
Biggie’s mom was instrumental in carrying on her son’s legacy and overseeing his estate. Biggie was murder at the age of 24 on March 9, 1997. She started the Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation and was a producer on the 2009 biopic Notorious, directed by George Tillman Jr. and starring Jamal Woolard, and was portrayed by Angela Bassett in the film.
The Wall Street Journal says Primary Wave is taking a 50% interest in the estate, which is valued at $200 million. It was also reported that Biggie had a standard publishing deal with Sean “Diddy” Combs’ Bad Boy company, which gave him a 50 % interest in his songwriting catalogue at the time of his death.
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Since the estate was doing most of the work, making deals and monetizing the music, Wallace convinced Combs to raise the estate’s stake to 85% and acquired the remaining 15% in 2020.
Primary Wave Music said, “The estate and Primary Wave will collaborate on all business moving forward in an effort to continue the incredible and innovative work done thus far with one goal in mind, to keep the legacy of the Notorious B.I.G. alive.”
Incredible. With a move like this, I think you should expect something Biggie related on the big-screen this year or next!
