It’s been 24 years since The Notorious B.I.G. was tragically killed in Los Angeles, and his mother says she still has “hope” that justice will be served in his death. Voletta Wallace, mother to the rap legend, spoke with Entertainment Weekly ahead of the anniversary of her son’s passing.

“As long as I have life, there’s hope,” she said. “I’ll never give up. And I hope when I’m not in this world anymore, my friends and family will carry on the fight. There is always hope.”

Wallace, who has worked to preserve Biggie’s legacy, added that she found a connection to her son through his music after his death.

“After his passing, I heard a lot of positive and negative things that were being said about him. As a mother, I only wanted to hear positive things because I’m biased,” she said. “I decided then I wanted to know more about his music. I read something in a magazine about him where the writer said something like, ‘What do people expect when you give a bum from the ghetto a million dollars?’ I was very hurt by that. I never raised my son to be a bum or a drug dealer. So, I listened to his music and I asked a lot of questions. I cried like a baby while listening because what I heard was an intelligent human being.”

Biggie’s friends Damion “D-Roc” Butler and Wayne Barrow also spoke with the outlet to commemorate the anniversary of his passing. The pair were involved in Netflix’s new documentary about the Brooklyn native, Biggie: I Got A Story To Tell.

“Big was a man, a son, a father, a brother and a friend,” Barrow said. “He was a man who wanted to live and wanted to make sure everyone around him came up with him. I don’t think he’d have any regrets because he lived life to the fullest and he did what he wanted to do. I think he’d be proud of everything he accomplished and [be] grateful to everyone who helped him along the way.”

D-Roc told the outlet he had a specific story he wanted to tell with Biggie’s latest documentary.

“We definitely have more stories to tell,” he teased. “I grew up with him and I have a lot of childhood stories to share about what we went through. I want people to respect the story we’re telling in this documentary, but know that I have a story to tell, too. And I definitely have more footage.”