Everyone who loves them some hip-hop, will know a little something about one of the games most talented lyricists, Christopher Wallace better known as Biggie Smalls or Notorious BIG. For example it’s not too difficult to find out that he was born on May 21 (a date that has borne many greats *cough*ME*cough*) 1972 to Voletta Wallace and George Latore who left them when Biggie was only two. However, did you know that Biggie kept all of his rhymes in his head until freestyling them on the spot, that his mum used to call him ‘Chrissy Pooh’ and that he attended the same highschool as Busta Rhymes and Jay Z? Probably not, but all bar the latter fact are just a few of the points portrayed in NOTORIOUS, Fox Searchlight Pictures latest depiction of the remarkable rise and untimely fall of Christopher George Latore Wallace.
Directed by George Tillman Jnr (producer of such films as Roll Bounce, Barbershop and Soul Food), NOTORIOUS was in fact the creation of a joint collaboration between some of the people that knew Biggie the most intimately. From his mother Voletta Wallace to Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, and screenwriter Cheo Hodari Coker who had not only had hours of one-on-one interviews with Biggie himself, but also had in-depth conversations with many of the principle figures in Wallace’s life, NOTORIOUS offers a no-holds-barred portrait of the A-Class student, turned on the corner crack dealer, turned innovative rapper from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.
Beginning with scenes from BIG’s last moments on March 9, 1997 just before he became the second fallen victim to one of hip-hop’s most controversial and conspired about fallouts, the audience is then taken back to Biggie’s younger and more innocent years, played by his son, and mirror image CJ Wallace. Here we learn that Biggie was sheltered from the Brooklyn streets he grew up on as much as possible by his stern, yet loving mother who would walk him to and from school and then forbid him to leave the front stoop from thereon out. However, learning that the good kids were easy targets for the gangsters and longing for all the flashy things in life, it wasn’t long before Biggie turned to drug dealing to make money, something which in turn led the straight A-student to be a highschool dropout.
In between drug dealing, becoming a father, serving time in jail for drug dealing, beginning an intimate relationship with Lil’ Kim and drug dealing some more, Biggie would freestyle quick witted tales about life on the streets amongst friends which gained him great respect and led to his demo tape falling into the hands of upcoming producer Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs. Wasting little time in signing him to new label Bad Boy records, it wasn’t long before Notorious BIG was a globally recognised artist and one of the major players in the hip hop game. Young, popular, successful, managing his own group, ‘Junior Mafia’ and recently married to artist Faith Evans, it was at this point as prophesised by friend and fellow artist Tupac Shakur that things started to go badly.
November 30 1994 saw the beginning of the Eastcoast Vs Westcoast rap war between Biggie and Tupac as Tupac blamed Biggie for his attempted murder whilst visiting his recording studios. Spiralling out of control, NOTORIOUS illustrates the events that followed including the released diss songs ‘Hit Em Up’ by Tupac and ‘Who Shot Ya’ by Biggie, which in turn led to the untimely deaths of Tupac Shakur in 1996 and Notorious BIG in 1997.
Understandably favourable at times, NOTORIOUS depicts an all round vision of Biggie from a mummy’s boy to a street dealer to a heartless player to a true friend, lover and innovative rapper. Coupled with a great cast, from a near identical Biggie, crouch grabbing Lil’ Kim and of course two stepping Sean Combs, NOTORIOUS is a must see movie for all hip hop fans, providing the perfect opportunity to understand the life and death of the late, great Christopher George ‘Notorious B.I.G’ Latore Wallace himself.
NOTORIOUS is released on Friday February 13. So ‘if you don’t know, now you know’.
Film review featured on Origins Media website at http://www.originsmag.com/origin_pages/origin_content_main.aspx?thetable=reviews&thenum=53
Also featured on Flavour Mag website at
http://www.flavourmag.co.uk/?p=1345#more-1345
1 comment:
Nice read, just had to point out "Who shot ya" wasn't a diss tune. Everyone just assumed it was.
There is a lot of speculation though, just wondering in the movie did they say it was?
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