Being someone who was well aware of Christopher "The Notorious B.I.G." Wallace and Tupac Shakur but was too young to understand them or their rivalry, the wait to see this movie couldn't have been any longer.
Raised by his single mother Voletta (Angela Bassett did an excellent job portraying her in the film). We see Christopher Wallace (Jamal Woolard) is a sweet bespectacled momma's boy who writes down his lyrics in a notebook. With a desire to earn respect and make money he establishes himself as a drug dealing teenager who has created a downward spiral for himself as well as fathering a child with his high school sweetheart Jan (Julia Pace Mitchell).
After being kicked out of the house by his mother Chris takes on a solo career as a drug dealer which lands him in jail. After being released it is at that moment he realizes his dreams of becoming a rapper. This leads to him meeting Sean "Puffy" Combs (Derek Luke) who gives him the stage name "The Notorious B.I.G." B.I.G. practically wahes his hands of Jan and his child for fame and fortune. Along the way he develops relationships with Kimberly "Lil Kim" Jones (Naturi Noughton) and Faith Evans (Antonique Smith).
Fast Forward many years and many mistakes, Biggie has experienced enough to know that what makes him a man is not what precedes him, thus determined to be a more positive influence in his daughter's life and through his music. Sadly, it was not meant to be due to the beef that developed between himself and former friend/ally Tupac Shakur which ends up with both of them dying, with their short legacies being engraved in musical history.
The women in Biggie's life; his mother, Jan, Kim, Faith and his young daughter suffer many heartbreaks due to Biggie's cold-hearted ways and negligence. Of the women in B.I.G.'s life Lil Kim was treated the worst and was portrayed as simply... a no-class slut. The movie has caused some real life anger from Lil Kim due to her depiction in the movie. The only thing that can be said is the truth hurts, and she has no reason to act like that, we've all listened to her music and see the little to no clothing she wears in public. Naturi Noughton did well acting the part of Kim but it was hard to grasp the image idea of the pint-sized female, who angelically performed in 3LW, acting so raunchy and vulgar. Faith Evans was given the green pass as the ultimate good girl/wife, being prtrayed as the FAITHful conservative hip-hop housewife.
Notorious overall is an outstanding film despite its loose threads and brief fast-paced narration. The audience is able to understand the man that was Christopher "Notorious B.I.G" Wallace, flaws and all. We see how good a human being he could be and just how down-right disgusting he could treat a person. The movie made the audience care about him at the same time as it was delivering some classic hip-hop. If you get the chance to watch this movie it's worth it.
Download the soundtrack HERE.
