Venues
Events
MediaFilm
Notorious B.I.G.
New biopic explores a life lived ready to die
Jamal Woolard as the Notorious B.I.G. in Notorious
| | More
In 1993, California was king. The charts and radio reflected everything Dre and Snoop Dogg.
Then, Sean Combs (Puff Daddy) started a little record label called Bad Boy. His major hopeful was Biggie Smalls, soon to become the Notorious B.I.G. With the Puff Daddy dynasty, New York City was vying with California for the throne of rap. By the end of 1995, Biggie was the top solo male recording artist on the pop and R&B charts. Notorious, based on Biggie’s life, tells the story of a Brooklyn baby’s journey from selling drugs on Fulton Street to selling out Madison Square Garden.
Shot entirely in New York City, the film moves from Biggie’s childhood as Christopher Wallace to the start of his ascension to fame in 1993, when he achieved some recognition with a guest spot on a Mary J. Blige single. The next year his first album, Ready to Die, had several commercially successful and enduring tracks, including “Big Poppa.” It was Biggie’s second single, featuring a memorable low-budget video with Puff Daddy in a hot tub. He was 22 years old.
The videos, along with Biggie’s lifestyle, grew more extravagant. Biggie released a record with the crew he grew up with in Bedford-Stuyvesant, the Junior Mafia. One member, Lil’ Kim, shocked the nation with her sexual frankness. But the next Notorious B.I.G. record was still in the works. There were public proclamations of a feud between Biggie’s crew and that of West Coast rapper Tupac Shakur. Often, the conflict came off like good theater. But when Shakur died due to wounds sustained from a drive-by shooting in 1996, Biggie was rumored to be behind it. He vehemently denied it.
Biggie’s second album was scheduled to be released in March of 1997. Just weeks before, and six months after Shakur’s death, Biggie was also shot and killed in a drive-by shooting, dying at age 24. Life After Death, his opulent double-disc album, was released weeks later to wide acclaim. Both Biggie and Tupac’s murders remain unsolved, regardless of their high profiles.
Notorious, produced in part by Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace, and Sean Combs, will pay tribute to the life of a young man struggling with a highly contentious version of a rags-to-riches rise. There’s no need to argue the quality of Biggie’s music or his dedication to it. There’s also no need for more conjecture about the possible reasons for his death. Hopefully, the film will shed light on the short years of a frenetic and multitudinous figure.
Opens January 16.