Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. “The Notorious B.I.G” was a man who never saw the age of 25, yet became a legend and left behind a legacy to the hip hop world. “Notorious” tries to reenact the drama of his life into a feature length film, achieving mixed results.
Wallace grew up in the neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, New York. In his early childhood he was heavily sheltered by his Jamaican mother who would not let him out beyond the stoop of their building after school. After continuous harassment from schoolmates, he decided to get up off the stoop and see what his friend D-Roc was really doing down on the corner. This was the beginning of Wallace’s street life. Right then and there he made his first drug transaction, and simultaneously started to develop his ability to write rhymes. As he grew older, he became a more frequent corner drug dealer and developed into a local rap icon in the emerging world of New York hip-hop.
Wallace continued on his destructive path, resulting in his mother kicking him out of the house. At this point, he took his criminal life to a whole new level, stepping off the corner and into the kitchen (where the drugs were made). Growing to be a larger and larger criminal boss, he was eventually arrested and sentenced to jail time for his actions. This was the starting point for Wallace to completely focus on rapping, and leave behind his criminal life to reach his dreams.
“Notorious” was largely overseen by Wallace’s mother Voletta Wallace and Sean “P. Diddy” Combs, who was the executive producer on all of B.I.G’s albums. The film does provide a very real depiction of the rise and fall of the B. I. G. Much of the Brooklyn shoots were filmed in the exact locations where he lived. All of the film was either shot in Los Angeles or New York City. Except for touring, these were the places where the most influential happenings of his life took place.
Jamal Woolard makes his big screen debut as the title character, and his appearance and voice are in fact quite similar to the real Wallace. Unfortunately, it’s quite obvious that this is his first time in front of the camera in a starring role. As an aspiring rapper himself, he does seem natural in the recording studio scenes, but his dramatic performance is lackluster.
Many of the other famous artists from the rapper’s original crew depicted in the film also show strong resemblance to their counterparts. Naturi Naughton has features like Kimberly “Lil’ Kim” Jones, as does Anthony Mackie who plays Tupac Shakur, and Antonique Smith who plays Faith Evans.
Excluding Angela Bassett who plays Voletta Wallace and Mackie, the acting was amateurish, with the cast really unable to captivate the audience.
Conversely, the soundtrack is stellar given the nature of the movie, offering songs directly from the Notorious B.I.G. repertoire. Many of the tracks have become classic hip-hop fare still heard on the radio today in heavy rotation. There’s also music from Craig Mack, Guru, P. Diddy, Faith Evans, L’il Kim, Jay-Z, and other historic hip hop artists.
Christopher Wallace was a man who just began to accept fatherhood and live up to the role of being a parent when his life was taken away from him. He died in a drive by shooting in Los Angeles during the controversial East Coast/ West Coast gangster rap rivalry of the 1990s that also resulted in the senseless death of Tupac Shakur.
Wallace was only able to see a brief moment of his stardom and his effect on the world of hip hop before his passing. Yet at the age of 24, he appeared to have reached a level of emotional maturity. In the press notes, he’s quoted drawing on age-old wisdom saying “can’t change the world if we can’t change ourselves.”
“Notorious” opens in select theaters today.
[etRating value=“ 2”]
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