Notorious

So, raise your hand if you thought a biopic of Christopher Wallace would rise above straight to BET level?  Yeah that’s what I thought.  Who knew?  Is saying something is the greatest movie about hip hop damning it with faint praise?  Even if that is the case, Notorious was surprisingly good. 

Notorious never broke the mold of your basic bio flick but it was fun to see all the usual stuff but this time it was about a hip-hop artist.  Something inspires a kid, he struggles to find his voice, makes it, troubles, overcomes troubles, dies.  Biggie’s story is different only in that all of this took place in about a 3-year time frame.  Still I can’t complain when for nearly 2 hours I got to hear the Notorious B.I.G.’s greatest hits and a bunch of actors portraying Lil Kim, Lil Cease, Lil Puffy, and Lil Tupac.  The actor portraying Biggie, Jamal Woolard, did an admirable job.  I wouldn't call him a dead ringer, but he never made you laugh when he was spitting famous rhymes.  The more I think of about it, the more it becomes obvious that I was swayed by hearing some of my favorite tracks of all-time.  Still, nothing strongly negative comes to mind while writing this review.  Hopefully this leads to more copycat hip-hop biographies, like The Life and Times of The Lost Boys or Shook Ones: The Story of Mobb Deep.

For a boilerplate biography released in the wastelands of January, Notorious was shockingly solid.  There aren't many actors running around who can pass for Christopher Wallace but Woolard got the job done and the music did the rest.

7 out of 10