A new film about the life of 90s rapper Biggie Smalls depicts a fatally flawed hip-hop hero. MICHELE MANELIS reports
The 90s turf war between America's gangsta rappers of the East and West coasts had its famous casualties. None was bigger - literally - than the hip-hop star who would become "The Notorious B.I.G".
Notorious, a new biopic of the life of the heavyset rapper born Christopher Wallace aka "Biggie
Smalls" ends in 1997 with his unsolved murder at age 24, just 10 days before the debut of his second CD, Life After Death. The largely unknown cast is led by Jamal Woolard in his debut performance as Wallace/Biggie/Notorious.
Sean "Puffy" Combs is an integral element of the story and was a major part of Biggie's life when he became his mentor. Combs turned Biggie's life around - from dealing crack on the streets to grooming him for iconic stardom.
Combs executive-produced the movie and Derek Luke's portrayal of the hip-hop mogul comes off a little white-washed, a tad too sympathetic at times, considering his later gangsta related shooting incident in a New York nightclub in 1999.
Friend-turned-enemy, Tupac Shakur is played by Anthony Mackie (8 Mile, Million Dollar Baby) and veteran actress Angela Bassett, plays Wallace's mother, Voletta. His real life son, Christopher Jordan Wallace, plays his dad as a boy.
Notorious was directed by George Tillman Jr (Soul Food) and co-written by entertainment journalist, Cheo Hodari Coker.
All the essential flaws are in there: drugs, guns, prison, the daughter he has with sometime girlfriend (Julia Pace Mitchell) and his appalling treatment of the women in his life including L'il Kim, and on-and-off wife Faith Evans.
The shocking and tragic demise of both Tupac (killed in 1996) and Notorious the following year are still unresolved murder cases. However, in its depiction of the adolescent West Coast vs East Coast rivalry, which seemed more about money, cars, and women than it did about music, the film brushes off conspiracy theories that Biggie was involved in Shakur's murder. And Notorious is much more about Biggie's life than his death, as Tillman explains.
"It's not just that he became one of the biggest rappers of all time - it's the personal journey he took: as an African-American who didn't finish high school, had kids at a young age, yet figured out how to grow beyond what was expected of him. That's the story I wanted to tell: how Biggie, in the short course of his life, became a full man."
The casting process was arduous. It wasn't simply that they had to find an ample-sized actor who could rap (his weight fluctuated but at 6 foot 3 he weighed around 300 pounds when he was a teenager). As important as the physical requirements, they had to find an authenticity in his attitude and demeanour.
Biggie's mother, Voletta Wallace, who co-produced the film with his former management, said of the auditions she sat in, "When he walked in, I said, 'Oh my God, that's my son!' Jamal was phenomenal and everyday speaking to him, I had goose-bumps on my entire body," she says. "Yes, they had to put him in boot camp and he had tissues in his mouth and pillows up his shirt, but he had that personality."
She wanted her son's story - warts and all - revealed to the world. "I wanted people to see another side of him. A man who loved to read Winnie the Pooh books, and who admired the kindness of Christopher Robin. That's why I called him Chrissy-poo."
Born in 1972, Wallace grew up in one of Brooklyn's poorest and toughest neighbourhood's, Bedford Stuyvesant. "He was like a big teddy bear to me." Spoken like only a mother can. But she wasn't blind to his baser instincts. "The way he treated women was disgusting and made me want to puke. I felt bad about Naturi Naughton (who portrayed L'il Kim). "It grieved my heart and I would love to talk to her about this movie." Interestingly, Li'il Kim was one of the only characters depicted who was not involved in the making of the movie. According to Hip Hop Weekly, she's not happy about the negative way in which she was portrayed.
Says Naughton, "I was honoured to play Li'l Kim. She's a female rap icon."
Her role demanded sexually explicit scenes. "I had a lot of inhibitions. And although I'm not like her in any way, I thought, if I'm going to play L'il Kim and play this sexy, raunchy, in love vulnerable person, I had to go all the way. I couldn't sugarcoat it or water it down."
But the most important role in the movie, of course, lies on the massive shoulders of rookie Woolard. "You didn't have to dress me to look like him," he says. "Sure, I had to learn the craft of acting and I was coached daily, but I already had the swagger. Swagger is something you can't buy. He was a ladies man, and so am I."
Incidentally, Woolard is also a rapper and hails from Biggie's old neighbourhood. For a newcomer to the interview process, he conducts himself like a pro. Sitting in the Legacy Recording studio in Manhattan (where Biggie recorded Ready to Die), he is thoughtful and easy going.
Woolard immersed himself in the world of all things Notorious which included studying his diction to the way he walked, to a weight gain of 50 pounds.
"Notorious was moving too fast. His lifestyle was eating him up, he had a hungry appetite. Everything was just getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It's like, you get a few dollars and then you want more. For him, nothing was ever enough."
LOWDOWN
What: Notorious, authorised hip-hop biopic of the late Notorious B.I.G.
When & where: In cinemas from today