Notorious
Notorious charts the rise of a sheltered, chubby kid from Brooklyn born Christopher Wallace (Christopher Wallace Jr) who by the time of his well publicised and untimely demise had turned his hip hop moniker of Notorious B.I.G. into almost a household name. I’ve never been a total fan of this music genre but like many, posthumously I found likeable moments in Biggies work. Like many I had a misconception of his gangsta lifestyle which is now in perspective as is BIG’s relationship with Tupak Shakur, Suge Knight, L’il Kim and especially Sean Combs (a.k.a. Puff Daddy, a.k.a. Puffy, a.k.a. P. Ditty, a.k.a. Ditty) played by Derek Luke. I always thought that Combs was a Notorious protégé but it turns out he was Biggy Small’s mentor. On screen neophyte Jamal Woolard, who has a history of playing the character as a cartoon voice over, positively nails the role of the flawed and rotund rapper. Quietly outstanding too is Angela Bassett as Voletta, Christopher’s long suffering mom. Not for easily offended as the oedipal expletive is liberally used among other words of a four letter nature, still Notorious is more than an enlightened biopic caught up in the east coast/west coast animosity of the ‘90’s - it’s a noteworthy tale of redemption.