Notorious is a pretty good film. It did what was necessary; it told the story of whom many consider to be the greatest rapper of all-time the Notorious B.I.G. And it did it in a BIG way. There were plenty of things in the film that I thought were excellent and just a few that weren’t.
Some of the good includes performances by most of the actors, especially Jamal “Gravy” Woolard at B.I.G. and Naturi Naughton as Lil Kim. For a while, I actually forgot that I was watching a film and not some tape of the actual rappers found in the archives. The film was entertaining and inspirational, especially for those that have a dream of making something out of their lives even when it seems like there is no hope (we all have that dream at some point, huh).
I recommend Notorious for the young-old heads like myself that just want to relive that period in hip hop when the golden-era was coming to a strong end and two of hip hops biggest stars were holding the reigns. The filmmakers and actors did a good job putting you in the right setting by the music choices, clothing and language.
I also recommend this film for teenagers*, that weren’t alive during this period so that they can learn from the mistakes that were made during the mid-90s and the whole Biggie-Pac-East Coast-West Coast beef. It was really tragic to see both of these rappers go down because some people couldn’t understand that the images that these two rappers portrayed should not have been brought into real life situations.
Criticisms? Not a lot. Lil Cease looked way too young in the film for me. Notorious did seem to run a little long, but I was able to learn that Biggie was ambidextrous! (Ha, inside joke. Pay close attention to little B.I.G. and 17 year old Biggie).
But all in all, this was an entertaining hip hop flick. Go see Notorious, in theaters now.
(4 out of 5)
* Notorious is rated R for pervasive language, some strong sexuality including dialogue, nudity, and for drug content.
