GrtOne41 *Semi-spoilers herein*I didn't know what to expect when watching this film. Nick Broomfield gave quite a performance. Moving through ghettos, neighborhoods, and prisons, he provides us the audience with the most complete summary of the murder of Rap's two biggest stars, along with the course of events that brought them to be enemies.At the film's onset, Nick looks quite out of place with his haggard dress (usually jeans/t-shirt combo) and thick English accent. Expect Shakur's first name to be pronounced 'Tew-Pack'. He looks blatantly out of place interviewing mostly African-American people for information regarding both murders. You have to admire his courage to look in places most people wouldn't dare. It genuinely seems like he wants to find and expose the truth about both killings.Broomfield beats the bushes, trying to get a hold of everybody, and I mean everybody he can that knows something about the two cases. What he finds is frightening. Expected, but frightening. Nearly every informant and interviewee corroborates each other's story, including retired LAPD Det. Russell Poole. The flaw with Poole was Broomfield's boasts that it was quite a monumental achievement to get Poole to talk about the case. Poole has given many interviews, recently to VH1's Behind the Music regarding the case. It seems like he really wants to find the true killer of Notorious BIG and could care less about his impending lawsuit against the LAPD.The film drags in spots. As several reviewers have pointed out and I must concur to, there is an utterly pointless scene with a former girlfriend of two LAPD Officers (David Mack & Rafo Perez) who are supposedly connected to BIG's murder. However, the interview focuses on her sexual escapades with the Officers, not what they knew about the BIG hit. Another scene is when Broomfield lets Suge Knight ramble on for nearly 7 minutes about 'positivity for the kids' or something like that during a prison interview. Not that I'd interrupt Suge either, but to include much of it in the film wastes valuable time. Broomfield also never explains why he chose to/did interview Knight and not his nemesis from that time period, Bad Boy Records CEO Sean "P-Diddy/Puffy" Combs (pronounced 'Paffy Coombz' by Broomfield), despite a witness to the BIG murder saying he talked with Puffy about a suspect the following day.Biggie and Tupac is an overall likeable documentary with lots of information regarding the two men's killings. Broomfield courageously gathers his information and sources, often throwing caution to the wind. If you are a fan of either rapper or the story surrounding their deaths, this film is for you. A solid 7.5/10.

davideo-2 STAR RATING:*****Unmissable****Very Good***Okay**You Could Go Out For A Meal Instead*Avoid At All CostsThe 'thug lifestyle' surrounding hardcore rap music is thankfully just an image thing with the majority of it's singers.Sadly,a gunman didn't seem to feel that way of the titular duo.This is the sad true story of Biggie Smalls and Tupac (or 2Pac) Shakur,two of gangsta raps most famous icons who both met tragic untimely deaths at the hands of gunmen (or just one gunman?),and all in a relatively short time-frame of each other.No,rap and what it preached was not just business to these two individuals.....it meant life.Nick Broomfield's documentary charts how the East-Coast/West-Coast rivalry came about,and how the one time two best friends allowed fame and money to corrupt them and turn them pretty much into sworn enemies.Digging up archive footage and mixing it with interviews,it inevitably drags in parts,but for the most part it's very engrossing stuff and certainly evokes many thoughts and opinions on what really went on.***

LCParkes Anyone expecting a tawdry,shoddy sleazefest along the lines of "Kurt and Courtney" should be pleasantly surprised here- this is an excellent film.For a start, the conspiracy theory explored here is a far more credible one, and the evidence Broomfield turns up is very convincing in places. One has to wonder how genuine Broomfield's "camera on at all times" approach is, how much was created at the editing stage- he appears to get away with some very transgressive behaviour here on the basis of sheer amateurism, though it is clear the man has balls of iron. he thoughtlessly wanders through some of the worst neighbourhoods in LA and New York- in one classic scene his cameraman deserts him out of sheer fear, leaving him to manage a ludicrous prison interview with despotic Death Row records overlord Suge Knight alone. Irony being lost on Americans for the most part, Broomfield also manages to get away with some outrageous cheek- for instance asking Knight to deliver his "message for the kids" in a tone of smirking condescension.For the heads, there is some great, rare footage on offer- a teenage Biggie ripping up a street corner freestyle battle, hoods dancing on their cars at his funeral, an electrifying Snoop Dog calling out New York at the notorious 95 source awards....plenty in there for the hip hop fan, along with some vintage Biggie and (for some reason) Gang Starr on the soundtrack. Broomfield manages to talk to every major player in the drama, with the notable exception of Afeni Shakur- which also explains the lack of 2Pacs' music on the soundtrack.Despite its grim subject matter, there is much humour on offer here. In short, this is the best "rockumentary" in a very long time, and one that lingers in the mind for some time afterwards.Something of a triumph.

Matt-513 Having read numerous books on Tupac, from Kathy Scott's first book, to the Vibe Hardback interviews and Frank Alexander's accounts, I thought there wouldn't be much more this docu-film could tell me about the murders of Christopher Wallace (aka The Notorious B.I.G.) and Tupac Shakur. I was wrong. Nick Broomfield is endlessly persistent in his attempts to interview all the leading figures to do with the case. The main coups are the two former cops who he interviews. One, a former member of the FBI undoubtadely puts his own life at risk as he talks about Documents that could prove the guilt of certain members of the LAPD involved in the Biggie murder, as well as the inevitable storm it would cause and the demand from the public for a full internal investigation. Not to mention completely stripping the LAPD, Las Vegas Inforcement and FBI of their credibility. He mentions being offered $250,000 for the documents, but as Broomfield cleverly fires the questions in, each recepient keeps their cards close to their chest and each take care in their answers. None more so than the guy in the Prison (forgot his name!) who is incarcerated for impersonating a Lawyer, and was involved in transferring funds from Phoenix for Suge Knight and various members of LAPD who worked "off duty" for the Death Row Records CEO. He is interview in his cell, with his lawyer present and is constantly reminded that he only has constitutional immunity, but not state. Even still he admits to carrying the "blood money". Both murders were well planned hits, orchestrated by Suge Knight. The motive? Money. Suge owed Tupac $10 million in record sales. Suge was a gangster in real terms, not just his media persona (drug trafficking, crooked cops and FBI, you name it). He panicked when he found out Tupac wanted to Audit Death Row for the money, and that Tupac wanted out of Death Row and had other offers. Cops killed Tupac in Las Vegas on Sept 7th 1996 in a smooth professional style hit organised by Knight. To take the heat off, he then organised the Biggie hit 6 months later. It was simply a smokescreen, and capitalised on a feud orchestrated by Knight some 12 months prior at a Music Awards Ceremony. Tupac had been convinced (wrongly) in Jail that Biggie had set up the hit in 1994 on Tupac. In fact, Tupac, while in Jail after the first attempt on his life, had been set up by undercover FBI agents in Jail, who filled his head with nonsense about Bad Boy. Biggie, in contrast was mild mannered. As was Puffy. They are not gangsters. They never will be, they never have been. Biggie's rapping about hardship when growing up was his media image, in fact it was rather more middle class, as described by his mother Valetta Wallace, who was interviewed on numerous occasions during the film. I really could go on, but if you watch the film then you'll find out. There is some good rare footage of Pac in his prime. He still remains to me one of the all time talented people ever to walk the planet (actor, rapper, poet), and Biggie was just a good guy who made some excellent music. If you know Pac's lyrics, you'll know they are quite brilliant even when "riding on his enemies". His public image was of a ghetto thug, and his upbringing certainly should have moulded him that way. But in actual fact he was articulate, hugely talented and sensitive. Something you just don't see. So go see the film, and the very interesting visit to Yule Creek Pen to see Suge (how they managed it I'll never know!) Nick Broomfield is excellent, although you wonder how he gets so much info for a little white British guy doing his own film, particularly when lives could be at stake. One other good moment is when he visits Biggie's bodyguard (who is about 6ft 7) and he identifies the murderer. And yes I will stop now. GO SEE!