Jackson Booth-Millard The Tupac Shakur biographical film All Eyez on Me was being released in cinemas, and I had watched the fantastic N.W.A. biographical film Straight Outta Compton, so I felt it only right to watch this film focusing on one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Basically young Christopher George Latore Wallace (Christopher Jordan Wallace, Biggie's son) lived his childhood years in Brooklyn, New York, and became a drug dealer at the height of the crack epidemic, hustling with Damion "D-Roc" Butler (Dennis L.A. White) and Lil' Cease (Marc John Jefferies). Christopher (Jamal Woolard) is told by his girlfriend Jan Jackson (Julia Pace Mitchell) that she is pregnant, so he earns more money to support his family, taking his drug dealing seriously, and participates in a rap battle, which he wins, but his mother Voletta (Angela Bassett) kicks him out for drug possession and not attending school. Christopher spends nine months in prison for possession of guns and drugs, until he is bailed, then he meets Kimberly "'Lil Kim" Jones (Naturi Naughton), but she was abused in a previous relationship, so refuses to pursue another. Christopher reconciles with his mother and visits his newborn daughter, T'Yanna, then he catches the attention of ambitious record producer for Uptown, Sean "Puffy" Combs, or "Puff Daddy", or "P. Diddy" (Derek Luke), with his recorded demo, under the name "Biggie Smalls", he is promised a record deal, but it falls through, and he and D-Roc are again arrested, but D-Roc takes the blame to allow Chris to pursue his music career. Biggie is depressed finding out his mother has breast cancer, but Puffy establishes new record label Bad Boy and signs Biggie, he records his debut album Ready to Die, and during a photo shoot meets R&B singer Faith Evans (Antonique Smith), they begin a relationship, and marry, she catches him cheating, but they later reconcile, but tension still grows between Chris, Faith, Jan and Kim. Celebrating the release of the album, Biggie, also becoming known as "The Notorious B.I.G.", meets rapper Tupac "2Pac" Shakur (Anthony Mackie), he admires 2Pac, but questions people he associates with, Biggie blames Bad Boy when the news breaks that 2Pac is robbed and shot, dissing the record label at an awards ceremony. Rivalry increases between Biggie and 2Pac, the media refer to it as the "East Coast-West Coast rivalry", with attacks made on both sides, an unknown caller gives Biggie a death threat, and 2Pac and Suge Knight (Sean Ringgold) verbally assault Biggie at a party. 2Pac interprets Biggie's latest song "Who Shot Ya?" as a diss at him, but Biggie and Puffy claim it was recorded before the shooting, 2Pac responds with a diss song at Bad Boy called "Hit 'Em Up", then 2Pac and Faith have a magazine photo shoot together, but she insists to Biggie nothing happened between them, they try to reconcile when she tells him she is pregnant with their child. The East and West coast rivalry continues to escalate, Biggie gets booed at a concert in Sacramento, California, but then he performs "Who Shot Ya?", the rivalry between Biggie and 2Pac continues until 2Pac is killed in a drive-by shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada. Biggie and D-Roc renew their friendship, Biggie considers pulling out of the rap game, but he goes to Los Angeles, California to promote his upcoming album Life After Death, bringing D-Roc, Lil' Cease, Puff and Faith with him, while there Biggie receives more death threats. Following a phone call to 'Lil Kim to apologise and arrange a meeting, Biggie leaves the party, he is shot and killed by an unknown gunman when getting into his car, his funeral is held a few days later, his friends, family and thousands of fans lining the street mourn, Biggie's song "Hypnotize" plays as his casket is driven down the city streets. Also starring Jasper Briggs as Damion (Age 8-13), Cyrus Farmer as Art Selwyn and Edwin Freeman as Mister Cee. Newcomer Woolard just about looks and sounds the part of the larger than life rap star, and there is good support from Bassett, Naughton and Wallace Jr. playing his own father as a young man. There are some memorable sequences, from sex scenes and of course the recognisable songs (I was hoping the Biggie Smalls tribute song "I'll Be Missing You" by Puff Daddy feat. Faith Evans and 112 would be included), but the script is full of the hip hop lifestyle clichés, and doesn't cover enough of the subjects we know about from the media, a not well executed but reasonable in parts biographical drama. Okay!

swilliky Notorious tells the story of Biggie Small aka Notorious B.I.G. whose real name is Christopher Wallace. The movie begins with a drive-by shooting that murder the rapper and flashes back to his childhood. He listened to music on the radio and admired the rap groups in the magazines. Though he grew up without a father, his mother Voletta (Angela Bassett) makes sure he succeeds in school. Christopher (Jamal Woolard) grows up amongst the crack dealing streets, learning how the streets run. He is shown briefly in childhood practicing his rhymes and then as a teenager counting his money and changing his clothes after his mother thinks he leaves for school. He taunts his teacher and flirts with his girlfriend, finding out she's pregnant. On the corner, they sell crack and spit rhymes, beating a rival in a rap battle. When his mom kicks him out, he gets deeper into the crime, running other dealers and even selling to a pregnant woman. He finds himself in jail, asking his mom for trouble. Bored in prison, he writes out his story in rhymes until his release. Out of prison and needing to earn for his daughter, Biggie Small records his raps and brings them to Sean 'Puffy' Combs (Derek Luke). Puffy sees potential but gets fired before he can give Biggie a chance.Check out more of this review and others at swilliky.com

Irishchatter I've heard of him on and off my life but I never really listened to his movie until I got to see this movie in 2017. Seriously, like all the other rappers, they do tend to have sex with many women. However like Biggie, they are very talented and brilliant at what they do. I actually never knew he discovered Lil Kim. It stuns me to think hes no longer with us 20 years later. He really shouldn't have rivaled with 2pac, the pair of them were good at what they did, I just don't understand why they are fighting over whose best either east coast or west coast. I suppose well never know why these two legends had to fight for their music. It's too bad they aren't with us no more. RIP NOTORIOUS ♡♡♡

Lilstaarss This is one of my favorite movies ever not only because he is my favorite artist, but it's about how he went from drugs and problems to being one of the greatest rapper ever. I remember that a friend to me was a real Biggie fan, and by that time I didn't know who Biggie was. Every day he showed me Biggie songs and the only rapper I was listening to was Tupac. He told me one day that it will be a movie that is about Biggie, and after 2 months the movie was released. We rented the movie and I wasn't so positive to it. But It ended up to being one of my favorite movies.The film is about Christopher Wallace and his life, how he went from being a crack-dealer to a legendary musician. How puffy helped him on the road and made him to the one he became, and how Christopher helped Lil Kim to be the one she became. My favorite part is when he has his beef with Tupac and he is performing in Los Angeles and the people there hates him and he says "you know what, I don't give a f..." And after that he raps the song "who shot ya" that some people say is a dis against Tupac. I like this film because its reality. It's about how it is to live in misery but still fighting hard to reach your goal, and the harder you fight to reach it, the closer you will be to it and one day you'll succeed!