I Don't Walk On Water...

I know I'm late, but I just finished watching Notorius about the life of the Notorius B.I.G. Now, I'm re-downloading his catalog of hits and updating them to my iPod. I've spent the past few days watching movies, mainly the Oscar contenders. So far I've checked out Changling, which I loved (and even downloaded the beautiful score), and Revolutionary Road, which was cool, too.

Anyway, the Biggie film was surprisingly cool. I mean, I have my criticisms, but once the film reached the second act, I was into it and for the most part I stayed engaged the whole time. I felt like the players did a good job. The end made me feel like I was watching the stereotypical hood movie. But, that's not surprising; a talented man was taken away because of what I call "hood shit".

Watching the film, I can understand Lil Kim's frustration over her portrayal. However, I do feel the filmmakers tried to make her as much of a round character in the film as they had time for. They even tried to wrap up her character with some dignity at the end by showing Biggie placing a phone call to her moments before his death. But the truth of the matter is this: Biggie eclipses Kim. He did in life and he still does in death. That will never change and so she could have just sucked up her misgivings about the project and shown love for him by making her contribution to this project strong. She'll have her chance to make her movie, so she really has no need to shit on what this film was trying accomplish, flaws and all. And it did have some flaws.

Of course my dude Anthony Mackie [insert big dreamy sigh here] did a surprisingly great job as Tupac. I have to admit, I was a little wary of the decision to cast him as the late rapper, but that's the testament to a great actor. My man rose to the occasion! [insert another big dreamy sigh here] Once again Anthony Mackie (in case you're Googling your film reviews) I have a film script for you, ready and waiting!

Now,it was clear that even though this film was about Biggie, it was Voletta Wallace's story. This probably accounts for a number of inaccuracies (for one, not showing Biggie's paranoia with being killed). But the film was a fitting tribute nonetheless. And why shouldn't mother have the last word...

Listening to the music in the film definitely forced me to relive moments of my life that I don't usually think about: the mid-90s. I remember where I was when me and my older bro (a huge Biggie fan) heard of the deaths of Tupac and later Biggie. I remember the news stories, the radio interviews, the magazines (My bro collected issues of The Source, and I had a subscription to VIBE). We kept up with everything music related. Hearing those throwback hits from when Bad Boy was actually a credible label, reminded me of the teenage house parties we had when my parents were stationed at Nellis AFB -- watching my big bro and his friends fight over what music was gonna be played next....Death Row or Bad Boy, slow dancing with the girls we wanted to hook up with, making our parents leave the house and not come back til early in the morning, making sure random fools weren't doing God knows what in my bedroom while the parentals were gone. lol. Damn. We had sooo much fun back then. There was nothing like the mid-90s. I miss those fucking days so much. When my only responsibility was just to be a kid.

So, for what it's worth, thanks Biggie for teaching us why its important to sometimes remember the small things...which we later come to appreciate as the B.I.G. things. So, for now, I think I'll turn on "Juicy" and do some more reminiscing.