Monday, November 09, 2009

Notorious

This weekend I snuck in the time to watch “Notorious,” the Christopher Wallace story. I have long been a fan of characters on the road less traveled, more specifically gangsters. I am not a big rap music fan, but I do have spotty collection from the late 1980’s. Until I had seen the Keanu Reeves, movie, I was not familiar with any of Notorious B.I.G.’s music.

The movie is not particularly well done, but strikes a nice balance in understanding the mind behind the man. The action of the plot reveals a drug dealer, unfaithful and often absent father and an artist who was natural at rhyming. The backdrop and narration shows a reasonably intelligent young man who got caught up in the hype, but eventually came full circle in hopes of being the father he never had.

Historically the movie was an interesting education for me on the 1990’s rap scene with a “feud” between East coast and West coast artists. My previous knowledge was based on the murders of Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace. This knowledge was expanded by Chris Rock’s stand up routine that claimed that the best way to get away with murder was by slipping a demo tape into the victim’s back pocket as the murders of the two high profile artists were never solved.

I cannot recommend the movie for general audiences. The dialogue seemed gritty and true to life but for my tastes there was too much swearing. Somehow I feel like the lead actor could have been better cast as well.

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