Just saw this DVD and could not believe that it shows Biggie getting shot. Notorious BIG is great and this shows it all. There are lots of home video's of him in Brooklyn. It shows the East Coast-West Coast beef thing that was happening back when 2PAC and Biggie were killed. A lot of the older Rappers Method Man, Easy Mo Bee, Puffy talk about Biggie back in the day and what he did to get where he got. Biggie started with Puffy and you can only think about where Biggie would be today if he did not get shot in LA. They play a video of Biggie just before he dies that is kind of spooky. It tells the story of one of the greatest Rappers of all time and I like the movie.
3 Reviews
disappointing
camel-walk24 November 2007
The best that ever did it. There is no doubt just how much of a music icon the Notorious BIG was. For a documentary on such a music Icon to feature absolutely NONE of his music, videos or performances leaves you with such a frustrating feeling it's almost not worth watching. The Doc itself doesn't really tell any of us with even just a passing interest in Biggie anything new or insightful.
All in all it was kinda boring with no music to punctuate it. Not even in the clips from the studio sessions. I didn't get it. Maybe they couldn't afford to buy the music or maybe they couldn't get clearance and I don't really care. can you imagine doing a documentary on James Brown, Bob Dylan or Bob Marley that doesn't feature not even one second of the music they made (live or otherwise)?! worth watching if you have never heard of Biggie before otherwise there's really no point.
All in all it was kinda boring with no music to punctuate it. Not even in the clips from the studio sessions. I didn't get it. Maybe they couldn't afford to buy the music or maybe they couldn't get clearance and I don't really care. can you imagine doing a documentary on James Brown, Bob Dylan or Bob Marley that doesn't feature not even one second of the music they made (live or otherwise)?! worth watching if you have never heard of Biggie before otherwise there's really no point.
OK for casual viewers but lacks anything different in the content while the lack of any music is mystifying and annoying
bob the moo28 May 2009
I'm not sure who this film is aimed at because it doesn't seem to do enough of anything to aim for a pretty slim audience – specifically those who have heard BIG's music but know almost nothing about him. I say this for several reasons. Firstly in terms of the content of the film, there isn't a whole lot here that took me by surprise. They have gotten lots of "less-famous" people together to be the talking heads and, although Puff etc are notable by their absence, they are not really missed. However, those that are there do not have massive insights to deliver and they end up saying general things when really what we wanted was fleshing out, little anecdotes, little personal things that are too small to become history but are still important. Sadly there isn't much of that here and what we get is just the stuff that the vast majority of people will have seen and heard before me. This is not to say that it is without value because it is still interesting and there are some good contributors in there as well as some video I had never seen before, just that it will hold limited appeal to those who already know the basics (which is a big chunk of the target audience for this I'd guess).
On the flip side of that, those completely unaware of BIG will find little here to make them find out more. The film doesn't really do a good job of showing us why he is considered the best that ever did it. Of course it doesn't help that they couldn't get hold of any music – and I mean any. Pretty much we get very brief moments in the studio but that's about it – I have no idea why but you'll feel this gap a lot more than you the lack of Puff or Faith Evans. This leaves though who have a passing interest and even for this audience the documentary is only "OK". There are better documentaries around this subject and this film doesn't do much to make itself stand out as something you should make an effort to see.
Generally when the film is interesting it is mostly because BIG is interesting, not that they have put it together well. OK some contributors are good and it does do a solid job of covering a lot of ground but there are lots of weak aspects that really needed to be done better than they have been. OK for casual viewers but anyone who knows a bit about the man will find little of interest here while everyone will feel the lack of music.
On the flip side of that, those completely unaware of BIG will find little here to make them find out more. The film doesn't really do a good job of showing us why he is considered the best that ever did it. Of course it doesn't help that they couldn't get hold of any music – and I mean any. Pretty much we get very brief moments in the studio but that's about it – I have no idea why but you'll feel this gap a lot more than you the lack of Puff or Faith Evans. This leaves though who have a passing interest and even for this audience the documentary is only "OK". There are better documentaries around this subject and this film doesn't do much to make itself stand out as something you should make an effort to see.
Generally when the film is interesting it is mostly because BIG is interesting, not that they have put it together well. OK some contributors are good and it does do a solid job of covering a lot of ground but there are lots of weak aspects that really needed to be done better than they have been. OK for casual viewers but anyone who knows a bit about the man will find little of interest here while everyone will feel the lack of music.
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