Notorious: The Event of Our Lifetime? Hardly

From Paul Porter of IndustryEars.org -
Notoriously Overrated: What Was so Big about Biggie Smalls?

If you ask any Hip Hop fan who are the greatest rappers of all time, dead or alive, he will, most likely, put Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace in the top five. Any omission of "Biggie Smalls" is considered Hip Hop blasphemy. Even highly educated college professors have made a career out of quoting Wallace's lyrics like "The 10 Crack Commandments" as if they were part of some sacred text.

Even today, if you go to any Hip Hop clothing store in any city in America you can still buy the T-Shirt of The Notorious BIG with the crown on his head for 20 bucks. However, as it is with most American icons, we never take a minute to ask, at the end of the day, what was this person's overall contribution to society that made him worthy of the accolades that we bestow upon him, posthumously.

The tragic story of the Notorious BIG is the cornerstone of the Hip Hop catechism and has been the subject of so many books, documentaries and magazine articles that I am not sure how much more light the film "Notorious" can shed on his life. I guess that the movie company, Fox Searchlight, is banking on the possibility that thousands of loyal Hip Hop fans will be willing to put down $8 a head just to pay homage to their dearly departed idol, even in the midst of a major Recession.

Read the rest of this blog on the above link^

Is he hating on Biggie or does Paul Porter make some valid points? What do you think?

I hope there isn't any violence in any movie theatre across the country on the weekend before the Dr. King Holiday and President Barack Obama's Inauguration. That's so tired and that aspect of hip hop needs to stop. It's time to move on and above that stuff.

Given the fact that Biggie died tragically, I would hope the movie sends a strong message against violence. But that would be expecting too much, wouldn't it? The violence is one of the reason's why the movie was made. Biggie Smalls is hardly a hip hop idol for today's youth, who are between 15-23 years old. Unless they are banking on a lot of people 25+ to flood the movie theatres. So I expect another movie that glorifies the sex, money and violence. I greatly respect Angela Bassett (she plays Biggie's mother) as an actress, therefore I would hope her involvement in the project would signal something different.

In any event, despite what the ads are saying, this is not the event of our lifetime. Regardless of the hype, I'm not taking any chances... I'll see ya on DVD. Good marketing campaign, though.