| Movie DescriptionThe film opens at a party in Los Angeles in March 1997. Christopher Wallace / Biggie Smalls / The Notorious B.I.G. (Jamal Woolard) is seen sitting at his chair smoking. People, including Faith Evans (Antonique Smith) and Sean Combs (Derek Luke), move to the music on the dance floor. Moments later, Biggie, Combs, and friends are driving away from the party. They stop at a red light, while Lil' Cease, (Marc John Jefferies) is flirting with women outside. A black Chevrolet Impala pulls up and someone inside fires a single shot at Biggie.
The film then flashes back to Biggie's childhood in the early 1980s, recounting his tough upbringing in Brooklyn. Biggie (Christopher "CJ" Wallace, Jr.) writes several rap songs, enduring the ridicule of some classmates. Biggie then starts selling drugs at the height of the crack epidemic. In 1990, after winning an important rap battle, he meets Kim Jones (Naturi Naughton) for the first time. Kim is attracted to Biggie instantly and they later have sex in her apartment. However, Kim is afraid to start a new relationship because of a past relationship when she was abused. Biggie assures her that he won't break her heart and they begin dating (even though he is dating Jan also). Prior to this, Biggie's mother, Voletta (Angela Bassett), throws him out of the house after discovering his involvement with drugs.
After serving time in prison, he goes to see his other girlfriend Jan (Julia Pace Mitchell), and their new daughter, T'yanna (Taylor Dior). After reconciling with his mother, he goes to find D-Roc and Lil' Cease and records a demo called "Microphone Murderer". Shortly thereafter, Biggie meets Sean Combs, an ambitious producer for Uptown Records. Combs promises Biggie that he will sign him to a record deal. Combs, however, will only accept Biggie if he gives up drug dealing. Biggie agrees and then leaves. Biggie nearly ruins his chances, however, a few days later. Biggie, along with his friend, D-Roc, has a run-in with the police which results in Biggie throwing his illegal gun into the bushes. They are caught by the police after a chase. D-Roc eventually decides to "take the fall" for the both of them because he believes that Biggie can succeed as a rapper.
Biggie learns that Combs has lost his job at Uptown Records. Frustrated and upset, he leaves Combs and goes back home only to discover that his mother has breast cancer. Biggie becomes depressed, but soon recovers when Combs begins his own record label, Bad Boy Records, and signs him. Biggie starts recording songs for his first album, Ready To Die, thereafter. He records his first single, "Machine Gun Funk"; Combs suggests there's another song that Biggie can record. The track is called "Juicy".
Biggie meets Faith Evans at a photo shoot. They begin a whirlwind courtship, marrying soon after. Meanwhile, Biggie continues to ignore his relationship with Jan and their child. When Faith suspects Biggie is cheating on her, she goes to confront him at his hotel room, seeing him with yet another woman. The two later reconcile despite the fact that tensions between him, Faith, Jan, and Lil' Kim, yet another of Biggie's paramours, continue to grow.
Biggie begins a friendship with rapper/actor Tupac Shakur (Anthony Mackie). Biggie celebrates his album Ready To Die with Tupac, admiring the other rapper. When Tupac is shot in Quad Studios, however, he blames Combs, Biggie and Bad Boy Records for instigating it. At The Source Awards in 1995, Death Row Records executive, Suge Knight, makes a speech "dissing" Combs and Bad Boy Records, claiming Death Row is the better label. Soon the disagreement escalates into the East Coast-West Coast beef and attacks are made on both sides. The friendship between Biggie and Tupac is ruined. Tupac verbally assaults Biggie at a later time, but leaves when Biggie's security pulls out a pistol. A track called "Who Shot Ya?" is released, a song which claims to diss Tupac. Biggie and Combs claim that "Who Shot Ya?" was recorded before Tupac was shot, but Suge and Tupac claim otherwise. Tupac comes out with "Hit 'Em Up" which disses Biggie along with talking about having sex with Faith. Then after seeing a magazine photo of Tupac and Faith hugging each other, Biggie becomes enraged. He interrupts an interview that is being conducted with Faith, running after Faith. Faith hides from Biggie and Biggie is forced to leave by one of his managers, Mark Pitts (Kevin Phillips). Later, Faith explains that she and Tupac met at the House of Blues and simply took a picture. Biggie tries to renew the relationship, but tensions continue to grow between them. |
