Notorious, a biopic on iconic rapper Christopher “Biggie Smalls/Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, portrays life as a hip-hop artist as akin to a soap opera: instead of the Bold and Beautiful, imagine Blunts and Bitches, as sex, murder, and betrayal are all played out to a hip hop soundtrack.  

Working on a formulaic structure, the film chronicles the rise of Wallace from the age of 13 (played by his son Christopher Jordan Wallace) to his untimely death at the age of 25. Here he is played by little known rapper Jamal Woolard, who eerily characterizes the girth, heavy breathing and infectious rhymes which was Wallace.

Raised in Brooklyn by his single mother, Voletta (played by Angela Bassett, in her specialty role), Wallace ditches the schoolbooks for life as a drug dealer. It is at this point that the film starts to sell its image of Wallace as a flawed saint of the mean streets, with Notorious perhaps the only film where it is considered a heroic act to sell crack to a pregnant woman.

While peddling addiction and death, Wallace develops his MC skills and puts them to task, spitting out rhymes based on the horrors of his urban surroundings, which through his drug dealing, he helped create. Ironically, the film portrays Wallace as a man of intelligence, which is supposed to evoke the envy of its viewers.          

After a stint in jail for his drug dealing, Wallace drops out of the drug game, and pursues a career in music. Enter Puffy Daddy; or, Diddy; or –as credited here – Sean Combs (Derek Luke), founder of influential record label Bad Boy Records, who views Wallace as the man to fill the East Coast hip hop void. Under Comb’s guidance, Wallace becomes a huge success.

From this point, Notorious basks in the materialism and misogyny which is an unfortunate part of hip hop. Expensive cars, bling, and copious amounts of cash are splashed about. Meanwhile Wallace’s reputation as a serial adulterer is shown,  marrying songstress Faith Evans (Antonique Smith), while screwing around with numerable tricks on the side, including protégé Lil’ Kim (Naturi Naughton), who he helped turn into the ultimate hip hop slut.      

And, pushing the Wallace motto that with mo’ money comes mo’ problems, a fatal feud develops between East Coast and West Coast rappers, after one time friend and equally iconic hip hopper Tupac Shakur (Anthony Mackie), and his Def Row Record associates, accuse Wallace and Combs of orchestrating an attempting hit against him.

In response, Notorious pushes that the scandalous feud was brought on by Tupac’s paranoia, inflamed by the media, and championed by its fans.  And there may be some truth to that. Yet this film - executive produced by Puff Daddy and produced by Voletta Wallace- seems more interested in selling an image of Wallace, rather than disclosing the whole truth.

For example, a high profile incident involving Wallace physically assaulting two fans outside of a Manhattan nightclub; as well as another arrest involving drug and weapons possessions; not to mention the fact that Bad Boy Records employed members of the L.A. Crips gang as security, and were left fuming after they were stiffed on the bill, were all left out of the picture.

Glossing over the facts is a Hollywood tradition. Yet presenting a thug as a messiah does not go down well, especially when the inflamed heroics of a crack dealing adulterer is supposed to inspire. Purely one for the fans, or those gullible enough to buy what Puffy is selling.