NOTORIOUS

2 months shy of the 12 year anniversary of the brutal assassination of Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, a biopic is released in his memorial. The movie entitled "Notorious" tells the story of the rise and untimely fall of one of Hip-Hop's most influential people. The movie in a nutshell is a must see. If you are a B.I.G. fan, if you love Hip-Hop, simply if you want to hear a different side of the story, other than what the "Media" portrayed over a decade ago; if you just want to see a good movie, go see Notorious, you will be impressed. I laughed, I cried, I was happy, and genuinely sad. Most importantly for me the movie brought back memories.

Not the memories of his murder, nor the memories of the so called East Coast, West Coast rivalry, but the memories of great music, the memories of the heart of Hip-Hop. The memories of why I fell in love with Hip-Hop in the first place.

I'm an 80's baby, born in 83 right in the heart of the Hip-Hop era, so although I grew to know and love MC Ricky D (Slick Rick), Kurtis Blow, Big Daddy Kane, Public Enemy, NWA, KRS-One, Dana Dane, Doug E Fresh, Run DMC and a slew of other pioneers of Hip-Hop, Notorious B.I.G. came at a time when things went from concrete to abstract to me. I was just 10yrs old when I first heard something from B.I.G., but not until I was 11 did I get to hear what this artist was made of. Back in 94 there were other artists that were out making their rounds Craig Mac, Wu-Tang, Nas, and so many others, but no one stood alone in my eyes like Notorious.

Although, I couldn't understand the struggles that he was going through, and the majority of the things that he was rapping about I couldn't relate to, he was Art to me. An artist that epitomized Art. A Da Vinci at his craft. He used his words and painted pictures, and told beautiful stories of the struggles of the inner city minority. He was smooth and charismatic, and wasn't afraid to speak the truth a lot like Slick Rick. Thus he was the reason I fell in love with Hip-Hop.

He was the reason so many others fell in love with Hip-Hop also. He birthed the careers of a lot of the artists that came after him . He changed the game and the way so many people thought. He changed a city, a community, and in some ways a nation. He is the sole reason why I know who Jay-Z is. I didn't care about Jay-Z until I heard the song "Love the Dough" when "Life After Death" dropped. Then Jay instantly became the Prime artist, that kept me holding onto Hip-Hop. Partially because Jay reiterated his words over the years, but mainly because Jay-Z is also a great MC.

Still 12yrs later, B.I.G.'s words still ring loudly in my ear, in my mind. I still bop my head when I hear one of his songs; now that's legendary. I often think about Puff's words in the song "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems"--"10yrs from now we'll still be on top"-- B.I.G.'s legacy lives on through so many, in and out of the industry.

So in choosing to speak of his murder, I choose the word Assassinate, because he was assassinated. His murder was vicious, premeditated, untimely, and he was a public figure, that the media turned into a Political figure in the end. The media turned Both B.I.G. and Tupac into vicious people that started a coast to coast rivalry. This is how they want us to remember them. I read in a review of the movie "A funeral precession paints him as a saint and a lasting inspiration to his former neighborhood. In reality, he may have been influential, but no one familiar with his music or his life believed him to be an innocent victim of circumstance struck down just as he became a man."

Me personally, I refuse to remember him or Tupac as the way that the media portrayed them. The last image I have of him and I continue to have of him, is the simple smile that was captured in his video "Hypnotize".




http://www.joost.com/08201z4/t/The-Notorious-B-I-G-Hypnotize-(Video)

By no means am I saying that B.I.G. is Hip-Hop or birthed Hip-Hip, but I do believe that a major part of the music that we know as Hip-Hop died with B.I.G., and over the years people have been struggling to put a Soul back into the Music. I look at these artists now, and I think to myself "how many of these people will we remember 10yrs from now?..Not Many."

I hope this movie inspires many, just like the late Christopher Wallace did so many years ago. I hope this movie inspires the industry to find the soul that the music is yearning for.