Biggie and Tupac (2002)

Director:

Nick Broomfield

Release Date:

24 May 2002 (UK)

Genre:

Documentary | Biography | Crime | Music

Plot:

Documentary on the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls and the East Coast/West Coast, hip-hop/rap rivalry that culminated in late 1996 and early 1997.

Plot Keywords:

Rap | Hip Hop | Drive By Shooting | Recording Industry | Rap Music

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

The Notorious B.I.G.	...	Himself (archive footage)
Tupac Shakur	...	Himself (archive footage)
Nick Broomfield	...	Himself
Russell Poole	...	Himself
David Hicken	...	Himself
Billy Garland	...	Himself
Voletta Wallace	...	Herself
Mopreme	...	Himself
Kevin Hackie	...	Himself
Reggie Wright Sr.	...	Himself
Frank Alexander	...	Himself
Sonia Flores	...	Herself
Marshall Bigtower	...	Himself
Don Seabold	...	Himself
Mark Hyland	...	Himself

Also Known As:

LA Story (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

108 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Certification:

Netherlands:12 | France:U | UK:15 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

FilmFour

Movie Connections:

References Heidi Fleiss: Hollywood Madam (1995) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Superfreak

an OK-ish look at the events that happened between the two rappers

Biggie and Tupac is a Documentary on the deaths of Tupac Shakur and Biggie Smalls and the East Coast/, hip-hop/rap rivalry that happened in late 1996/1997. It has a very different style, and director Nick Broomfield is a very intrusive and un-forgiving documentarian. His unusual style puts me off of this documentary, and his constant repetitiveness and dull mono-tone voice adds insult to injury. Unlike a lot of documentaries Nick Broomfield is the main star in this documentary, and takes every opportunity to jump in front of the camera, and now and then throws in a rough piece-to-camera, describing what we have already just seen. However, there is some fantastic access, and I believe that Nick made the most of his contacts, and gained some fantastic access. His interviews with Tupac's mother, a very intense and truthful interview is just one of the fantastic moments in this film, as well as an extremely revealing interview with Biggies bodyguard, who reveals who he believes to of killed Biggie. From the amazing dangers taken, you can see that Nick Broomfield has a massive drive to make his documentary as revealing and factual as possible, and this is shown by the highly dangerous locations that they perspire to film in, one being one of the most notorious gun capitals in the east of America, and another being a high security prison. In both circumstances, Nick Broomfield fearlessly and intrepidly gets as much information as he can from local people and inmates, to get the broadest picture on the events as possible.

While all these points are very impressive, you still cannot sway from the mindless boredom that Nick incites. His on screen demine is highly irritating. Another grudge I have for this movie is the lack of time. There is no natural progression between each interview, and the events jump from one to another, rather than unfolding as they actually did.