Synopsis
In 1997, rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G.) were gunned down in separate incidents, the apparent victims of hip hop's infamous east-west rivalry. Nick Broomfield's film introduces Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the LAPD deliberately fumbled the case to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.
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Cast
- Tupac Shakurhimself
- Nick Broomfieldhimself
- The Notorious B.I.G.Himself (archive footage)
- Russell PooleHimself
- Voletta WallaceSelf - Biggie's Mother
- Billy GarlandSelf - Tupac's Biological Father
- Chico Del VecSelf - Rapper
- Don SeaboldSelf - Mark's Lawyer
- Donald HickenSelf - Tupac's Teacher
- Frank AlexanderSelf - Tupac's Bodyguard
Recommendations
- 88
Chicago Sun-Times
Compulsively watchable and endlessly inventive as it transforms Broomfield's limited materials into a compelling argument. - 80
Chicago Reader
A wily and dogged inquisitor, Broomfield cajoles and confronts a variety of witnesses, charting a web of intrigue that also involved the LAPD, the FBI, and assorted gangbangers and rogue cops. - 75
New York Daily News
Broomfield conducts riveting interviews with a former LAPD officer, Biggie's fiercely protective mother and assorted hangers-on, but the actual thrust of his evidence seems almost irrelevant. - 75
San Francisco Chronicle
Has been called an exploitation of a tragedy, but in fact it's an expose of tragic exploitation. - 75
Chicago Tribune
Those not well versed in the rap music world may be a little lost at times, but you don't need to know your Ice-T's from your Cool-J's to realize that as far as these shootings are concerned, something is rotten in the state of California. - 70
L.A. Weekly
Deceptively rambling, shrewdly ragtag documentary. - 60
Village Voice
This is Oliver Stone country, but Broomfield's self-effacing affect is more Woody Allen, - 50
Variety
Broomfield's shaggy p.o.v. always troubles -- blurring the lines between tabloid and serious reportage, morbid curiosity and hard facts, objectivity and amusing, quasi-amateur stuntsmanship.
