In a scene from the A&E documentary 'Biggie: The Life of Notorious B.I.G.,' Voletta Wallace looks at a mural of her slain son, rapper Christopher Wallace. Celebrity death scenes. A.k.a The Notorious B.I.G., left a hip hop music party in the Miracle Mile section of Los Angeles around 12:30am on the night of. The life and death story of Notorious B.I.G. Christopher Wallace), who came straight out of Brooklyn to take the world of rap music by storm stream movies Watch online full movie: Notorious (2009), for free.
Some myths are too powerful — too necessary — to ever be fully undone, no matter the facts gathered to address them. Such is the case with the still-officially-unsolved deaths of Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., Tupac and Biggie, gunned down six months apart two decades ago, a cruel extermination of hip-hop’s elite. They became martyrs, and also — as the years passed and their killers were never brought to justice — symbols of a kind of institutional neglect, failed originally by the genre they loved and, in death, by the police. So the most conspicuous aspect of “Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.,” a lightly fictionalized 10-part limited series on USA that has its premiere on Tuesday, is its certainty. Here is a show that offers answers, a ticktock of the various investigations into the killings that have resulted in no arrests but not, if “Unsolved” is to be believed, in no answers.
The series is inspired by “Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations,” a book by Greg Kading, who led a task force investigating the shootings in the late 2000s. (There is an accompanying documentary as well.) In that book, Mr. Kading lays out his theories about who pulled the triggers, and why.
Yet somehow, seeing those theories brought to dramatized life — seven episodes were provided for review — gives them more power. “Unsolved” is equal parts appealingly pulpy and workmanlike, sometimes paced like a procedural and sometimes like a prestige drama. It weaves together three story lines — the friendship between Tupac (Marcc Rose) and Biggie (Wavyy Jonez), which soured and ultimately collapsed; the original L.A.P.D.
Investigation into Biggie’s murder, steered maniacally by (Jimmi Simpson); and the task force convened a decade after the killings, helmed by Mr. Kading (Josh Duhamel). The love story here isn’t between Biggie and Tupac, though ample screentime is given over to their early friendship. It’s between the two detectives who never meet: Poole and Kading, who both begin to unravel in the face of a complex investigation, institutional pressure and family problems.
In this telling, Poole is the true detective, wholly and distractingly absorbed by the case. Simpson plays him as an impatient savant, forever sternly exhaling and chafing against his superiors. (It should be noted, though, that in the, Mr. Kading makes short work of Mr. Poole’s theories about the murders.) By contrast, Mr. Duhamel’s Kading is blank.
Better is his extended team, which includes Daryn Dupree (a grounded Bokeem Woodbine) and Lee Tucker (, testy as ever). Jonez captures the gentle grandeur of Biggie (born Christopher Wallace), and Mr. Rose has Tupac’s familiar seductive glint in his eye. But this show about murdered rappers is really a cop show.
What’s more, “Unsolved” did not secure licensing rights for either rapper’s music — though some lyrics are sprinkled into conversation — making them feel even more distant as subjects. In capturing the two investigations, though, “Unsolved” is effective in an unglamorous, no-frills way. And yet, as the episodes toggle between the ostentation of the hip-hop world and the grayness of police headquarters, it’s hard to overlook that a story of this historical significance is rendered in such proletarian fashion. Add to that the fact that Mr. Kading’s book and documentary were self-released, and that “Unsolved” isn’t on a vanity platform like HBO or Netflix, or delivered with the luxe production values of the “American Crime Story” series, but rather on USA, a basic cable staple. You would think that a show that advertises a convincing theory about these killings would be lavished with funding, be loudly publicized not just as art, but also as news.
But instead, “Unsolved” remains in the shadows. Myth has a way of enduring.
EXCLUSIVE Christopher Wallace sustained gunshot wounds to his chest, shoulder, leg, forearm and scrotum on the night he was murdered in L.A. Back in 1997. This according to the never-before-seen autopsy report, just obtained by TMZ. The report confirms Wallace - who was listed at 6'1', 395 lbs - was struck a total of 4 times in a drive-by shooting on Wilshire Blvd while the 24-year-old rapper sat in the passenger seat of a Chevy Suburban. According to the report, 3 of the shots were NOT fatal.
Gunshot #1 struck Wallace in the left forearm and traveled down to his wrist. Gunshot #2 struck Wallace in the back, missed all vital organs, and exited through his left shoulder. Gunshot #3 struck Wallace on his outer left thigh and exited through his inner left thigh. The reports says.
After Gunshot #3 exited the thigh, 'the projectile strikes the left side of the scrotum, causing a very shallow, 3/8 inch linear laceration.' The fatal bullet was Gunshot #4. Which entered Wallace's body through his right hip and ripped its way through several vital organs. Before coming to rest in his left shoulder area.
According to the report, the bullet perforated Wallace's colon, liver, heart and the upper lobe of his left lung. Immediately after the shooting Wallace was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Hospital - where doctors performed an emergency thoracotomy. But it was too late. Wallace was pronounced dead at 1:15 AM. According to the report, all 4 of the gunshots traveled through the Suburban passenger door before striking Wallace. Two of the bullets were found on the gurney that transported Wallace to the hospital.
Another bullet was discovered at the hospital when the body was turned over after doctors had pronounced him dead. During the autopsy, the coroner listed Wallace as 'morbidly obese.' A toxicology test revealed Wallace had no traces of drugs or alcohol in his system at the time of his death. Wallace's body was eventually ID'd by his mother and wife. One last thing. On one of the pages of the autopsy report, there is a note scribbled under the headline 'Other Pertinent Information' which reads: 'Decedent may be rap singer.'
Wallace was 24. Telepictures and Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. May also share those details with so they may send me tailored email and other offers. Telepictures and Warner Bros.
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