"The RZA has an unbelievable vision. And he loves raggedy-ass vocals. I mean it took one take to do my part. I was like I'm just warming up and he was like it's a wrap." —Erykah Badu on recording with the Wu-Tang Clan

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NBA SLAM DUNK COMPETITION 2008
2008 NBA Slam Dunk Contest

Add to My Profile | More Videos

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Jay-Z's 'I Know' VIDEO:



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Pete Rock/Redman: 'Best Believe'



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THE BIGGIE SMALLS MOVIE SCRIPT: HIP HOP PESSIMISM REIGNS SUPREME ~

If you, despite everything, were still holding out hope that Notorious B.I.G. might get the smart, probing biopic that his legacy deserves — through the delays, the director changes, the producers' appalling decision to cast the rapper via an Internet talent search, etc. — we have some bad news: We've read the script, and we're not optimistic.

Similar recent music bios have been wise to limit their scope to specific parts of their subjects' histories. The 113-page screenplay for Notorious (by journalist Cheo Hodari Coker) makes the unfortunate decision to pack an entire (albeit short) life into a two-hour movie. 8 Mile's focus on Eminem's early, pre-fame career gave the film a natural story arc and taught us things we didn't already know. Notorious — on paper, at least — plays like a loose-knit highlight reel; it's basically the screenplay adaptation of Biggie's Wikipedia entry.

It opens with his murder and funeral, then doubles back to his Brooklyn childhood. We get a few scenes of Biggie at home, in the classroom, and on the corner dealing crack; there are some rap posters in his bedroom, and we see him fill a rhyme book during a nine-month prison sentence, but there's no real explanation given for how he went from enthusiastic fan to one of hip-hop's all-time most revered emcees. Nevertheless, by page 30, he's signed to Puffy's label, and from there it's a mad, tensionless dash to the end of his biography, with all emerging conflicts — his mom's breast cancer, baby-mama drama, various love triangles (Biggie, Faith Evans, Lil' Kim; Biggie, Evans, Tupac) — resolved within a scene or two.

Notorious was purportedly written with input from Biggie's mom, Voletta Wallace, and his managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, all of whom are credited producers on the project. This much is clear in the way that many of Biggie's most important moments are told after the fact through his conversations with them; we only learn about Biggie's marriage to Evans when he tells Barrow and Pitts about a month later (though, curiously, we're there when he asks them both to be his managers), and it's only in phone calls with his mother that he denies involvement both times Tupac gets shot.

No killer is explicitly fingered in Biggie's own death either (understandably, we guess); the script makes clear that we never see the shooter's face. We do, however, see him in a garage cleaning and oiling his weapon in preparation. He has police scanners on his workbench and in his car, along with LAPD credentials on his dashboard that lets him drive past a police blockade on his way to the murder, though there's no speculation on who he is or who he might've been working for.

Anyway, the script isn't a total wash. The early pages on Biggie's adolescence are compelling enough — we just wish they'd been more the focus. Two-thirds of Notorious takes place after he's already famous, dwelling more on his success than his early ambition or talent (which would've been way more appealing). It's hard to imagine anyone these days feeling too inspired by his fame or record sales, since they were hardly replicable even in the nineties as they were happening, much less in today's music business. The filmmakers would probably have done better to concentrate on what made Biggie one of rap's greats, or at least given us a scene or two of him honing his craft.

We wanted a penetrating look at the guy who made Ready to Die, but Notorious cuts about as deep as your average, single-disc greatest hits. You may want to adjust your expectations accordingly.

www.nytimes.com

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QUOTES:

"I have a few [titles] dancing around in the head. It's like, you may have a name for a kid, but when it's there or it's close to it, you kind of know what it's gonna be or what it looks like." —André 3000 on titles for his new album

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Q-TIP PERFORMING:



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I LIKE GRAFH. HE SHOULDA BLOWN UP. FUCKING RAP MUSIC:



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PRODIGY IS THE FUCKIN MAN, AND THIS IS WHY:

TRENDS PRODIGY HAS SET SINCE 1992 AND STILL IS SETTING IN 2008 AND BEYOND:

#1 TATTOO'S ON MY CHEST, ARMS AND HAND SINCE I WAS 12 YEARS OLD

#2 RAPPING WORDS THAT DONT ALWAYS RHYME

#3 PUTTING WORDS TOGETHER THAT DONT RHYME AND MAKING THEM RHYME "big guns down in santa barbray, my crew do it the mobb way every day, crime pay who wanna gun play thrill me. niggas kill me grillin me you wanna look peep the 9 milly now undress you know the drilly. niggas suspect weak links pose threat, i have yet to met challenger who go against my set"

#4 CUSTOM MADE JEWELERY INSTEAD OF THE POPULAR MOLDS.

#5 HOW I FOLD MY BANDANA

#6 CUSTOM MADE FOOTBALL JERSEYS WIT HENNESSY and E&J ON EM'

#7 CREATING AND MAKING SLANG POPULAR LIKE ,,,,,, KIKO, CUZZO, VULTURES, BOGIES, HENNY ROCK, NOTTY HEAD, HEAD SPIN (head), BACK SPIN (pussy)

#8 MADE DRINKIN HENNESSY, E&J, LIME BACARDI, 151 POPULAR (nothin to be proud of)

#9 SAMPLING MUSIC FROM THE MOVIE SCARFACE,,,,,NOBODY DID IT BEFORE ME..NOT THE MUSIC

#10 SAMPLING MAFIA MUSIC -"crime connections" MOBB DEEP feat. CORMEGA,,,,L.E.S. BIT MY SHIT WHEN HAV LEFT MY MAFIA CD'S IN A NAS SESSION. THEN YOU HEAR SHIT LIKE "affermitive action"

#11 FIRST RAPPER WIT TATS ON MY FINGERS AND MY WHOLE NECK DONE

#12 PROTOOLS,,,,STARTED USING IT IN 98

#13 MURDA MUSIC,,EVERYBODY USES MY BLOOD SPLASH NOW

#14 WE MADE DOING SONGS FOR CHICKS COOL FOR STREET NIGGAS

#15 EVERYBODY WANNA USE THE WORD INFAMOUS NOW......THERES ONLY ONE INFAMOUS ON THE PLANET AND THATS THE INFAMOUS MOBB DEEP. WHOEVER ELL'S IS TRULY PLAYING THEYSELF. COME BETTER. I DONT SEE YOU CALLIN YA SELF NOTORIOUS,,,SO DONT USE OUR SHIT...YOU LOOK AND SOUND STUPID.

#16 ALOT OF PEOPLE ARE CALLIN THEY SELF A MOBB WIT 2 B'S,,,,,YOU ARE A EXTRA DICK RIDER. I CREATED THE 2 B SHIT JUST SO WE COULD STAND OUT,,,PLEASE STOP IT.

#17 THIS BELONGS AT THE TOP,,,,,,,,,PRODIGY AND HAVOC. AFTER ME AND HAV NAMES WERE IN THE SOURCE UN-SIGNED HYPE COLUM, THAT WAS THE FIRST TIME OUR NAMES WERE EVER PRINTED AND OUTTA NOWHERE POP'S UP A prodijee and havik from the west coast????????? THEM NIGGA BIT OUR NAMES...THERES NO WAY IN THE UNIVERSE THAT SOMEBODY ELL'S COULD PUT THOSE 2 NAMES TOGETHER BY COINCEDENCE. TOTALY IMPOSSIBLE. WE BUMPED INTO THEM NIGGAS AT JACK THE RAPPER IN ATLANTA BACK IN 93 AND WE STEPPED TO THEM. ASK D.J. PREMEIR, GURU, LIL DAP, 40GLOCC AND A GANG OF OTHER WITNESSES THAT SAW THE CONFRONTATION. THEM NIGGAS WAS SHOOK.

#18 TIMBERLAND BOOTS...THESE RACIST FUCC'S OWE US MILLIONS. THEY NEVER DO AD'S USING BLACK PEOPLE OR RAPPERS AS MUCH AS WE PROMOTED THEY SHIT.

#19 WEB SITES, I HAD INFAMOUSSTORES.COM AND WAS WRITING BLOGS BACK IN 99 LONG BEFORE IT BECAME POPULAR IN HIP HOP TO HAVE A WEB SITE.

#20 PUTTIN THE VIDEO ON THE NET BEFORE PEOPLE EVEN HEAR THE SONG ON MIX-CD'S OR RADIO. MAC 10 HANDLE WAS THE FIRST VIDEO TO HIT THE NET FIRST, AND THE FIRST TIME SOMEBODY SHOT A BIG VIDEO FOR A MIX-CD PERIOD.

#21 NO MORE JEWELERY, RIMS, OR LIFESTYLE OF THE BEAST. HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY TREND SETTING, LOOK AT WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE.

#22 NO MORE FLASHY, DANCY, RADIO FREINDLY , CLUB SONGS..HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY TREND SETTING, LOOK AT WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE.

#23 MAKING EXPOSING THE ILLUMINATI, SECRET GOVERNMENT AND HIDDEN TRUTHS THAT NEW HOT SHIT... PEOPLE DO IT, BUT NOT LIKE P. I BEEN DOIN IT SINCE 96... JUST LISTEN TO MY BEATS AND HOW I MAKE THIS SHIT SO THAT THE REAL HOOD NIGGAS CAN GET INTO IT.... THESE FAGGOT CONCIOUS RAPPERS WILL NEVER REACH THE CROWED OF KILLERS THAT I REACH....HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY TREND SETTING, LOOK AT WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE.

#24 I MAKE OLD WASHED UP RAPPERS WANNA GO BACK IN THE STUDIO AND DO IT ONE MORE TIME!! THESE DUSTY, RUSTY, RETIRED RAP NIGGAS GET THAT OLD FEELING BACK WHEN THEY HEAR MY MUSIC AND SEE HOW I DONT STOP... ITS HILLARIOUS TO HEAR AND SEE THEM TRY TO KEEP IT COMING LIKE ME. WE NOT THE SAME HOMEBOY!!,,,,WHATS EVEN MORE FUNNY IS THE CONCIOUS RAPPERS THAT GET HYPE CAUSE THEY HEAR MY LYRICS AND THEY BE LIKE "yes our time is here" BUT NO YA TIME IS NOT! WE NOT THE SAME HOMEBOY!! YOU NOT A REBEL SOLDIER....YOU NOT A INSURGENT.. PLEASE....GO HOME

#25 DEMEROL, MORPHINE, HEROINE RAP'S,,,,,I STARTED SAYIN ALL THIS CAUSE I WRITE RHYME WHILE IM SICK IN THE HOSPITAL ACTUALLY GETTIN THESE DRUGS... SAYIN YA SHIT IS LIKE CRACK, COKE ANS WHAT HAVE YOU I STARTED DOING THAT BACK ON D.J. CLUE MIX TAPES FIRST TIME WAS ON THE MOTHERLESS CHILD BEAT...ME AND TY-NITTY

#26 I COULD JUST KEEP GOING BUT NOW I'M TIRED... HOW DARE YOU QUESTION MY TREND SETTING, LOOK AT WHAT I BRING TO THE TABLE.

dont care if you hate my truth.. WHAT WHAT WHAT!
out

straight from his blog.

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man... I can't tell you how much work I'm doing. Never done more.
And so much is on the horizon...
I gotta go create, so, I'm going to just say

SPARK YOUR FIRE FOCUS AND BURN YOUR WAY TO THE PEAK OF DESTINY!

I love you all,
Mindbender