Netflix’s ‘Biggie’ Documentary Focuses on Rapper’s Rise to Fame but Sidesteps His Death 

Notorious B.I.G. kisses his daughter in footage from Netflix's new documentary 'Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell'.

Netflix’s new documentary Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell premiered Monday, and recounts the Notorious B.I.G.’s journey from street hustler to rap king.

The film explores Biggie’s childhood and the influence it had on his music versus the details surrounding his mysterious death in 1997.

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell starts off with footage from of the rapper’s shows before his mother talks about getting the phone call saying her son had died.

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Video from the rapper’s funeral shows crowds of people gathered in Brooklyn to say their final goodbyes.
“Nobody was crying. They were all celebrating. Their memories of Biggie was of the joy, was the dancing, of seeing somebody that came from their neighborhood make it,” Notorious B.I.G.’s friend Sean “Diddy” Combs said during his commentary.

The documentary also recounts Christopher Wallace’s strict upbringing, his family’s annual summer visits to Jamaica where he was introduced to the sound system culture by his music-loving uncle, and learning the beats of snare drums with his jazz musician neighbor in Brooklyn. Audiences get a chance to see how Biggie’s childhood formed him into the supreme lyricist and rapper he eventually became.

The authorized film later looks at Biggie’s involvement in selling crack cocaine in his teenage years, but tries to be more a celebration of Biggie’s life and career and his transformation to a rapper from a street hustler.

As Diddy says at the beginning of the film, “This story doesn’t have to have a tragic ending.”

Watch a trailer for the documentary below: