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Ms. Wallace Taps Top Director Antoine Fuqua To Helm Untitled B.I.G. Movie
Voletta Wallace, mother of slain rapper Christopher "Notorious B.I.G." Wallace, told AllHipHop.com in a recent interview that critically acclaimed director Antoine Fuqua well direct an untitled picture based on the life of the slain rapper.
The movie, which is funded by Fox/Searchlight Pictures, is being produced by Ms. Wallace and B.I.G.'s former managers, Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts and will tell the life of the legendary Brooklyn rapper, who was gunned down Mar. 9, 1997 in Los Angeles, after attending a party by Vibe magazine at the Peterson Automotive Museum.
"The film [will be] directed by Antoine Fuqua - a very nice director. He's very talented," Ms. Wallace told AllHipHop.com. "Who is gonna play Biggie? I don't know yet. Who is gonna play me, I don't know yet. But we are in the process of casting now."
Fuqua has directed such critically acclaimed films as The Replacement Killers, the Bruce Willis driven Tears Of The Sun, and Training Day, which starred Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for his role in the film.
While many suspect B.I.G. was murdered as a result of his feud with Tupac Shakur, police have never solved either murder. Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept.7 1996 and died from his wounds on Sept.13, 1996.
Smalls was gunned down just six months later on Mar. 9, in Los Angeles after attending the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Center.
In June of 2004, Ms. Wallace won a decision to bring a wrongful death suit against the LAPD, which the Estate accuses of being complicit in Smalls' death.
The investigation into both murders continues and in July of 2005, the Estate of Christopher Wallace won a major victory against the city of Los Angeles, after it was learned that the Los Angeles Police Department withheld evidence that could have linked two police officers and Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight to both murders.
In a dramatic turn of events, an unnamed tipster told the court that a significant amount of evidence had not been given to lawyers of the estate.
The unnamed source offered evidence that disgraced LAPD officers David Mack and Rafael Perez worked in cahoots with Knight to gun B.I.G down.
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial in the case, after Detective Steve Katz allegedly "forgot" about critical documents pertaining to the trial that were found in his desk drawer after a search of his office.
The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department were ordered to pay the legal costs the family of Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” incurred during the trial, for withholding the evidence about the rap star’s murder.
Wallace said a new lawsuit was being planned to include Mack's former partner Perez. The trial is scheduled to resume this summer.
"All I want, all I ever wanted is justice for my sons death," Ms. Wallace told AllHipHop.com. "All I ever wanted was the truth. And that's not asking too much."
In related news, The Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous album The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter, has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over a million copies.
The album spent seven consecutive weeks on top of Billboard's Top Rap Album chart when it hit stores in Dec. of 2005. The album debuted at #3 on Billboard's Top 200 charts and featured the hit "Nasty Girl" featuring Diddy, Nelly and Jagged Edge.
The album took two years to craft and features verses B.I.G. recorded during his career paired with new versions from a who's who in Hip-Hop, including 2Pac, Big Pun, Scarface, Ludacris, Snoop, Eminem, Jay-Z, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Nas, Juelz Santana, T.I., Missy Elliott, Jim Jones and many others.
B.I.G.'s three previous albums, Ready To Die, Life After Death and Born Again are also certified platinum by the RIAA.
Source: allhiphop.com
The movie, which is funded by Fox/Searchlight Pictures, is being produced by Ms. Wallace and B.I.G.'s former managers, Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts and will tell the life of the legendary Brooklyn rapper, who was gunned down Mar. 9, 1997 in Los Angeles, after attending a party by Vibe magazine at the Peterson Automotive Museum.
"The film [will be] directed by Antoine Fuqua - a very nice director. He's very talented," Ms. Wallace told AllHipHop.com. "Who is gonna play Biggie? I don't know yet. Who is gonna play me, I don't know yet. But we are in the process of casting now."
Fuqua has directed such critically acclaimed films as The Replacement Killers, the Bruce Willis driven Tears Of The Sun, and Training Day, which starred Denzel Washington, who won an Oscar for his role in the film.
While many suspect B.I.G. was murdered as a result of his feud with Tupac Shakur, police have never solved either murder. Shakur was gunned down in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sept.7 1996 and died from his wounds on Sept.13, 1996.
Smalls was gunned down just six months later on Mar. 9, in Los Angeles after attending the 11th Annual Soul Train Music Awards at the Shrine Auditorium and Expo Center.
In June of 2004, Ms. Wallace won a decision to bring a wrongful death suit against the LAPD, which the Estate accuses of being complicit in Smalls' death.
The investigation into both murders continues and in July of 2005, the Estate of Christopher Wallace won a major victory against the city of Los Angeles, after it was learned that the Los Angeles Police Department withheld evidence that could have linked two police officers and Death Row Records co-founder Marion "Suge" Knight to both murders.
In a dramatic turn of events, an unnamed tipster told the court that a significant amount of evidence had not been given to lawyers of the estate.
The unnamed source offered evidence that disgraced LAPD officers David Mack and Rafael Perez worked in cahoots with Knight to gun B.I.G down.
U.S. District Judge Florence-Marie Cooper declared a mistrial in the case, after Detective Steve Katz allegedly "forgot" about critical documents pertaining to the trial that were found in his desk drawer after a search of his office.
The city of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles Police Department were ordered to pay the legal costs the family of Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” incurred during the trial, for withholding the evidence about the rap star’s murder.
Wallace said a new lawsuit was being planned to include Mack's former partner Perez. The trial is scheduled to resume this summer.
"All I want, all I ever wanted is justice for my sons death," Ms. Wallace told AllHipHop.com. "All I ever wanted was the truth. And that's not asking too much."
In related news, The Notorious B.I.G.'s posthumous album The Notorious B.I.G. Duets: The Final Chapter, has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for sales of over a million copies.
The album spent seven consecutive weeks on top of Billboard's Top Rap Album chart when it hit stores in Dec. of 2005. The album debuted at #3 on Billboard's Top 200 charts and featured the hit "Nasty Girl" featuring Diddy, Nelly and Jagged Edge.
The album took two years to craft and features verses B.I.G. recorded during his career paired with new versions from a who's who in Hip-Hop, including 2Pac, Big Pun, Scarface, Ludacris, Snoop, Eminem, Jay-Z, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Nas, Juelz Santana, T.I., Missy Elliott, Jim Jones and many others.
B.I.G.'s three previous albums, Ready To Die, Life After Death and Born Again are also certified platinum by the RIAA.
Source: allhiphop.com