Unbelievable – The Life, Death, and Afterlife of the Notorious B.I.G.
I recently copped the Vibe book dedicated to the life and times of pop superstar Biggie Smallz, a.k.a. the Notorious B.I.G., written by Cheo Hodari Coker. I’m familiar with Coker more so for being the journalist Masta Killa punched in the face (because the Wu didn’t like the caricatures that accompanied an article for the clan) than through any of his actual work but Coker has been busy contributing numerous hip hop stories since 1995. Unbelievable is the culmination of his six hours worth of interviews with Big (including his last) as well as numerous additional interviews with family and friends and information supplied by other journalists. Unbelievable doesn’t tell you who killed Biggie or even try to solve the mystery, quite the contrary it actually raises more questions than it answers, but it does gives you some insight on his upbringing and takes you through the crossroads of his life.
At the heart of “Unbelievable” is a narrative about a nice kid who flirts with the “dark side” only to be redeemed later in life and death. For the most part the story is told chronologically starting from Voletta Wallace’s journey to America from Jamaica to the early days of her son’s childhood to his meteoric rise to hip hop superstardom ending with the aftermath of his death and the speculation revolving around his murder. From the beginning Wallace is portrayed as a smart kid whose mom just wanted him to stay out of trouble. In doing so she smothered him, hardly letting him outside and practically bribed him with gifts and clothes to attempt keep him off the streets. Wallace however was enamored with the hustler lifestyle and eventually found his way to the corners of Brooklyn.
Coker does an excellent job focusing on the events and stories that best paint an accurate picture of the artist. However, when the author begins introducing other key players into Big’s life (i.e. Puffy, Tupac, Suge Knight etc.) he deviates for too long. He tends to concentrate so much on their backgrounds that by the time he actually gets to the point you forgot why he brought them up in the first place. During his account on Puffy I forgot I was even reading a book about Big. There is a purpose to understanding the importance of some of these figures but having each introduction followed up by an in depth historical account gets a little tiring.
Other than some of those overly long incidents the book remains interesting leaving trails of tidbits about Biggie’s life that hadn’t been mentioned before such as his love for drawing and the fact that one of his friends did a bid for him just so he could continue his promising career. You already know what happens in the end but the journey to that point is just as intriguing.
