Bring Some Weed I Got A Story To Tell
After watching the film “Chronicles of a Junior Mafia”, I found myself oddly intrigued and moved by its recounting of the life and death of Biggie. The Chronicles, a low budget documentary which consists of current and archived interviews, as well as concerts, the camera trails Lil Cease through his day to day life as well as through some of the most important moments of his past. Overall the film is convoluted and confusing due to poor sound and suffers from being focusing on uninteresting and unexplained record label drama and legal issues. Despite the film’s shortcomings, a subtle light of sincerity shines through in Lil Cease’s face and words when discussing his friend Biggie Smalls. Lost in the host of bright and profitable Biggie tribute albums, award show performances and speeches is an honesty, a sense of history and profound loss from those who surrounded him as person as well as a rap legend.
Perhaps I and others who are merely fans are not in a position to judge those profiting from the memory of Biggie. However, from an outsider perspective the motives of his honor often appear jaded and diluted by the mass marketing of glitzy stage shows and cliché prayers. Oddly, while such spectacles often seem empty, Cease’s story evokes pathos without the crutch of very special guests or fancy light shows.
Lil Cease lays back in a car (in the same seat where he sat on the night of the shooting) and speaks about Biggie in a tone and vernacular that betrays a hesitancy to share his story. Big is transformed from a mythic figure into a lost childhood friend within the context of a life that has encountered and dealt with violence and loss more than a few times. Cease often finishes his answers about Big’s death and ongoing investigation by saying “what can I do myself?” His tone suggests he really is still searching for that answer. Sometimes, when asked certain questions, he stares off with an absent glare to hold back the swell of tears, and bites his lower lip to hold back words which may hurt him too much to share. Or maybe, he simply deems it no one else’s business.
5:22 pm on March 9th, 2007
crazy how B.I.G. made those ugly ass coogie sweaters hot. nice read
10:34 pm on March 9th, 2007
good read! keep it up
3:42 pm on March 26th, 2007
yeah Coogi is not the most understated gear you can rock. RIP Frank White
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