DVD
Biggie
& Tupacis a no-holds-barred investigation into the still-unsolved
murders of two of the biggest superstars rap has ever produced.
Christopher Wallace, aka Biggie Smalls (the Notorious B.I.G.)
and Tupac Shakur. Answering the crusading calls for justice
from Biggie's mother Voletta, acclaimed director Nick Broomfield
(Heidi Fleiss Hollywood Madam and Kurt & Courtney) hits the
streets from East Coast to West Coast, putting his own life
at risk as he uncovers sensational new evidence that points
directly to the perpetrators of these violent slayings that
shocked the hip hop world. Provocative, uncompromising, and
unbelievably hard-hitting, Biggie & Tupac is more than just
a movie; it's a revelation.
The
Murder of the Notorious B.I.G. -- Suge Knight, gangster cops
and allegations of police cover-up: the shocking story behind LA's
most famous unsolved crime and the whistle-blower who wants to set
the record straight.
LAbyrinth:
A Detective Investigates the Murders of Tupac Shakur and Biggie
Smalls, the Implication of Death Row Records' Suge Knight, and
the Origins of the Los Angeles Police Scandal
by Randall Sullivan -- Acclaimed journalist Sullivan follows Russell
Poole, a highly decorated LAPD detective who in 1997 was called
to investigate a controversial cop-on-cop shooting, and eventually
discovered that the officer killed was tied to Marion "Suge" Knight's
notorious gangsta-rap label, Death Row Records. Poole would come
to realize that a growing cadre of officers were allied not only
with Death Row but with the Bloods street gang. He began to uncover
evidence that some "gangsta cops" may have been involved in the
murders of rap superstars Notorious B.I.G. And Tupac Shakur. Poole
became lead investigator in the murder of Notorious B.I.G. His
shrewd detective work pointed to crooked cops such as David Mack,
who orchestrated one of the biggest bank heists in LA history.
Poole found his investigation stifled by a police chief wary of
doing further damage to a department sullied by the OJ trial,
the Rodney King beating, and the Rampart corruption scandal --
in which dozens of officers were implicated in a conspiracy of
robbery, brutality, drug dealing, and false imprisonment. Igniting
a firestorm of controversy in the music industry and the LA media,
the publication of Labyrinth helped prompt two lawsuits against
the LAPD (one by the widow and mother of Notorious B.I.G., the
other by Poole) that may bring this story completely out of the
shadows.
The
Murder of Biggie Smalls by Cathy Scott
The Notorious B.I.G. exploded onto the hip-hop scene with his
platinum-selling album Ready to Die in 1995. The life of B.I.G.
a.k.a. Biggie Smalls-born Christopher Wallace-had come a long
way from the years spent in his Bed-Sty neighborhood in Brooklyn,
New York where he dropped out of school at 17 to master his rapping
style. It was on the street that Smalls began emceeing his original
raps and was discovered by Sean "Puffy" Combs, who recognized
Smalls's potential and took his gangsta image to the next level.
Within
a few years he moved from the street to two successful rap albums,
several million dollars in earnings, a Billboard Music Award in
1996 for Rapper of the Year, a marriage to R&B singer Faith
Evans, a very public affair with L'il Kim, and hanging with Tupak
Shakur, Marion "Suge" Knight, Puff Daddy, and Mary J.
Blige. During
his rise up the charts he had run-ins with the law ranging from
assault to drugs and weapons possession. In 1994, he and Combs
were publicly accused by Suge Knight and Tupac's camp of setting
up the shooting of Tupac, a charge they both denied. The
high life was brought to an end March 9th 1997, after Biggie attended
the Soul Train Awards in L A, Smalls was gunned down in his car
like Shakur had been 6 months earlier. Years
after the murder continues to raise more questions than it answers.
Random
Family: Love, Drugs, Trouble, and Coming of Age in the Bronx
Adrian Nicole LeBlan -- The saga behind the headlines of gangsta
glamour, gold-drenched drug dealers, and street-corner society.
After ten years of reporting, Adrian Nicole LeBlanc immerses reader
into the intricacies of the ghetto world. She charts the cycle
of the generations, as girls become mothers, mothers become grandmothers,
boys become criminals, and hope struggles against deprivation.
Two romances: nineteen-year-old Jessica's infatuation with a successful
heroin dealer, Boy George, and fourteen-year-old Coco's first
love with Jessica's little brother, Cesar, an aspiring thug. The
young couples try to outrun their destinies. Chauffeurs whisk
them to getaways and nightclubs. They cruise in Lamborghinis and
customized James Bond cars. Jessica and Boy George ride between
riches and ruin, while Coco and Cesar stick closer to the street,
all four caught in a dance between life and death. Friends get
murdered; the DEA and FBI investigate Boy George's business activities;
Cesar becomes a fugitive; Jessica and Coco endure homelessness,
betrayal, prison, and poverty. The teenagers make family where
they find it. Girls look for excitement and find trouble; boys,
searching for adventure, join crews and prison gangs. Adrian Nicole
LeBlanc has slipped behind the cold statistics and surrounding
inner-city life with a riveting, haunting, and true urban soap
opera that reveals the clenched grip of the streets.
