‘Notorious’ Film Actors receive advice from the Original Players

New York, NY – We’ve all been aware for quite some time now that the biopic on the late great Notorious B.I.G. has been in production and is following his life from stories and archives. Recently two of the main actors portraying the original people in the film spoke with MTV News about their experiences speaking to the original players of the real story.

Jamal ‘Gravy’ Woolard is taking on a big role as he will be portraying the Notorious B.I.G. himself. Gravy is also a Brooklyn native, so not only will he be holding it down for the Biggie fans, he will also be holding it down for his Brooklyn people. This is what he told MTV during an interview.

“He’s still living, through me. I’m going to let y’all know: I’m not going to let y’all down. Put it down for the borough. This is for the borough. BK, stand up.”

Gravy also added that the production staff wanted him to portray Biggie not only as the rapper, but also as the person Christopher Wallace.

“We’re targeting every corner of it, from Christopher to Biggie Smalls to Notorious B.I.G. He’s a funny dude. That’s the part in the film that you’ll see. He’s a comedian all the time.”

So we are aware that Gravy will be playing Biggie, now another major role in the film would of course be that of Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs. That role was given to veteran actor Derek Luke. You may remember Luke from ‘Antwone Fisher’ as he played the lead role opposite Oscar winning actor, Denzel Washington. Luke spoke with MTV when confronted about playing the critical role of Diddy.

“What kind of criticism [did] Puffy give me? Oh, man, I tried to stay away from him. You know, ’cause I just wanted to get a heart. I was inspired by who he is today, but mostly how he started. But to be honest, man. He just looked at me, and he was like, ‘Yo, you do something wrong, trust me, I’ll let you know.’ So, I believe, that was good.”

Even after speaking with Diddy, he had to reach further into his character and spoke with his mother in order to get the full idea.

“The preparation I took to play Puff was I was going to talk to Puff’s mom. Puff opened the office to me, but I was like, ‘Man, if I get to [meet] his mom, it’s all good.’ I went to his mom, and she kinda set me into the right place about who he was, how he started out as a child, who he is today.

Luke didn’t stop there; he went deeper and spoke to Big’s mother, Voletta Wallace.

“Ms. Wallace, because [of] how she raised Biggie. Every time I come on set, she never refuses to be a mom. If she needs to say something to me and pull me to the side, she’s going to pull me to the side. I respect that.”

Diddy even added his own response when confronted about Luke portraying him in the film.

“It’s rare that you get a movie made about you when you’re still relevant, but [they] took on the challenge. People asked me years ago who [I’d] want to play me, and I said Derek Luke, so it was just destined. I got to see him do his thing, and it was scary for me. I had to leave, ’cause he was acting just like me.”

At press time, the film is still in filming status; however the release date so far will be set for January of 2009. Sources say that the soundtrack will be astounding as it will feature old school tracks from that era with Biggie, 2Pac, Leaders of the New School, Junior Mafia, and even the Wu-Tang Clan.

On the real, I can honestly say that I am looking forward to this film. It’s been in talks for a while but nobody wanted to take on the idea do to the fear of taking on such a huge responsibility. However, George Tillman, Jr., the director of ‘Soul Food,’ took on that responsibility and now we finally get to see the true story behind one of the greatest rappers to ever live.


Legendary Hip-Hop Pioneer Slick Rick Pardoned

Albany, NY – Even after serving five years in prison and completion of his probation requirements in 2002, Slick Rick who is a British born citizen was still facing deportation threats. Last Friday (May 23), he was fully pardoned by the Governor of New York.

Slick Rick, whose real name is Ricky Walters, was born in the United Kingdom, but spent most of his life here in the U.S. Threats of deportation has haunted Rick even after he turned his life around after that incident in 1991 leaving two people shot and injured, his cousin and a bystander. He pleaded guilty to those charges and served five years in prison as well as receiving mandatory probations after his release. Even after initial run-ins with the law, Rick has rehabilitated himself to a better man and has proved in several occasions that he has matured and left his criminal past behind him. After several appeals and requests to prohibit his deportation, Governor of New York David Paterson finally granted him a full unconditional pardon and left this statement on why he made the decision.

“Mr. Walters has fully served the sentence imposed upon him for his convictions, had an exemplary disciplinary record while in prison and on parole, and has been living without incident in the community for more than 10 years. I urge federal immigration officials to once again grant Mr. Walters relief from deportation, so that he is not separated from his many family members who are United States citizens, including his two teenage children.”

Rick was relieved and felt much gratitude after receiving his pardon, he left this statement.

“This has been a long and difficult road and I am happy for this to be settled once and for all. I look forward to enjoying this time with my family and friends and to continue leading an honest and productive life.”

At press time, Slick Rick’s legal woes are finally over and he can continue his career. The last song he appeared on was Chamillionaire’s ‘Hip-Hop Police.’ There is no word on whether or not he is currently working on another album, however, as soon as we receive word, we’ll keep you posted.

I was aware of his deportation problems since 1999 as a matter of fact; it’s good to know that he doesn’t have to worry about that anymore. Looking forward to more music from the legendary icon in future works.


Kanye West and other Artists sued over Samples

New York, NY – It has been evident over the course of many years that samples and interpretations of classic songs from different genres have always been incorporated into Hip-Hop and R&B tracks. Some might have been legally cleared and some not, on the hopeful tip that the original artist doesn’t find out. Well, in this case apparently the daughter of the original musician is the one filing the charges.

The daughter of the late Jazz musician, Joe Farrell, filed a lawsuit against several Hip-Hop artists and various labels owned under Universal Music Group. The lawsuit was filed by Kathleen Firrantello in the U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday (May 22). She is accusing them of using her father’s recorded material without approval. The names of the rappers involved in the lawsuit include Kanye West, Method Man, Redman, and Common.

The lawsuit states that the artists used portions of Farrell’s 1974 musical composition “Upon This Rock” in three separate songs: Kanye West’s ‘Gone,’ Common’s ‘Chi-City’ and Method Man & Redman’s ‘Run 4 Cover.’

According to the lawsuit, the daughter of the late musician is seeking $1 million in damages and is demanding that no further copies of the tracks in question be made, performed or distributed.

In my opinion, this is just another blatant excuse to retrieve money from prospering musicians. Either way, she will eventually win the case. Evidently they take sampling of other songs very seriously.