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Kids these days don't know nothin'. Just ask Clint Eastwood.

Kim Hollis: Over 40% of the audience for Notorious was under the age of 25. Smalls died in March of 1997. Why do you think so many moviegoers who were pre-pubescent at the time of his death were so passionate about this movie?

Joel Corcoran: I think movie-goers flocked to Notorious for the same reasons that movie-goers flocked to see Walk the Line about three years ago. Notorious is a movie about one of the towering figures of hip-hop who was one of a handful of artists to define the whole genre. Anyone remotely interested in hip-hop is going to want to see this film, just like anyone remotely interested in country music is going to want to see Walk the Line - even if they were barely in middle school when the real-life events of the movie actually occurred.

You also have to look at the sheer number of current hip-hop and R & B artists who publicly credit Biggie Smalls as an influence. Kanye West produced the soundtrack for Notorious, and some of the biggest names in hip-hop (Jay-Z, Santogold, and Jadakiss, just to name a few) appear on the album. So any college or high school kid who's a fan of their music is going to want to see this movie.





Brandon Scott: Big is widely considered one of the best MCs that has ever lived, which is a HUGE STRETCH by the way. The only reason he gets these props is because he died so young (tragically so). He took a step back on the second album, anyway. Hip hop is huge these days and is the music/voice of our youth (for better or worse). I always say, if Ice Cube would have died after the release of Amerikkka's Most Wanted, there is no question he would be revered among the greatest MCs who ever lived, and if Biggie had lived, who knows? The tragedy is what marks this argument, but Tupac was three times the writer/artist that Biggie was, so at least his iconic status is deserved (again, for better or worse).

Joel Corcoran: I have to disagree. Tupac was a brilliant artist and an icon, and probably had more raw talent than Biggie Smalls, but even had he not died so tragically, Smalls would still be remembered as one of the singular hip-hop artists to ever emerge. Life After Death (his second album) wasn't as good as Ready to Die (his first album), probably because he was severely injured in a car crash in the middle of recording sessions for the album. But it wasn't his talents as a performer that made him such a leading figure in hip-hop, he was at the very center of - and exerted great influence over - the entire genre. I intentionally made the comparison to J. S. Bach because, like Bach, Smalls didn't really invent any new musical styles, he just recombined existing elements better than anyone else at the time. And many of his contemporaries viewed him as incredibly influential.

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