Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
In 1997, rap superstars Tupac Shakur and Christopher Wallace (aka Biggie Smalls, The Notorious B.I.G.) were gunned down in separate incidents, the apparent victims of hip hop's infamous east-west rivalry. Nick Broomfield's film introduces Russell Poole, an ex-cop with damning evidence that suggests the LAPD deliberately fumbled the case to conceal connections between the police, LA gangs and Death Row Records, the label run by feared rap mogul Marion "Suge" Knight.
Nick Broomfield's investigative documentary into the unsolved murders of Tupac and Biggie is compelling in its subject matter and the Russell Poole angle adds genuine intrigue, suggesting LAPD complicity and corruption. However, Broomfield's trademark gonzo style — inserting himself awkwardly into interviews — can feel amateurish, and the cinematography is functional at best, typical of low-budget documentary filmmaking. The film broke meaningful ground in publicly advancing the LAPD conspiracy theory and giving Poole a platform, lending it some novelty, though the overall execution is uneven. The ending feels somewhat inconclusive, though appropriately so given the real-world unresolved nature of the cases.