Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell – Netflix’s new documentary gets mixed reviews

Main complaint in reviews appears to be that filmmakers dwell too long on certain topics, and not long enough on others

Also known as the Notorious BIG or just Biggie, the artist born Christopher Wallace is the subject of yet another documentary.

Netflix’s Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell was produced by Sean Combs and Biggie’s mother, Violetta Wallace, and was released on the streaming service on 1 March.

It has received mixed reviews; some critics praised it for not dwelling on the still-unsolved mystery of Biggie’s murder, while others complained that it lacked substance.

In a four-star review, The Guardian said the documentary was “a moving life story” but noted it still omitted the darker rumours surrounding the late artist.

In a more negative review from Slate, I Got a Story to Tell was criticised for spending a “bizarre” amount of time on Biggie’s early career as a drug dealer, saying that this perpetuated outdated stereotypes of rappers in the Nineties.

“To say this is a well-trod topic is an understatement: Biggie brought it up in nearly every song he ever recorded,” the review said. “But like any great crime writer, Biggie’s interest in drug dealing wasn’t in the act itself but rather the metaphorical power it provided, a narrative terrain through which to explore power, greed, injustice, violence, sex, and pretty much everything else.

It added: “Drug dealing is interesting in Biggie’s music because Biggie was a genius, not because dealing drugs is inherently interesting.”

A review in The Hollywood Reporter said: “There’s enough good, previously unseen stuff in Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell to make it an easy recommendation, though seeing and hearing stuff you haven't seen before isn't the same as learning a lot of things you didn't know before.

“It’s captivating because Biggie was captivating, without being enlightening. But as Biggie put it, ‘If you don't know, now you know.’”

I Got a Story to Tell is available now on Netflix.