“The truth always turns out to be simpler than you thought,” is the ominous quote that appears on screen when Life After Death: The Movie commences. Produced by The Notorious B.I.G.’s best friend and Lil’ Kim’s former manager D-Roc, the documentary is essentially his side of the story. That story being the debacle that occurred when gunshots fired in front of New York’s Hot 97 radio station between Lil Kim and Capone-N-Noreaga’s entourages in 2001 culminated in Kim being sentence to a year long bid and ex-friends calling each other snitches (usually Lil Cease). Consisting of mostly raw, home video, director April Maiya does an excellent job of sequencing the footage into a fluid story. Beginning a year after B.I.G.’s death and following the late rapper’s crew at home, parties or on the road, the run up to the release of Kim’s Notorious K.I.M. album in 2000, then the Hot 97 shooting, it finally concludes with D-Roc, from prison, giving his candid take on who told and who didn’t. Jamie Hector of The Wire infamy does a fine job of narrating the feature. Life After Death’s story arcs moves along with the crew being tight, constantly telling the camera how family comes first and steadily offering insight as to how things unraveled. Hilarious moments like Superhead making an appearance and being thrown into a dumpster [someone’s gotta throw out the trash, after all] and exposing Diddy’s—alleged—weed smoking habit, will ultimately endear viewers to the films participants. The technique makes the team’s eventual fall out which includes hood no-no’s like co-operating with the Feds, seem even more incredulous. Simply put, Life After Death: The Movie is one person’s side of the story, but it nevertheless is a compelling piece of a twisted puzzle.
Peep the trailer…
