Notorious B.I.G. Explodes Onto Billboard 200

NOTORIOUS B.I.G. EXPLODES ONTO BILLBOARD 200;

SOUNDTRACK TO SMASH BIOPIC ENTERS CHART AT #4,

MARKING THE WEEK’S TOP DEBUT;

FOX SEARCHLIGHT PICTURES’ NOTORIOUS ALSO LIGHTING UP

BOX OFFICES NATIONWIDE

 

Bad Boy Records’ “NOTORIOUS:  MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE” has made a remarkable chart entry, arriving on the Billboard 200 at #4, with sales of 43,000 – the week’s top debut.  What’s more, the musical companion to the blockbuster Fox Searchlight motion picture has arrived at #1 on the “Top Rap Albums” tally, and #2 on both the “Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums” and “Top Digital Albums” charts.

NOTORIOUS has also proven a true cinematic event, grossing $23.4 million in its first four days in release.  The film opened January 16th in 1,638 locations with the highest per screen of all films in release – $14,286.

“NOTORIOUS:  MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE” features timeless Notorious B.I.G. classics like “Juicy” and “Hypnotize” alongside never-before-released demos and new tracks by some of hip-hop’s biggest stars, including Jay-Z and Jadakiss.  The album is highlighted by the Kanye West-produced single, “Brooklyn Go Hard,” performed by Jay-Z and featuring Santogold.  The track is currently a top 25 hit on Billboard’s “Hot Rap Tracks” chart. 

Furthermore, the soundtrack showcases an additional single/video, “Letter to B.I.G.” by Jadakiss (Feat. Faith Evans), as well as a new version of the Notorious B.I.G. milestone, “One More Chance/The Legacy (Remix),” featuring CJ Wallace and Faith Evans.

At the heart of “NOTORIOUS:  MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE” is the everlasting music of the Notorious B.I.G.  Among the classics included on the collection are “Warning,” “One More Chance/Stay With Me Remix,” and “Kick In The Door.”  The album is highlighted by a number of previously unreleased demos, including “Microphone Murderer” and “Guaranteed Raw,” as well as the Notorious B.I.G.’s first-ever officially released track, “Party and Bullsh**” (originally from the soundtrack to the 1993 film, Who’s The Man?).

“NOTORIOUS:  MUSIC FROM AND INSPIRED BY THE ORIGINAL MOTION PICTURE” has drawn extensive critical praise.  “There are just a few great soundtracks out there,” noted the New York Post.  “The music for A Clockwork Orange is one, and the record supporting The Big Chill is another.  Add this rap record to that small list.”  Newsday declared the album to be “a first-rate reminder of the greatness of the Notorious B.I.G.,” while the Baltimore Examiner called it “a must-have.”  The Philadelphia Inquirer summed it up:  “Anyone who needs to be clued in as to what made the Notorious B.I.G. a great rapper can get that schooling here.”

A special edition of the album is available exclusively at Target stores nationwide.  The two-disc set includes an all-new documentary DVD, Remembering Christopher Wallace, featuring exclusive, never-before-seen private interviews with the family members who carry on the Notorious B.I.G.’s memory, including his mother, daughter, and son.

NOTORIOUS charts the remarkable rise of Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace – who, in just a few short years, shot from the tough streets of Brooklyn to the heights of hip-hop legend.  Peeling back his mythic image eleven years after his tragic death, NOTORIOUS reveals the tumultuous and all-too-brief journey of a blazingly talented, fiercely determined young man whose unforgettable rap stories of inner city street life, with their raw truth and vivid rhymes, became emblematic of a whole generation’s brutal reality and its dreams of escaping it for something bigger. 

Fox Searchlight Pictures presents a Voletta Wallace Films/By Storm Films/State

Street Pictures and Bad Boy Films production, NOTORIOUS, directed by George Tillman, Jr. (SOUL FOOD, MEN OF HONOR), from a script by Reggie Rock Bythewood and Cheo Hodari Coker.  Producers are Biggie’s mother Voletta Wallace, former managers Wayne Barrow and Mark Pitts, Robert Teitel and Trish Hofmann.  Sean “P Diddy” Combs serves as the film’s Executive Producer, and George Paaswell is the co-producer.

NOTORIOUS stars Angela Bassett (ER, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, Tyler Perry’s Meet the Browns), Derek Luke (Antwone Fisher, Friday Night Lights, Miracle at St. Anna), Jamal Woodward in his motion picture debut as the Notorious B.I.G., and Anthony Mackie.