Listen to Notorious B.I.G.’s seasoned music, look at his confident, crowned portraits, coincidentally taken at his last-ever photo shoot, and it’s hard to believe that the Brooklyn rapper was only 24 when he was killed in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. In six short years Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls, went from selling crack on the streets of Bed-Stuy to releasing hit albums like Party and Bullshit and Ready to Die. At the time of his death, Wallace was known all over the world. A new documentary from Emmett Malloy tells the star’s story with archival footage—mostly thanks to Wallace’s friend D Roc, who carried a video camera everywhere—as well as interviews with Wallace’s mother, Voletta; his wife, Faith Evans; and his many friends and collaborators, including Sean Combs. Wallace, Combs says, “always rapped like he had nothing to lose.” —J.V.