And yet, as the episodes toggle between the ostentation of the hip-hop world and the grayness of police headquarters, it’s hard to overlook that a story of this historical significance is rendered in such proletarian fashion.Īdd to that the fact that Mr. In capturing the two investigations, though, “Unsolved” is effective in an unglamorous, no-frills way. What’s more, “Unsolved” did not secure licensing rights for either rapper’s music - though some lyrics are sprinkled into conversation - making them feel even more distant as subjects. But this show about murdered rappers is really a cop show. Rose has Tupac’s familiar seductive glint in his eye. Jonez captures the gentle grandeur of Biggie (born Christopher Wallace), and Mr. Better is his extended team, which includes Daryn Dupree (a grounded Bokeem Woodbine) and Lee Tucker ( Wendell Pierce, testy as ever).

Poole’s theories about the murders.) By contrast, Mr. (It should be noted, though, that in the “Murder Rap” documentary, Mr. Simpson plays him as an impatient savant, forever sternly exhaling and chafing against his superiors. In this telling, Poole is the true detective, wholly and distractingly absorbed by the case. It’s between the two detectives who never meet: Poole and Kading, who both begin to unravel in the face of a complex investigation, institutional pressure and family problems. The love story here isn’t between Biggie and Tupac, though ample screentime is given over to their early friendship. investigation into Biggie’s murder, steered maniacally by the detective Russell Poole (Jimmi Simpson) and the task force convened a decade after the killings, helmed by Mr. It weaves together three story lines - the friendship between Tupac (Marcc Rose) and Biggie (Wavyy Jonez), which soured and ultimately collapsed the original L.A.P.D.

“Unsolved” is equal parts appealingly pulpy and workmanlike, sometimes paced like a procedural and sometimes like a prestige drama.

Yet somehow, seeing those theories brought to dramatized life - seven episodes were provided for review - gives them more power. Kading lays out his theories about who pulled the triggers, and why. (There is an accompanying documentary as well.) In that book, Mr. The series is inspired by “Murder Rap: The Untold Story of the Biggie Smalls & Tupac Shakur Murder Investigations,” a book by Greg Kading, who led a task force investigating the shootings in the late 2000s.

Life after death biggie review