Life
Film review: Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and The Murders of Biggie and Tupac
A sobering return to a grim story for documentary maker Nick Broomfield
July 2, 2021 16:04
A sobering return to a grim story for documentary maker Nick Broomfield
July 2, 2021 16:04In 2002, Nick Broomfield’s documentary Biggie and Tupac lifted the veil on hiphop’s deadly rivalry between East and West Coast record labels, a rivalry which led to the death of two of the industry’s most popular artists.
Almost two decades later Broomfield has picked up where he left off by revisiting the murders in his latest film Last Man Standing: Suge Knight and The Murders of Biggie and Tupac.
In it, the award-winning documentarian lays the blame for the deadly rivalry on the hostile environment generated by Def Jam Records owner Suge Knight who in 2018 was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for an unrelated incident and is currently serving a 28 year sentence at a Californian facility.
Born to a middle class family and with more prospects than the average black kid in LA, Knight became a hip hop mogul after dropping out of college and consequently setting up Def Jam Records.
Surrounded by hangers on, ex cons and fellow gang members of the ‘Bloods’ gang, Knight was both feared and admired by those signed to his label and anyone who was vaguely connected to the industry.
Things, we are told, quickly escalated after a fabricated rivalry between LA and New York hip hop labels culminated in a war of words between the two camps, with Knight encouraging his brightest star, Tupac Shakur to go to war with former friend Biggie Smalls.
Although a tad repetitive Last Man Standing does a great job in recounting the details of this extraordinary tale of power, money and betrayal. Broomfield has done a fantastic job in re-telling this fascinating story and is unapologetic about sticking to his original theory about police involvement.
He’s made an engaging, informative and at times truly shocking account of power, corruption and senseless violence which ended in one of the saddest chapters in the history of the music industry, with talent killed by a corrupt environment.