The majority of this story charting the rise of one of hip-hop’s finest MCs to his untimely death in 1997 is solid without being particularly entertaining.

From his humble beginnings in Brooklyn to that fatal night in LA, this biopic takes in Biggie’s relationship with his mother, the drug deals that earned him a spell in prison and his yearnings to better himself through rap.

And the worst aspect of the story is the influence of friend Sean “Puff Daddy” Combs.

It’s no coincidence that all the sage advice to the young rapper spouts forth from executive producer P-Diddy’s lips. To his end Derek Luke is spot-on as Puffy: annoying, pompous and desperate to pass off the talents of others as his own. Shameful.