Watch the trailer for Nortorious

A film on the life of the Notorious B.I.G. seems alternatively like a no-brainer and doomed before it’s even released. Judging from the brief, new teaser trailer for Notorious, the first fiction film about the rapper since his 1997 murder, it looks to be a little of both. The heavy-handed trailer fuses faux-hip-hop-video tropes with an apparently affectionate portrait of the late star.

The movie, set for release Jan. 16, has a sublime cast that includes Derek Luke as Diddy, Anthony Mackie as Tupac and Angela Bassett as Voletta Wallace. (The verdict is still out on Jamal Woolard, pictured above, the unknown who landed the titular role from an open casting call.) Posthumous biopics of pop figures have met predictably mixed success, but Notorious is directed by the talented George Tillman Jr., the man behind the contemporary touchstone Soul Food, and it certainly has plenty of material to work with.

Judge the teaser for yourself:

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