Fox Searchlight has found its big-screen Biggie. The specialty division has announced that Jamal Woolard, a Brooklyn-based rapper, will be cast in the role of the late rap icon Biggie Smalls, aka the
Notorious B.I.G., in its upcoming biopic "
Notorious."
Derek Luke, Angela Bassett and Anthony Mackie also have been cast in the movie, Searchlight said. Luke will play Biggie record producer Sean "Diddy" Combs, who offscreen is an exec producer on the film. Mackie will play rival rapper Tupac Shakur, while Bassett will play Biggie's mother Voletta Wallace.