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WTF had the chance to speak exclusively with Jamal "Gravy" Woolard, a Brooklyn-born rapper who will be playing a Brooklyn-born icon in the upcoming Biggie Smalls flick, "Notorious."\r
Right now Woolard, who says the closet he got to Biggie was watching his funeral procession on the streets of the BK in March, 1997, said that he felt a very "spiritual" bond to the late rapper who was gunned down 11 years ago in Los Angeles during a drive-by.\r
I tried to just connect with him on certain things in the scenes and things," Woolard said. "I just hope that the world will be happy with what they see. I didn't want to make any mistakes. I definitely made sure that I put my perfection on. I wanted to make sure I captured everything that he did because the people who didn't know Big I wanted to make sure I didn't make a mistake and add any Jamal to it in any way, shape or form. I kept it all Big. I kept it all Notorious. I kept it all Frank White. I kept it all Christopher Wallace (Biggie's real name)."\r
Apparently Woolard did such a good job that Biggie's widow Faith Evans would sometimes get chills when she was around him. "He had a lot of Big's same mannerisms," Evans said. "It was a little scary sometimes!" Woolard, however, is used to people confusing him with Big Poppa.\r
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People on the street were always saying that 'He thinks he's Big.' It's real funny because I was already rapping before all of this being Gravy," Woolard said. "I didn't really sound like Big, I was in my own lane. He was the king, you know, which is a great thing because you always want to be compared to the best."