Behold Something Bigger Than Tupac

Back in the day, Tupac Shakur embodied rap as aggressive criticism of the world that is and a mirror to the lives of some of the world’s least fortunate. Milwaukee recording artist and filmmaker Sona Lionel produced an unconventional documentary that’s less a VH-1 style biography of the late artist, shot dead in 1996, than a series of interviews with other rappers and fans about his widespread, profound influence. Behold Something Bigger Than Tupac, which screens today at noon, 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. at the Miramar Theater, has a distinct and angry perspective: Contemporary hip-hop, it argues, has turned into a crass bling-fest celebrating stupidity and consumerism, selfishness and greed. The people interviewed for Behold advocate, some of them eloquently, for rappers to do the right thing by challenging the worst of society rather than becoming society’s worst.