According to hip hop entrepreneur Sean ‘Puffy’ Combs, it seems the actors in the upcoming movie about the life of New York hip hop legend Notorious B.I.G. bare a creepy similarity to the hip hop performers they portray in the film.

‘Notorious’ tells the story of the late New York hip hop rap artist and his rise to hip hop nobility in the 1990’s.

Combs tells MTV "People asked me years ago who you’d want to play me, and I said Derek Luke… So it was just destined. I got to see him do his thing, and it was scary for me. I had to leave, ’cause he was acting just like me." Actor Derek Luke has been cast as Puffy.

Other hip hop notables who are portrayed in the ‘Notorious’ film are one time hip hop diva Lil’ Kim and of course one time friend and later foe of Biggie, the immortal hip hop icon Tupac Shakur (2Pac).

Combs had this to say about the actor / rapper who is playing Biggie, Brooklyn-based rapper Jamal Woolard aka hip hop artist Gravy - "Gravy, the guy playing B.I.G., it was just too eerie for me to be on that. Gravy’s killing it. If I tell you he’s killing it, then that’s all we need to say, you know what I’m saying? I don’t think anybody could have done a better job."

Anthony Mackie is playing the role of hip hop icon Tupac Shakur (2Pac) and Angela Bassett is in the role of Biggie’s mother Violetta Wallace.

The film directed by George Tillman Jr. (Men of Honor, Soul Food), is due out January 2009.