Biggie Smalls Mural in Bed Stuy Will Stay, Landlord Has Change of Heart
The image of the late rapper will continue to keep watch over a Bed Stuy block.
Bed Stuy’s beloved mural of Biggie Smalls will not be coming down after all.
Last week, the arts organization that created it in 2015 reported the landlord intended to remove it for renovations — unless they paid him monthly rent of $1,250 to keep it in place at Bedford Avenue and Quincy, as we reported.
Now the landlord has had a change of heart and agreed to leave it, according to DNAinfo.
“To be honest, he just didn’t know how important Biggie is to Brooklyn,” one of the artists, Naoufal “Rocko” Alaoui, told DNA. “He’s not a bad guy. A lot of people offered to help financially, but he said he don’t need the money, just the respect of his neighbors.” The landlord, Solomon Berkowitz, was not available for comment.
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More than 3,000 people petitions formed in an attempt to landmark the mural.”
The mural, which overlooks a corner where Christopher Wallace once rapped, has become something of a shrine to the late rapper and the focus of yearly celebrations commemorating his birthday and the anniversary of death.
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