By Aaron Ginsburg, Wed, December 7, 2022 All photos courtesy of Noemie Trusty
A new sculpture of the “King of New York” now greets visitors entering Brooklyn. The Dumbo Improvement District and the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership on Tuesday unveiled a 9-foot-tall bronze structure depicting hip-hop legend Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge in Dumbo. Created by artist Sherwin Banfield, the structure, titled “Sky’s the Limit in the County of Kings,” is dedicated to the “art, life, and legacy” of Wallace, who died 25 years ago.
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By Aaron Ginsburg, Wed, May 18, 2022 Image courtesy of Marc A. Hermann / MTA on Flickr
One of hip-hop’s most influential artists will be paid tribute by his hometown this weekend. On May 21, the Empire State Building will turn its lighting to red and white, with a crown spinning atop its mast, in honor of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G., who would have turned 50 on Saturday. In Brooklyn, videos of Biggie Smalls, born Christopher Wallace, will be shown at the Barclays Center entrance and special MetroCards featuring the icon will be sold at three nearby subway stations, Variety reports.
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By Devin Gannon, Tue, December 21, 2021 All photos courtesy of Compass
After just over three months on the market, the Fort Greene home that once belonged to the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. sold last week for $2,000,000, as the New York Post first reported. Located at 159 Carlton Avenue, the two-bedroom duplex sits within a former stable building and underwent a major renovation by the current owner, a well-known costume designer. The home, which is where Biggie lived when he released his iconic 1994 album “Ready to Die,” was listed for $1,700,000 in September.
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By Dana Schulz, Wed, March 11, 2015
- Tour a prism- and plant-filled Brooklyn railroad apartment with an old school charm. [Design Sponge]
- Clinton Hill is getting a Biggie mural outside the Key Food where he once worked. [Brokelyn]
- Want to know what’s going on with a landmarks application in your neighborhood? The LPC now posts videos of its public hearings and meetings. [GVSHP]
- Check out all the winners of the 2015 AIANY Design Awards. [AIANY]
- In 1964, the NYC Transit Authority launched a competition for a new subway map design. See one of the winners, which informed the basis for our maps today. [Metro Map Art]
- Use the Instagram hashtag #schlepNYC for photos of your daily commute to be added to this interactive map. [DNAinfo]
Images: Biggie mural in Bed Stuy via rutlo cc (L); 1964 subway map design via Metro Map Art (R)
By Annie Doge, Wed, October 15, 2014 Photo by brandon king cc
Brooklyn is changing fast and at the forefront of this is Bedford-Stuyvesant—or as it’s more commonly known, Bed-Stuy. Like most New York neighborhoods, Bed-Stuy has had its ups and downs, its most notable down being the 80s and 90s when crime and drugs were at a record high. But as hard as the times may have gotten, the neighborhood has maintained itself as one of the city’s most culturally significant. Bed-Stuy has long been home to one of the largest concentrations of African-Americans in New York, it boasts beautiful well-preserved architecture spanning countless styles and centuries, and of course, there is the neighborhood’s central role in the hip-hop movement.
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By Andrew Cotto, Wed, June 11, 2014 My wife and I took the kids to the Barclays Center in early 2013, during the Nets’ inaugural season in Brooklyn. There had been a lot of hype, not only about the Nets but also about the new arena. And there had been a lot of flack about both the Nets and the arena, respectively, as well. But after all the back and forth, over many years, both the stadium and the Nets were part of Brooklyn, and while we had been ambivalent observers during the whole imbroglio, we were anxious to check things out once matters were settled.
The arena impressed. Spacious corridors and lots of polished surfaces. Professional and courteous service. We roamed around each level, sampling food and drinks from some of Brooklyn’s finest eateries and breweries. And, of course, a stop at the gift shop was mandatory for the kids to purchase Nets gear which had become the unofficial uniform of Brooklyn’s youth. By the time we sat down in our seats, we were definitely on board with the whole Nets/Barclays thing. The pregame production turned out to be top notch, too: dancers, acrobats, a DJ named TJ, a knight-of-some-sort who shot t-shirts into the crowd, and a super-stylish MC definitely on point, ratcheting the crowd into a pseudo-frenzy (it was only a mid-season game against Atlanta after all). And when the lights dimmed, and the music loomed, it was on for real: through the loud speakers came a familiar voice, smooth and deep, informed by a trademark flow…
“Welcome to Brooklyn, y’all…”
Oh my good-ness! That’s Jay-Z!
“Birthplace of Michael Jordan.”
Read more of Andrew’s story here
