Culture – 2 hours ago

Photo Credit: CBS News

A Brooklyn mural depicting The Notorious B.I.G. was vandalized overnight. It was discovered by passerby’s on Friday.

The disrespect for The Notorious B.I.G is real on a vandalized mural of rapper in Brooklyn. Discovered on Friday, a mural in Clinton Hill depicting Biggie Smalls was spray painted over with the words “East Coast,” along with dark paint thrown over it. In a surveillance video following the discovery, a person is shown with a person and their dog close to the mural, before the person appears to take a selfie image in front of the Biggie-dedicated artwork.

The rapper, whose real name was Christopher Wallace, was raised in Brooklyn on St. James Place, just steps away from the now-defaced mural next to Beauty World salon.

A mural of music legend Biggie Smalls, was vandalized. It’s located in the Brooklyn neighborhood where he grew up. More on @CBSNewYork at noon. pic.twitter.com/ShIzxZWF7v

— Jenna DeAngelis (@jennamdeangelis) August 26, 2022

“This is unfortunate. A lot of hard work went into putting the artwork up by the artist and also the business owners and the neighborhood really appreciated it. People come from all over the world to come take a picture in front of this mural,” said LeRoy McCarthy, a Clinton Hill resident per CBS News.

“He’s a part of the fabric of Brooklyn. We celebrate hip-hop’s anniversary and we celebrate Biggie. Biggie is a main part of why New York and hip-hop is what it is today,” added McCarthy, who was also an advocate for naming the intersection of Fulton Street and St. James Place “Christopher ‘Notorious B.I.G.’ Wallace Way.” In 2019, during what would have been Biggie’s 47th birthday, the street was renamed after him during a ceremony attended by his mother Voletta Wallace, Lil Kim along with Junior M.A.F.I.A. affiliates and the rapper’s family members.

The NYPD is currently investigating what was behind the vandalism.