Source: L. Busacca / Getty
It’s not all good, baby, baby in one Brooklyn neighborhood after a vandal had the audacity to ruin a mural dedicated to the late Notorious B.I.G.
CBS News reports the NYPD is actively searching for the vandal(s) who defaced a Biggie mural located on the corner of St. James Place and Fulton Street in the Clinton Hill section of Brooklyn, New York. The painting of the legendary rapper born Christopher Wallace was tagged with “East Coast” in red spray paint and splattered with darker red paint across the “Juicy” crafter’s face to add more insult to injury.
In surveillance footage, a person with a dog is seen early Friday (Aug.26) posing in front of the mural and appears to take a selfie in front of the vandalized Biggie mural.
Artist Vincent Ballentine, who spent two days creating the mural in 2019, told CBS News he plans to restore the moral to its original glory. “I woke up to this,” Ballentine told the local news affiliate.
“I think the neighborhood really saw it as he was one of ours, and he made it out and made something of himself. That’s the story that people hold on to,” he continued.
The Biggie Mural Is More Than Just A Painting
LeRoy McCarthy, a Clinton Hill resident who helped get the street renamed Christopher Wallace Way, said, “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.”
“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,” McCarthy continued.
Speaking with NY1 News, Mayor Eric Adams said they want to find the person responsible and vowed the mural is here to stay.
“Biggie is a hero to our community, and that’s darn sure not how you spread love the Brooklyn way, as Biggie would say,” Adams told reporters at an event. “We’re going to look into that and make sure that mural is cleaned up and repaired because this has a place there, and it remains there, and we want to find the person responsible.”
The NYPD currently has no suspects.
Photo: L. Busacca / Getty
