STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — A mural honoring the late hip-hop icon the Notorious B.I.G., also known as Biggie Smalls, was vandalized in Brooklyn overnight on Friday, according to multiple news sources.
The mural, painted in 2019 on the corner of Saint James Place and Fulton Street in Clinton Hill where the rapper grew up, was defaced with dark red paint, the words “East Coast” spray-painted over it, and black paint splattered on Smalls’ face.
Crews were working carefully to remove the paint without further damaging the mural on Friday.
Vincent Ballentine, the artist behind the mural told NBC4, “So, for this to happen, people are coming by saying ‘Damn, they did it dirty.’ It’s bigger than me. It’s big period, I don’t know what else to say.”
Ballentine said he plans to fix the mural, which took him two days to complete.
After an unrelated event on Friday, Mayor Eric Adams told the press the vandalism was “unacceptable.”
“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 said. “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.”
An investigation into who defaced the mural is ongoing and there is no description of a suspect at this time, police said.
The Notorious B.I.G., born Christopher Wallace, was a rapper and songwriter. Lauded for his contributions to East Coast hip hop and gangsta rap, “Biggie,” is widely considered one of the greatest rappers of all time. Wallace was murdered in a drive-by shooting in 1997 following an award show appearance in Los Angeles. His murder remains unsolved.
