New York City is having numerous birthday celebrations for late rapper Christopher “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace this weekend.
The Empire State Building released the following tweet on Thursday: “Together with Biggie’s estate, we’ll have a life-size holographic avatar of B.I.G. on the 80th Floor, available for guest viewing and photographs from 4PM-9PM.”
Brooklyn’s Barclays Center will display a video montage of Biggie Smalls at the entrance of the arena, and the MTA will issue a special edition MetroCard featuring the music icon.
His image will also be displayed at Brooklyn subway stations — including Atlantic Avenue-Barclays Center, Lafayette Avenue and Clinton-Washington Avenue — which will feature art based on Barron Claiborne’s “King of New York” photo of Biggie wearing a crown.
Several of Biggie’s friends and family will participate in the city-wide celebration.Getty ImagesIn other celebrations, Lil Kim is hosting a black-tie B.I.G. Dinner Gala on Friday with performers reportedly including Fabolous, Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Bone Thugs, French Montana, Beanie Siegel, Freeway, and others.
His mother Voletta Wallace, daughter T’yanna, son C.J. Wallace, and his ex-wife Faith Evans are all expected to be in attendance, and a pre-filmed celebrity procession of Lexus LX SUVs will be driven through Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The Brooklyn rapper was gunned down in Los Angeles in 1997. Getty ImagesThere will also be new murals of the “Hypnotize” rapper in different areas of New York by local artists, in partnership with Amazon and the Beautify Earth movement.
The late rap star was infamously murdered in 1997 after leaving a Vibe party in LA. He was 24, and would’ve turned 50 on May 21. The case has still has not been solved.
Born and raised in Brooklyn, Wallace signed to Sean Combs’ Bad Boy label when it launched in 1993. His debut album “Ready to Die” was released in 1994 to worldwide acclaim, and spawned hit singles such as “Big Poppa” and “Juicy.”
