How do you have a Brooklyn with no Biggie? It comes off as tone deaf and foul but bigger things seem to be at play.
Here are more details on the original plan to knock down the mural.
A two-story mural of Bed-Stuy’s hometown hero Notorious B.I.G. is slated to be destroyed after the owner of the building on which it’s painted prepares to renovate, according to the landlord and and the mural’s artists.
The mural, located on a building at Bedford Avenue and Quincy Street, has drawn tourists and hip-hop heads since it was painted in 2015, but now the landlord, Samuel Berkowitz, said he needs to remove it in order to add new windows.
In a telephone interview Thursday, Berkowitz said he saw no reason to keep the mural. “Let me rephrase the question: Why should I keep it?” he said. “I don’t even see the point of the discussion. I could demolish the building if I wanted to, I don’t need no permission from anyone except the DOB.”
Berkowitz declined to discuss the matter further, and it was not immediately clear when the mural would be removed. He secured permits in March for the work, which includes a gut renovation of the second floor and the addition of two windows to the wall with the mural, Department of Buildings records show.
In an Instagram post by Spread Art NYC, a collective affiliated with the mural’s artists Naoufal “Rocko” Alaoui and Scott “Zimer” Zimmerman, the group said Berkowitz had offered to keep the mural up in exchange for $1,200 a month, but said the collective would be unable to sustain the cost.
As detailed, Spread Art NYC has worked feverishly to keep the mural standing after their offer was declined. One of the concerns given is “The Crowd” the mural currently attracts. Let’s say it for what it is, “crowd” is coded language for gentrification. Gentrification and Brooklyn have been terms nearly synonymous with one another in recent times. Laurence Fishburne taught us about the dangers in Boyz N The Hood.
The Nets are now partnering with Spread Art NYC to keep the mural as is in all it’s glory.
We are stepping in and working with @spreadartnyc and other NYC leaders to help see that it stays.
Spread love. It's the Brooklyn way. pic.twitter.com/8T2sZoEiU4
— Brooklyn Nets (@BrooklynNets) May 21, 2017
Overall this is a great job by the Nets stepping up to help Spread Art NYC to keep the mural and maintain the Brooklyn flavor.