A 9-foot-tall Biggie sculpture is unveiled near Brooklyn Bridge

By Brooklyn Magazine Staff

It may have all been a dream, but a new sculpture dedicated to the late rapper Christopher Wallace is very real — and very hard to miss.

A 9-foot-tall bust of the Notorious B.I.G., titled “Sky’s the Limit in the County of Kings,” is spreading love near the Brooklyn Bridge, made possible by the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund. It is, according to artist Sherwin Banfield, “dedicated to the art, life, and legacy” of the Brooklyn-born hip-hop legend, who died 25 years ago this year.

The eye-catching structure features a crowned bust of the late rapper and is placed on an angular steel frame with panels that shout out his achievements, NYC Parks said. The sculpture “invites the viewer to experience the larger-than-life artistry of B.I.G.’s contributions to and love of Brooklyn, hip-hop culture and community.”

“This for everyone that’s visiting Brooklyn,” Banfield, a Queens-based artist, told the Daily News. “If you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, you come off that first stair exit into downtown Brooklyn, in Dumbo, and you will see shimmering, stainless steel and bronze with the crown. And it’s there overlooking [everything], perched on a hill.”

The installation sits at a small green space at the corner of Adams St. and Prospect St. and will be on display until October 2023.  Its installation caps a year-long celebration of Biggie and his life. In March, a mural was unveiled in Bed-Stuy at a former liquor store on Fulton Street, where the rapper frequently hung out. And in May, the MTA released limited-edition  MetroCards honoring B.I.G. at four Brooklyn stations.

The rap legend’s legacy still looms large in his home town in spite (or because) of major changes here brought on in part by gentrification. He was just 24 when he was killed in an unsolved 1997 shooting in Los Angeles.

Photo by Noemie Trusty