A street named after Notorious B.I.G in Brooklyn, on Monday, has drawn commendations from various hip-hop legends who believed the move had been long due.
The street was renamed “Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace Way.
Reacting to the development, Grammy Award-winning rapper Lil Kim said
“I always knew this day was gonna come,”
Lil Kim, who was discovered by the rapper in 1994, said further
“I used to dream about a street being named after Biggie, because it was only right.”
Officials dubbed the corner of St. James Place and Fulton Street “Christopher Wallace Way” following a controversial, years-long push by local activists to get the designation.
Biggie, who was gunned down in a still-unsolved 1997 drive-by murder in Los Angeles, grew up steps away at 226 St. James Place.
Fans first proposed the co-naming in 2013, but it was shot down by members of the local community board who argued that the heavy-set, foul-mouthed lyricist was a bad role model for area youth.
City Council finally approved the co-naming last fall — a victory for the rapidly gentrifying neighborhood, according to local City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo.
Gentrifiers “want to erase the history, they want to put up new cafes and boutiques and push us out of our community. That’s why this sign is important today — so that the history of this place is told to our children and our children’s children,” she said
