On what would have been his 50th birthday, The Notorious B.I.G will be honored as the “King of New York” in a series of tributes taking place across his home city on May 21.
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On Saturday, the Empire State Building in Manhattan will light up red and white in honor of the late rap icon. A crown will spin around the skyscraper’s mast, serving as a reminder of his “King of New York” status.
Over in Brooklyn, the Barclays Center will project a video montage of some of the rapper’s classic songs onto the massive oculus display above the arena’s entrance. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority will release special edition metro cards, which will be available at three subway stations near his old Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood.
To kick off the celebration on May 20, several family members, friends, and collaborators will attend a ceremony at the Empire State Building. Attendees include his mother, children, and fellow rappers Lil Kim and Lil Cease.
Elsewhere, Amazon Music and their catalog music brand, [RE]DISCOVER, will take over the Clinton – Washington Ave. station with artwork based on Biggie’s iconic “King of New York” crown photo.
Biggie’s 25th-anniversary box set of his final studio album, Life After Death, will arrive on June 10 – featuring eight vinyl LPs and a commemorative booklet containing rare photos from the album’s cover shoot.
The album was released just sixteen days after his death on March 9, 1997. Biggie was murdered at the young age of 24 while leaving a Soul Train Awards afterparty in Los Angeles. A driver pulled up alongside his car and shot the beloved songwriter. His murder has not yet been solved.
Photo Courtesy of Bad Boy Entertainment
