Source: L. Busacca / Getty
May 21 marked the 50th birthday of the late great Notorious B.I.G. and NYC pulled out all the stops in celebration of the special occasion. The Empire State Building lit up with red and white bright lights, and if New Yorkers looked close enough, they could see a spinning crown in the middle of the building’s mast similar to the one the Brooklynite wore during his “King of New York” photoshoot.
The MTA kept the festivities going as 50,000 special edition Biggie MetroCards were loaded into machines in three different subways near the iconic rapper’s neighborhood, Lafayette Avenue, Clinton-Washington Ave, and Atlantic Ave-Barclays Center. Biggie fans were lucky if they could get their hands on one, too. According to Brooklyn Vegan, MTA riders in search of the limited cards were met with “hour-long lines and at least one out-of-order machine,” at some of the stations.
Thankfully, if you missed out, some lucky cardholders are already selling the limited edition item on eBay but if you can’t get in on the hype this time, don’t fret because a few more exciting projects are rolling out in honor of the Notorious B.I.G’s profound music legacy.
On Saturday, Biggie’s mother, Voletta Wallace announced that her son would be making his posthumous entrance into the Web3 space with a hyperrealistic avatar courtesy of The Brook metaverse. Ms. Wallace said that she and her team had been working on the exciting project for nearly “2 years.”
“I believe you will love it as much as I do,” she gushed on Instagram, tagging a video of the avatar for fans to see.
Back in March, The Christopher Wallace Estate announced that they would be releasing a rare Biggie NFT collection in partnership with Web3 company OneOf. A percentage of the proceeds will go to The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation, a philanthropic organization established in memory of the hip-hop superstar.
