Bed Stuy's Biggie Mural On Brink Of Destruction, Artists Say

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT, BROOKLYN — Artists are fighting to save an iconic Notorious B.I.G. mural they say is slated to be destroyed .

Solomon Berkowitz — the landlord of 1091 Bedford Ave. where the Biggie mural is painted — told local artists he wanted to remove the mural so that he could add extra windows to the building and increase his tenants’ rents, artists said.

Berkowitz did not return a request for comment but Department of Building records show he filed work order to renovate the two floors and install two windows in March.

Spread Art NYC — a street artists group that includes the Biggie mural’s creators, Scott "Zimer" Zimmerman and Naoufal “Rocko” Alaoui — offered Berkowitz $5,000 not to install the windows and ruin the mural, the group said in an Instagram post.

But Berkowitz came back with a counter offer far beyond the group’s budget when he demanded a $1,250 monthly fee, they wrote.

“At this point, there is nothing Spread Art NYC can do to save this mural,” the activists wrote on Instagram. “We always say, Brooklyn is Biggie and Biggie is Brooklyn. A landlord can NEVER change that!”

Word of the mural’s imminent demise hit Facebook on Tuesday when one local expressed his outrage. Many of his neighbors echoed his response and several threw blame at just one cause — the dreaded g-word.

“Come in and erase the culture,” wrote Nikketa Stanford. “Gentrification at its finest.”

“First and last, gentrification is the issue to underscore here,” added Tyequan Leroy V. Tate. “People of color need to take back their neighborhoods.”

“This Gentrification bulls—,” bemoaned Diamond Ether. “Leave biggie right the f— there.”

Header Image via Kathleen Culliton