Clinton Hill Block Will Be Named For Biggie Smalls In June

CLINTON HILL, BROOKLYN — A years-long effort to name the street where Biggie Smalls once lived after the late rap icon will finally become a reality this summer.

The Christopher Wallace Memorial Foundation announced on Tuesday, what would have been the rapper's 47th birthday, that an official naming ceremony would be held on the St. James Place block June 10, according to the organization's Instagram.

The ceremony will designate St. James Place between Fulton Street and Gates Avenue as "Christopher Wallace Way."

The ceremony will likely include several members of the Notorious B.I.G.'s family, including his mother Voletta Wallace, his children and some of his closest friends, Billboard first reported.

It marks the successful end of an effort that started back in 2013, which was spearheaded by Brooklyn artist LeRoy McCarthy. McCarthy submitted the proposal to Community Board 2 multiple times before the idea was approved last fall.

The mural artist is also responsible for successfully getting "Respect" signsput up in the Franklin Avenue subway station to honor the late Aretha Franklin.

Biggie grew up in a home on St. James Place near the Bed-Stuy border. The hip-hop legend also has basketball courts named after him in the borough at the Crispus Attucks Playground, which was named in 2017.

“Honoring Biggie symbolizes more than just one man,” McCarthy told Rolling Stone in November. “It symbolizes a culture. It symbolizes a borough. It symbolizes a people, and hip-hop is worldwide.”