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Notorious B.I.G. Mural in NY Causes Rift Between Artists

Posted Dec 22nd 2011 2:20PM by Georgette Cline
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Tim Mosenfelder, Getty Images

Even after death, rapper Notorious B.I.G. is causing a ruckus, but not because of his rhymes. The Brooklyn rhymer's image is what's causing controversy in the same New York borough he was raised in.

Sean Meenan, owner of Habana Outpost, a solar-powered restaurant in Brooklyn, commissioned a mural of the 'Life After Death' rhymer that merged his face with a famous painting of Cuban revolutionary Che Guevara. However, the final result doesn't give credit to the man who designed the original creation, 21-year-old Parsons: The New School for Design student John Garcia.

"It's frustrating, because I literally laid out everything on the wall," Garcia told The Brooklyn Paper. "They didn't mention me [on the wall of the mural] and they said in the future in they would."

The only name cited on the Biggie mural is Meenan's website, seanmeenan.com, despite graffiti artists like Cern One and Lee Quinones having painted the artwork and their names appearing nowhere on the piece.

"It pays tribute to the neighborhood and the legacy of Biggie Smalls and has the revolutionary atmosphere of Che Guevara in the '50s and '60s," Quinones told the New York Times last month.

As far as who should be credited on the mural, Quinones believes Garcia shouldn't be given the spotlight at all. "The names that should be on the wall are the ones who painted it -- myself and Cern," he stated.

To get a closer look at the Biggie Smalls tribute mural, head to S. Portland and Fulton streets in Brooklyn, N.Y.

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Filed under: Hip-Hop, Hip-Hop News
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3 Comments

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hammfam1

Thats rediculous, Che was a communist, If Biggie was anything he was a capitalist. Listen to his lyrics they are about coming from nothing, and having everything, especially MONEY. Communism wouldn't allow Biggie to exist except as a propoganda tool not rapping about the good life, but about conforming to the governments will and being a good worker bee. A half Che half Biggie mural is the dumbest crap I ever heard of. Biggie would rather be in a half and half mural with Bill Gates or Russel Simmons or Donald Trump, not some over glorified commie.

December 23 2011 at 9:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply