Clinton Hill’s most famous rapper, Christopher “The Notorious B.I.G.” Wallace, is getting love in DUMBO. A new sculpture installation that sits at the foot of the Brooklyn Bridge—at the corner of Prospect and Washington streets—features The Notorious B.I.G. looking out over Brooklyn from the height of a grassy, sloped lawn. As you climb the grassy knoll and come closer to the piece, you’re serenaded by the sounds of some of Biggie’s classic songs piped out for all to hear via a solar power system.
Sherwin Banfield, the artist who created the 9-foot-tall, mixed media, stainless steel and bronze structure called “Sky’s the Limit in the County of Kings” thanks to a grant from the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership and Dumbo Improvement District, said that “Delivering this project means so much to me personally, my story and artistic development as well as countless fans of hip hop culture who continue to be positively affected and influenced by the communal experiences and sonic frequencies of B.I.G.’s artistry…
“More importantly,” Banfield added, “I cherish the significance of the potential impact on young children of color who will have an opportunity to experience a public sculpture that represents and reflects their identity, circumstance and/or dreams.”
Notably, Banfield’s “Sky’s the Limit in the County of Kings” sits on Clumber Corner, a small area just off the BQE which is mere steps from the famed 19th-century Black neighborhood that once occupied High Street. Beginning around the year 1810, a large African American community had established itself along High Street, near Bridge Street; they worked between the shipping industry in Fulton Ferry Landing and Brooklyn’s farms which supplied food to Manhattan. The Biggie statue now looks out over the same East River waterfront landing areas and views of Manhattan that Brooklyn’s Blacks used to see in the early 19th century.