Artist News

Officials could veto plan to name street after ‘poor role model’ Notorious BIG

By | Published on Friday 18 October 2013

Notorious BIG

A plan to rename a street corner in honour of late rapper the Notorious BIG in his one-time hood of Brooklyn, New York, could be squashed by local authorities on the grounds that he isn’t/wasn’t a good enough role model. One local decision maker has told reporters that the slain MC, real name Christopher Wallace, wasn’t, in life, in great shape, either physically or ethically, and on that basis is voting against naming the corner Christopher Wallace Way.

Having looked into Biggie’s history, local official Lucy Koteen is quoted by WENN as saying: “He started selling drugs at twelve, he was a school dropout at seventeen, he was arrested for drugs and weapons charges, he was arrested for parole violations, he was arrested in North Carolina for crack cocaine, in 1996 he was again arrested for assault, he had a violent death, and physically the man is not exactly a role model for youth”.

“I don’t see how this guy was a role model”, she adds, “and frankly [the street naming proposal] offends me”.

LeRoy McCarthy, who’s behind the petition backing the campaign, counters: “There are many artists that share stories in a vernacular that their audiences understand. Biggie used the language from the streets he grew up in to convey what he wanted to say. [Council] board members should not hold Wallace’s physical appearance nor how he died against him”.



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