“Big Poppa” was practically the album of weekend if you were in NYC, as the entire city came together to celebrate rap legend and Brooklyn-native, Biggie Smalls, for what would have been his 50th birthday.
Celebrations took place from Manhattan to Brooklyn, from limited-time MetroCards to the Empire State Building illuminating the night sky. NYC surely put on one B.I.G. party.
Four Brooklyn stations were selling special-edition Biggie MetroCards on Saturday, May 21st. The MTA had only released 50,000 cards on a first-come, first-served basis at the vending machines. As expected, New Yorkers eagerly waited in lines wrapping around the stations to try and be one of the lucky thousands to get such a special collector’s item.
Over at Barclays, the sports venue projected a video montage on its enormous oculus display of Biggie’s greatest hits. Onlookers could admire their favorite clips while only be a short distance away from Biggie’s childhood neighborhood in Bed-Stuy.
And what’s a celebration without the honorary lights of the Empire State Building? On Saturday night, if you looked to the sky you could catch the Empire State Building glowing red and white to celebrate Biggie. A rotating crown and ’50’ could also be seen spinning in the mast.
Happy 50th to the King of New York!