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Notorious B.I.G. Art Show to Celebrate Rapper's Legacy

 The duo who painted a Biggie mural on Bedford Avenue and Quincy Street will host an art show dedicated to the late rapper on March 10-12.
The duo who painted a Biggie mural on Bedford Avenue and Quincy Street will host an art show dedicated to the late rapper on March 10-12.
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DNAinfo/Camille Bautista

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A three-day art show will pay homage to the legacy of late rapper Notorious B.I.G. in the heart of his neighborhood.

Local organization Spread Art NYC is hosting the “20 Big Years” event Friday through Sunday in honor of the 20th anniversary of the Brooklyn rapper’s death on March 9.

Naoufal Aloui, also known as “Rocko,” arranged the tribute with fellow artist Scott "Zimer" Zimmerman after painting a 38-foot-high mural of Biggie Smalls on Bedford Avenue and Quincy Street.

The show at the Bishop Gallery at 916 Bedford Ave. will feature more than a dozen local artists, including Barron Claiborne, who photographed Biggie with his iconic crown in 1997, just three days before the rapper’s death.

Organizers will also screen “Bedford and Quincy,” which shows Notorious B.I.G. during the early days of his career, hanging in the neighborhood with members of local groups like the Old Gold Brothers and DJ 50 Grand, who helped bring the rapper to the limelight.

The footage is juxtaposed with video from 2015, when those same friends stopped by Rocko and Zimer’s mural on Bedford Avenue and Quincy Street.

“The mural, the show, everything is about wanting to thank Biggie for his legacy. We want to keep it positive and make it like he never died,” Rocko said.

“We want people to see what he was about way before anything, before he got famous. We want to show how Biggie is Brooklyn and how Brooklyn is Biggie.”

The owners of the venue have also hosted their own Biggie art shows in the past, with the latest in 2014 celebrating his first album, “Ready to Die.”

“We thought it was a really special thing for the community to be celebrating art from our community, for someone from here who is cherished,” said gallery co-owner Stevenson Dunn Jr.

“As two young men born and raised here in Bed-Stuy,” he said of himself and his partner, “Biggie is a legend to say the least. To be able to not only do things on own your but support other efforts of groups like Spread Art NYC, it’s a par for the course.”

“That’s what we do, spread love the Brooklyn way. … He has inspired us so much."

The Notorious B.I.G., also known as Christopher Wallace, was shot to death in Los Angeles at the age of 24.

“I cut class two times in my entire life: once for senior ditch day, and another time in eighth grade when I went to Biggie’s funeral,” Dunn Jr. said.

The March 10 event at the Bishop Gallery will feature an opening ceremony and an auction of a painting that served as the template for Rocko and Zimer’s mural.

Tyanna Wallace, daughter of the late rapper, is expected to attend, along with DJ 50 Grand and members of the OGB crew, according to Rocko.

The showcase will take place Friday from 6 to 9 p.m., Saturday, March 11 from noon til 6 p.m., and Sunday, March 12 from noon to 5 p.m.