New York City honors its King with a crown atop the world's most famous skyline
On May 21, 2022 — what would have been Christopher Wallace's 50th birthday — the Empire State Building lit its iconic tower in red and white and placed a spinning gold crown at its mast, transforming Manhattan's skyline into a tribute to the King of New York.
The display, coordinated with the Christopher Wallace Estate and Bad Boy Entertainment, ran from dusk until midnight. Crowds gathered along Fifth Avenue and at multiple viewing points across the five boroughs to watch the light show. In Bed-Stuy, where Biggie grew up, block parties stretched across Fulton Street and St. James Place, the neighborhood filling with music — much of it his.
"Brooklyn's own. The city doesn't forget its kings." — Voletta Wallace
The 50th birthday celebration was the centerpiece of a week-long series of events organized by the Estate, including a pop-up exhibition at Industry City in Brooklyn, a limited-edition capsule release from the official Biggie merch store, and a special broadcast curated by Sean "Diddy" Combs honoring his longtime friend and artist.
"Fifty years," said Voletta Wallace in a statement released through the Estate. "Fifty years since the Lord gave me my son. I want the world to know what I know: that Christopher was funny, and kind, and brilliant, and that he loved deeply. The Empire State Building lighting up tonight — that's New York saying what it's always known. Brooklyn produced the greatest."
The milestone coincided with a surge in streaming numbers across all platforms. Spotify reported a 340% increase in streams of Biggie's catalog in the 48 hours surrounding May 21. "Juicy," "Hypnotize," and "Big Poppa" all re-entered the global charts. A curated playlist compiled by the Estate and titled "Happy Birthday, Big" reached the top ten in the United States within hours of its release.
Critical retrospectives published around the anniversary unanimously reinforced what history had already rendered: that Ready to Die and Life After Death are among the most consequential recordings in American musical history, and that Biggie's influence on every subsequent generation of rap — from Jay-Z to Kendrick Lamar to Drake — is immeasurable and foundational.
The Empire State Building had previously lit up for musicians including David Bowie and Prince. The crown addition for Biggie was described by building management as unique — a one-off modification that recognized the specific significance of the "King of New York" iconography to the artist's legacy. The city, it seems, was simply giving the crown back.
Original Publication
Read Original Article at Variety
