Entering the newly inaugurated Biggie Experience museum in Brooklyn, New York, dedicated to the life of legendary rapper the Notorious B.I.G., visitors immediately find themselves surrounded by a faithful recreation of his childhood bedroom at 226 St. James Place. The Sanyo stereo system mounted to the eggshell-blue colored wall plays Run-DMC and Big Daddy Kane cassettes. An unfinished Welch’s grape juice, a handheld Tetris console and a vintage Motorola pager sit artfully arranged on his nightstand. Timberland boots rest in the closet and an old RCA television plays “Martin” (the 1995 episode featuring Biggie’s cameo appearance, of course). Welcome to the curated, immersive world of the late, great Christopher Wallace.
The Notoriouss Clothing boutique of Wallace’s daughter, 30-year-old fashion designer T’yanna, once occupied the space of the Biggie Experience at 503 Atlantic Avenue. Launched last weekend on the 27th anniversary of B.I.G.’s untimely murder in Los Angeles, the Biggie Experience represents his daughter’s latest effort to keep his legacy alive: a virtual museum full of rap tchotchkes, replicas of significant locales and citations explaining the highlights of his career. Coming on the heels of recent career retrospectives in the borough focused on Jay-Z (at the Brooklyn Library) and Spike Lee (at the Brooklyn Museum), the Biggie Experience rides the zeitgeist.
“When T’yanna called and said, ‘I want to do something for my dad; I want it to be dope, intimate, interactive,’ how could I say no?” explains Krystal “K.G.” Garner, co-founder of the AK-08 creative agency that helped curate and create the Biggie Experience along with designer Greg “Rich Bizarre” Simmons. “This was just a slingshot clothing store. Everything in here we built: walls, shelves, everything. The whole museum is meant to be super immersive and interactive. We want to tell [Biggie’s story] as authentically and dope as…
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