According to the New York Post the “one-room shack” in Brooklyn that Notorious B.I.G. rapped about living in as a child is up for rent — with its owner charging $4,000 a month to reside there.
The residence has been renovated and is now listed as a gentrified three-bedroom home.
Gone are the days of “no heat,” as Biggie says in his legendary hit track “Juicy,” which also contains the “one-room shack” reference.
“It’s a beautiful home and a fantastic neighborhood, filled with little shops and great transportation,” said Compass broker Fabienne Lecole. “The apartment is iconic … a historical gem.”
When Biggie lived at the residence — located on the third floor of 226 St. James Place — it was considered to be in a drug-plagued section of Clinton Hill. Fast forward to 2019, and everything’s been transformed.
“The neighborhood is all hipsters and millennials,” said Kathleen Perkins, a Douglas Elliman broker. “People in finance and tech people.”
The Biggie home which still has intricate and historic details from when the slain rapper lived there, including the same windows and moldings wound up selling in 2013 for a whopping $825,000 to the person who’s now trying to rent it out. It comes with a den and separate dining room, along with hardwood floors and high ceilings.
“It’s so calm and residential now,” Lecole said. “It’s hard to imagine it’s the same street that he sang about with all the drugs and gunfire. It couldn’t be more different.”
“[Gentrifiers]] want to erase the history, they want to put up new cafes and boutiques and push us out of our community,” said City Councilwoman Laurie Cumbo. “That’s why this sign is important today so that the history of this place is told to our children and our children’s children.”
