A teenager has taken the internet by storm after a video of him dressed as The Notorious B.I.G. for Halloween went viral.
The clip, posted on social media just days before Oct. 31, has racked up over 8 million views so far. It shows the teen confidently walking in classic Timberland boots and a denim outfit straight out of Biggie’s iconic ’90s style — topped off with a crown fit for the rap legend himself.
The legendary photo of The Notorious B.I.G. wearing a tilted crown was captured by Barron Claiborne during the iconic “KONY (King of New York)” photoshoot. That same image later graced the 1997 cover of Rap Pages magazine.
As reported by Artnet, the crown Biggie wore in the portrait was a simple prop Claiborne purchased for just six dollars. “This crown is a novelty item; I bought it at a place on Broadway called Gordon’s,” Claiborne told the New York Post. “Without Biggie, the crown wouldn’t be worth [six figures]. I only paid six bucks for it.”
Signed just three days before his death, Biggie’s famous crown was auctioned by Sotheby’s during its first-ever Hip Hop auction in 2020. Though estimated to sell between $200,000 and $300,000, it ultimately fetched an astonishing $594,750.
“With the tragic events that unfolded just days after the photoshoot, this image of a crowned Notorious B.I.G. became much more than a portrait—it transformed Biggie Smalls into an aristocratic, almost saint-like figure, forever immortalized not just as the King of New York, but as a king of hip-hop and one of the greatest artists of all time,” Claiborne said, according to CNN.
Nearly 30 years later, that iconic image of Biggie continues to reign supreme in pop culture.
