Fans flooded Brooklyn subway stations for Notorious B.I.G. MetroCards on what would’ve been his 50th birthday
Lifelong fans of Biggie Smalls packed subway stations across Brooklyn on Saturday to receive commemorative MetroCards honoring the late rapper's 50th birthday, reports the New York Post.
Nearly 50,000 cards were packed in MetroCard machines at four select stations in Brooklyn, which was home to Biggie, aka “Notorious B.I.G.” The limited edition MetroCards featuring a portrait of Biggie were available starting at 12:01 am on a first come, first serve basis.
People were lined up about 100 at a time, waiting for hours at stations across Central Brooklyn for a chance to purchase a card of their own.
Many said it was well worth it.
“It was a long, hot two hours,” said Melissa Pajuelo, 30, of Brighton Beach, after buying five MetroCards. “Two are for me. Another two are for my boyfriend, and the last one is for my homeboy.”
“It’s Biggie Smalls. He’s an icon,” Pajuelo added. “Who’s not going to want this, being born and raised in Brooklyn?”
One enterprising man even tried to make money by scalping the commemorative cards to people seeking to avoid the long lines in heat stricken subway stations.
“Forty bucks! Who wants it?” he shouted.
This is not the first time the MTA has branded their MetroCards with pop culture icons. In 2018, fans crowded lower Manhattan for a chance to purchase limited edition David Bowie-inspired MetroCards. A move that was part of a Bowie exhibition that had taken over the Broadway-Lafayette subway station.
The MetroCards are one of many ways the city B.I.G, who was infamously gunned down and murdered in 1997 after leaving a party in Los Angeles. He was only 24 and the case still has not been solved.
“I’ve always been a big Biggie fan,” stated Cameron McGinn, 27, of Manhattan. “This is a unique item to get and show true fandom and clearly people are down for it,” he added. “I’d come back for another.”
