If you ever dreamed of sipping Mo’ on the living room floor of the Brooklyn apartment immortalized by the Notorious B.I.G., you might not be able to play Nintendo with Cease-a-Leo, but for a scant $4,000 per month, you can rent Biggie’s childhood home, presenting the unique opportunity for affluent hip-hop fans to pick up the phone and say: “Papa not home.”
The New York Post reports that real estate agents have refurbished the 972-square-foot apartment at 226 St. James Place in Brooklyn’s gentrified Clinton Hill neighborhood. According to the listing, the iconic emcee’s childhood home now features three bedrooms, hardwood floors, a formal dining room, bike storage, and a common garden with plantings and barbecue area.
And probably, white people.
A lot of white people.
Calling the apartment “a historical gem,” Compass broker Fabienne Lecole noted that “Things Done Changed” in the old neighborhood, telling the Post that the former “drug-infested” neighborhood is “so calm and residential now,” adding: “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.”
The current owner, who apparently lived Biggie’s mantra of “Get Money,” bought the third-floor walkup in 2013 for $825,000 and wants to offer the apartment to anyone who wants to “Gimme the Loot.”
The National Community Reinvestment Coalition ranks New York City as one of the most rapidly gentrifying areas in the country. In 2012, Rent Cafe listed the areas where Biggie’s one-room apartment is located as one of the top 20 most-gentrified zip codes.
The apartment’s list of amenities does not include a hot tub, so it’s impossible to know if the lucky renter will have the opportunity to invite someone to “watch a movie in the jacuzzi, smoke Ls while you do me.”