“Dedicated to all the teachers that told me I’d never amount to nothin’.”

The Hip Hop Hall of Fame Museum is raising money online to complete a bronze statue of Brooklyn son The Notorious B.I.G and erect it near the neighborhood B.I.G grew up in.

A GoFundMe page has been setup to raise the funds needed to finish the statue’s design and bronzing, as well as handle all associated expenses with the city of New York, artists, and a donation to the Christopher Wallace Foundation, supporting youth and education initiatives.

The statue was designed by Brooklyn-based artist Tanda Francis, a Fellow of the Art Students League of New York. Part of the statue has already been exhibited in a local gallery.

This new project, called the Biggie Memorial by the Museum, wants to erect the final statue at Putnam Triangle Plaza in Clinton Hill, near the Bed-Stuy neighborhood B.I.G grew up in and immortalised in his rhymes. Murals of the late rapper adorn various buildings in Bed-Stuy already.

Dennis Mathis, of the Christopher Wallace Foundation who is involved in the project, told local news murals are cool but “one day they’re gonna paint over those depending on what the landlord of the building is but if you put a sculpture, then that’s permanent and it’s not just to memorialize him but economically what it does to the area.”

The funding drive hopes to raise $35,000 and create “a bold reminder of the hip hop and music history which has helped form the creative and cultural landscape of New York City and the world.”

The statue would be the latest in a series of memorials to rappers and hip-hop legends including the renaming of Kool Herc’s original block in the Bronx to Hip Hop Boulevard and the commemoration of the late Pumpkinhead in Park Slope.