A sculpture honoring the late rapper/actor Heavy D was unveiled in his hometown of Mount Vernon, NY on Thursday.

Brooklyn-based artist Eto Otitgbe was joined by Heavy D’s household and Mayor Shawyn Patterson-Howard to unveil his sculpture that honors Heavy D and his affect in hip hop in celebration of the style’s fiftieth anniversary, ABC 7 NY stories.

“My son cherished the humanities and this sculpture and this sculpture depicts the love that he have particularly for the town of Mount Vernon,” Heavy D’s mom Euhlalee Myers mentioned.

The piece is titled “Peaceable Journey” after one in all Heavy D’s songs and “affords a considerate and sophisticated image of the lives of Black and Brown individuals (residing) in locations like Mount Vernon, the Bronx or Los Angeles,” Otitgbe mentioned.

“I wished to pay homage to the Mount Vernon neighborhood that had such an essential place in hip-hop with this murals,” he added.

Heavy D was born Dwight Arrington Myers in Mandeville, Jamaica however relocated to Mount Vernon throughout childhood and developed a love for rap early on. He went on to type the Boyz with high-school associates DJ Eddie F, Hassle T-Roy, and G-Wiz and recorded a demo tape that landed within the lap of Def Jam government André Harrell, by way of All Music.

Harrel was within the strategy of forming his personal label, Uptown, and determined to make Heavy D and The Boyz the primary artists signed to the label in 1986. Their debut album, “Dwelling Massive” would attain gold standing with a sequence of standard singles like “Mr. Huge Stuff” and “The Chubby Lovers within the Home.”

By the 90s, Heavy D grew to become a family title with options on Janet Jackson’s “Alright” and extra chart-topping singles like 1991’s “Now That We Discovered Love.” Heavy would go on to appearing showing in  Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence’s 1999 comedy “Life,” a supporting function within the Oscar-nominated drama “The Cider Home Guidelines,” and Fox’s drama “Boston Public.”

Heavy acted onscreen all whereas persevering with his music profession. On November 8, 2011, Heavy D collapsed exterior his house in Beverly Hills and died from issues of pneumonia and a blood clot in his lung. He was 44 years outdated.

His wake and funeral drew 1000’s with many celebrities and followers coming out in numbers to pay their respect to the rap legend.