A NEW mural has been created in Brixton to honour the late rapper Ty.

Ty, who was born Ben Chijioke, died in May from complications related to COVID-19.

The unveiling of the mural, which took place on Saturday, was timed to mark what would have been Ty’s 48th birthday on Monday (17 August).

The work of Create Not Destroy’s Bunny Bread and Jason Caballero, the impressive mural is situated on a wall in Valencia Place. It depicts Ty with his eyes closed an crown in hand as pictured in a photograph taken by Benji Reid.

Speaking about the attention-grabbing artwork on Instagram, Bunny Bread wrote: “With the devastating news of the passing of our dear friend Ben ‘Ty’ Chijioke which has been hard for us to all deal with as he meant so much to us all.”

The artist said he agreed to work on the tribute mural on the condition that it would be huge, adding that he wanted a wall befitting of Ty’s stature.

He wrote: “The wall was over 150 years old, has survived two World Wars and seen the coming of the Windrush Generation. I couldn’t ask for a more fitting wall for a memorial piece of art for our dear friend.”

Reid wrote on Instagram: “To answer the questions posed no I didn’t know this image was going to become so iconic all I knew is that wanted to crown my brother and wanted him to know while he was alive!!! that he was a king in my eyes and a true leader. I wanted him to know how much he was loved and how much we loved his music.”

Bunny Bread said the full story of how the mural came together would be detailed in a short documentary Another Work Of HeART, a tribute to Ty.

The tribute was organised Pass the Torch Music Foundation, a charity established to support independent black music artists with annual bursaries in Ty’s name.

It was sponsored by Jazz Refreshed, a music and arts not-for-profit organisation.