Tha' Bridge, tha Ba-Ba-Ba-Ba Bridge! Queensbridge!!

"A Word to tha' Wise: The projects...the hood...whatever you want to call it...wherever it's at (cause it's everywhere) is no joke and no place to fuck around at...ain't shit sweet...if you don't have any business there keep ya distance...and if ya do have business there walk carefully and keep ya eyes open and stay on point...wolves are on the prowl for real..."

Queensbridge Houses is the largest public housing development in North America. It is located in Long Island City in Queens, and opened in 1939. The 3,142-unit complex is owned by the New York City Housing Authority. The complex is located in Community Board 1. Although the Queensbridge Houses accommodate approximately 6,907 people it is technically two separate complexes (North and South Houses) consisting of roughly 3,450 each.

Queensbridge has historically proven to be a hotbed of hip hop music. Famed producer Marlon “Marley Marl” Williams was the first in a long succession of acclaimed artists from “The Bridge”, which became one of the most prolific hip hop-producing neighborhoods in the country. Marley's Juice Crew collective, hugely influential in the 1980s, featured among its members Queensbridge rappers Kool G Rap, MC Shan, Roxanne Shanté, and Craig G, each noted names in their own right.

Most notable of today's Queensbridge hip hop artists is the well acclaimed rapper Nas, who has since the 1990s frequently used his music and lyricism to reference Queensbridge and its hip hop history.

Other noted artists associated with Queensbridge include Blaq Poet, Prodigy and Havoc of Mobb Deep, Cormega, Tragedy Khadafi, Nature, Screwball, DJ M-dot-Rockwell, Capone of Capone-N-Noreaga and Big Noyd. In regards to the Queensbridge music scene, XXL columnist Brendan Frederick wrote:

At a time when you can buy screwed & chopped albums at Circuit City in Brooklyn, it’s easy to lose sight of the fact that hip-hop was once a local phenomenon. More than just a voice of the ghetto, hip-hop at its best is the voice of specific blocks, capturing the distinct tone and timbre of an artist’s environment. Since the 1980s, New York City’s Queensbridge Housing Projects has been documented perhaps better than any other geographic location. Starting with super producer Marley Marl’s dominant Juice Crew in the ’80s all the way through ’90s mainstays like Nas, Cormega and Capone, the Bridge has produced the highest per-capita talent of any ’hood.

The 96-unit six-story buildings are distinctive due to their shape - two Y's connecting at the base. This shape was used as the architects hoped it would give residents more access to sunlight than the traditional cross-shape. The design was said to be cost-efficient, and they reduced the cost even further by using elevators that only stopped at the 1st, 3rd and 5th floors. Political pressure to keep costs down was a key reason for the use of cheap designs. W.F.R Ballard, Henry S. Churchill, Frederick G. Frost and Burnett Turner designed Queensbridge Houses.

In many aspects the buildings of Queensbridge are very similar to most government-built housing projects of the era. They are a worn grayish brown which now suffers noticeable deterioration and weathering. Each building is painted red to about four feet up from the ground, giving a united feel to the entire complex because a uniform red "layer" is always close, throughout the complex.

On each of the corners in Queensbridge, the New York City Housing Authority has posted signs indicating the project's name and management: "Queensbridge North (or South) Houses NYCHA." These signs come in several varieties depending on their age. The oldest signs, erected in the early nineties, are simply orange and blue, with the newer signs featuring graphics, like those of many other projects.

Access to buildings in the complex is by key or via a new intercom system. The halls of Queensbridge’s buildings are comparable to most municipal buildings, and are dilapidated and lined with worn light blue tiles. Apartments are painted white and are fairly small, even by New York City standards.

Within the last few years, the elevators have been rebuilt and now stop at floors 1-2-3-4-5 and kitchens have been completely renovated and now have frost-free refrigerators. Three thousand bathrooms were renovated with new tubs, toilets, vanities, floor tile and lighting in 2000. This followed a renovation in 1986 when 1000 of the bathrooms were renovated by Arc Plumbing, a firm for which the salesman to NYCHA was John Gotti.

During the 1950s, the management changed the racial balance of Queensbridge by transferring all families whose income was more than $3,000/year, a majority of whom were White, to middle-income housing projects, and replacing most of these tenants with African American and Latino families. In addition to providing safe and sanitary housing to many low income African American and Latino families, this policy also promulgated racial segregation in public housing.

Nas, documentary

Notable residents

• Big Noyd, rapper
• Blaq Poet, rapper
• Bravehearts, rap group
• Capone-N-Noreaga, rap group
• Cormega, rapper
• Craig G, rapper
• Julie Dash, filmmaker, writer
• Vern Fleming, NBA player
• Havoc, musician, Half of the Hip-Hop group Mobb Deep.
• Prodigy, rapper, Half of the Hip-Hop group Mobb Deep.
• Infamous Mobb, rap group
• Mel Johnson, Jr., actor and film producer
• Marley Marl, music producer
• MC Shan, rapper
• Metta World Peace, NBA basketball player, rapper
• Nas, rapper
• Nature, rapper
• Screwball, hip-hop group
• Roxanne Shante, rapper
• Tragedy Khadafi, rapper
• Lou Del Valle, professional boxer
• Hiram Antonio Rosario drummer for Viza
• Spider Man Superhero

The NBA's Ron Artest and filmmaker Julie Dash both grew up in the Queensbridge Houses, as did rappers Nas, MC Shan, Mobb Deep, Roxanne Shante, and hip-hop producer Marley Marl.