On Friday, July 7, a mural in homage to late rapper Prodigy was painted on a building in Queens, New York by artists Jeff Henriquez and Eli Lazare.
The mural was located on the side of a building at 13th Street and 40th Avenue.
Not even a full week later, the mural has been vandalized … twice.
White and red paint were splashed over the artwork, defacing the mural, DNAInfo reported.
Because of the constant deliberate destruction of the painting vandals have taken upon themselves, the mural was permanently covered by black paint today.
Fans of Prodigy shared their sorrows of the removal on social media.
Smh, after being vandalized for the second time, they're permanently covering Prodigy's mural in Queens pic.twitter.com/6Fx6PKargR
— Shennessy. (@ShenaeCurry) July 10, 2017
It took less than 24 hours for someone to ruin the Prodigy mural in Queensbridge. Smh pic.twitter.com/5TEOEO9idI
— D I M A S (@Milkman__Dead) July 8, 2017
Albert "Prodigy" Johnson of iconic rap group Mobb Deep passed away on June 20 after a battle with sickle cell anemia.
Henriquez and Lazare originally told DNAInfo that they were moved to paint the mural "out of love and respect" for the rapper after his death.
“His deep and meaningful lyrics inspired and influenced many young rappers and followers,” said Henriquez.
The owner of the building the mural was painted on said of the vandalism, "It's unfortunate that a tribute has become a tragedy in our neighborhood."
Lazare says that after restoring the mural once, he and his partner are throwing in the towel.
"There's nothing you can do" Lazare said. "Things happen. It's not worth it."
