Bigg Dogg at the playground at Wise Towers
“I wouldn’t trade growing up out here for anywhere else, bro, you know? Between the two different train lines and everything in between, it’s really the community that kept us all together,” said Bigg Dogg, a born-and-raised local whose new album The Great Dane came out last month on all streaming platforms. Self-produced in his apartment, where he lives with his wife and daughter, the album features contributions from a handful of rappers and even got the approval of Barney Greengrass for filming the music video for the title track, “Catalina.” ILTUWS spoke with Bigg Dogg about his new work and the neighborhood at large.
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Bigg Dogg wastes no time marking his territory (pun intended) after the opening track, “Coldest Intro,” where he mentions his daughter being his anchor: “I ain’t worried about nothing if my daughter is fed.” He follows with “Warm Garments,” breaking down what it means to rely on himself amid the tribulations of trust among men. The line “Amsterdam cruiser, ruckus on Columbus, leave you snoozin’. Leave you there, broad day, on Broadway,” opens the title track, “Catalina,” dedicated to one of his and his father’s dear friends from the neighborhood, Pedro Juan Gonzalez Jr., who passed away at age 60 in April 2025.A longtime resident of the New York City Housing Authority development between Columbus and Amsterdam Avenues, spanning 90th to 91st streets, he told us, “I grew up hanging out right here in the plaza.” Bigg Dogg pointed out that the area, which in 2024 saw the return of the Nivola Horses — the art installation of 18 horse sculptures by Costantino Nivola, first installed in 1964 but removed in 2021 after years of neglect and vandalism — has changed over time. “The plaza, Wise Towers, it’s a different park now, but when I was coming out here, it was the plaza,” said Bigg Dogg of his old stomping ground.
Make no mistake, Bigg Dogg, real name Victor Corujo, comes in peace. A lot of hip-hop culture can include elements of being an enforcer, and The Great Dane has its fair share of “sex, drugs, and vigilante calamity.” However, you can feel the evolution and maturity of the man later in the title track, when he humorously notes, “Never had a plan B unless it rhymed B and E (breaking and entering).”
“So, I never wanted to do anything else,” said Bigg Dogg about being an artist. “Look, I have a nine-to-five right now. That’s my plan B — to enforce the plan.” He credits his community for helping him find his bite, noting that it’s easy to get lost and take your eyes off the prize when you’re around things that don’t inspire you. “I think the more pure you live your life, the better results you’ll find,” he told us while we were sitting at the Stephen Wise Plaza. “Because when you live a life full of negativity, the wrong influences, and the wrong choices are consistently around you, you might find temporary success, but it never really pans out.”
We’re told that any distractions or people who no longer fit the idea of his goals simply don’t fit in his pack anymore.
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So how did Barney Greengrass, a restaurant we’ve long called the quintessential Upper West Side dining experience, end up in the “Catalina” music video? “Shout out to my guy, Max Rubenstein,” dapped Bigg Dogg. Rubenstein is a friend who used to live on Central Park West. Max’s grandfather was Howard Rubenstein, chairman of Rubenstein Public Relations, and Max’s father, Richard, runs the business now, according to Bigg Dogg. When he was younger, Bigg Dogg said, Max and his father used to visit him at his home in the towers after school. “I used to see Barney Greengrass every day. I never went inside a day in my life. So one day I walked in with my boy, Max Rubenstein, and he was like, ‘Yo, give him the tuna salad, and give me the bagels, and this and this and that.’”
The review: “The bagels were to die for, and the tuna salad was exquisite. I recommend y’all go get some tuna salad. I think they got the scallion cream cheese in there, if I’m not mistaken. Very respectful in there.” In the video, you can see Bigg Dogg inside rubbing his hands together like he’s warming up for a feast. He also gave a shout-out to the Greengrass team. “They let us, you know, chill out in front too. So shout out to them, man. They’re good people, real Upper West Side legends.”
Speaking of legends, Bigg Dogg schooled us on some hip-hop history, explaining that the late MF Doom made Operation: Doomsday (1999) on the Upper West Side, on West 85th Street. Doom, one of the most prolific underground rappers of all time, remains something of an enigma — sporting a mask identical to Dr. Doom from Marvel, using multiple aliases, and even sending impostors to perform at some of his shows. His public persona was a deliberate creation of misdirection, and even the timing of his death was kept private for months after he passed away. What we do know is that MF Grimm, real name Percy Carey (June 11, 1970), also grew up on the Upper West Side and served as the executive producer on Doom’s debut album. Operation: Doomsday was recorded in Grimm’s basement; he also financed the project and provided samples.
At one point in our conversation at Wise Towers, Bigg Dogg spots another legend in our midst, points, and goes, “See that lady over there sitting in the middle with the phone? Yeah, that’s Miss Beverly.” He told us Miss Beverly is “one of the originals out here,” and shared a story from his youth: “I was in this park cursing, yeah, and I was cursing my ass off,” he remembered as a seven-year-old. “She walked up to me. She said, ‘Victor, you cursing. I’m gonna go tell your father.’” Lo and behold, Bigg Dogg went to visit his father that weekend. “And he was like, ‘Yo, I got a call from Beverly.’” He shared the story as an example of how the community helped raise him. “It felt like home.”
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Bigg Dogg got his name from his dad, Big Vic. Growing up, he spent time going back and forth between Puerto Rico and New York, and his dad would give him little nicknames. “He’d walk around and be like, ‘Oh, big dude, big dog,’ you know what I’m saying,” Bigg Dogg recalled. One day his dad came home with a dog tag that had “Big Dog” on it. “He was like, ‘Yeah, I want you to wear this,’” Bigg Dogg said. He’s stuck with the name ever since, never taking another rap alias. “I felt like it was a prestigious name because my dad gave it to me before I started taking music seriously. There was one “g” on the Big, and I wanted to make my name a little different from everybody else’s. That’s why sometimes people have a hard time finding me online — they’ll probably misspell it. I’m still strict about making sure it’s written correctly.”Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
