Brooklyn stares down newest resident — he’s all 18 feet tall

Brooklynites are in awe of one of the borough’s newest residents: an 18-foot-tall metal statue of the 1980s comic-book character “Rappin’ Max Robot.”

The massive piece of public art – built in Brooklyn by apprentice welders – spent time outside the Hip Hop Museum in The Bronx and will now roam the Brooklyn Borough Hall Plaza before moving to its final home: Paris, where it will celebrate its debut. Break-dancing in the Olympics.

A massive 7,000-pound behemoth is causing shock and awe among town passers-by – many of whom aren’t really sure what it is.

“My first thought was, ‘What’s he doing?'” Christopher Taylor, a 54-year-old retiree from Brooklyn, told The Post last week when he saw the robotic figure leaning over a giant boombox. “I thought it was a bug, that these things were antennae coming out of its head.”

But Taylor soon caught on, saying that Rappin’ Max Robot was a “hip-hop guy”.

“He’s coming off the field like hip hop,” Taylor said. “Hip hop is influencing our planetary culture – it’s monumental. It’s nice to see something from the culture.”

“It’s weird, it’s beautiful,” said Leo Martinez, a 64-year-old construction worker from The Bronx.

“He looks like he has antennae, and the position is weird, like he’s leaning (on the boom box). Like a cartoon,” the hardhat said.

Unveiled in Brooklyn the day before Halloween, the sculpture was created by Welder Underground, a Bushwick-based nonprofit apprenticeship program that breathed life into the world’s first hip-hop comic-book character Rappin’ Max, who died Came from the mind of the artist. Eric or.

“Hip hop is more than music; This is culture,” Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso said in a statement about the sculpture.

“When hip hop was first created 50 years ago, New Yorkers created a system of expression that transcends national boundaries and has the power to bring us together.

Reynoso said, “The Rappin’ Max robot symbolizes the many ways hip hop can take shape – whether it’s through breaking, in comic book form, or in a giant metal sculpture created by a Brooklyn welder yes.”

But not everyone is thrilled with the rusting brown fixtures.

“It’s silly,” said Brooklyn artist Sylvia Nagy. “Maybe it’s good for kids or skateboarders playing on the subway platform. I’m impressed by its size, but it’s not for me.”

Others shrugged off such damning comments.

“I love the rustic look of it – it feels like it wasn’t a hip hop thing,” said Wendell Wells, a 39-year-old musician and tech consultant from Brooklyn.

“Hip hop comes from the raw roots of life in an urban environment, and we take that, and we combine it with music, and we create something that’s beautiful, something that’s long-lasting, something Something that everyone can appreciate.”

The statue will remain in the plaza for the next six months, after which it will depart for its permanent home at the Place de la Bataille-de-Stalingrad in Paris.