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• 1. Notable People from Brevoort Houses

     Fabolous (John David Jackson)

     1 11 Born on November 18, 1977, Fabolous is a rapper who grew up in the Brevoort Houses housing projects in Bedford-Stuyvesant.

     Career highlights:

     • 14 He first gained recognition after performing live on DJ Clue’s Hot 97 radio show and then signed to Clue’s Desert Storm Records in a joint venture with Elektra Records
     • 14 His debut album “Ghetto Fabolous” (2001) spawned hit singles “Can’t Deny It” (featuring Nate Dogg) and “Young’n (Holla Back)”
     • 14 His second album, “Street Dreams” (2003), featured the singles “Can’t Let You Go” and “Into You,” both of which peaked at number four on the Billboard Hot 100
     • 11 All five of his albums have made the top 10, with his 2009 album “Loso’s Way” topping the Billboard 200
     • 16 According to Celebrity Net Worth, Fabolous is worth $20 million
     • 11 He has been described as “one of the first East Coast MCs to embrace the bling mentality of the South as well as the gangsta swagger of the West Coast”

     14 In his early career, he rapped under the name Fabolous Sport, in reference to Ralph Lauren’s Polo Sport line, and the misspelling of “Fabulous” was unintentional – it stuck after he incorrectly spelled it during a freestyle. 17 In 1990, when Fabolous was 13 years old, he was living in Bedford-Stuyvesant’s Brevoort Houses projects and just starting to write his own rhymes for fun. He has described growing up in Brevoort Houses as challenging, noting that 17 “My neighborhood was pretty rough” and “Those neighborhoods are not kid-friendly. My mom tried as much as she could to keep me out of the streets”.

     Unfortunately, my search did not reveal other notable people specifically from Brevoort Houses itself, though the broader Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood has been home to many celebrities including Jay-Z (from Marcy Houses), The Notorious B.I.G., Chris Rock, and Mos Def. Fabolous appears to be the most prominent celebrity specifically associated with the Brevoort Houses development.

     Fabolous (John Jackson, born 1977) and Steven L. Richardson (born 1953) are the most notable people documented as having grown up in the Brevoort Houses (also known as Brevoort Projects), a NYCHA public housing development in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn.11

     Fabolous (real name John Jackson or John David Jackson) is a prominent American rapper. He grew up in the Brevoort Houses and rose to fame in the early 2000s with his debut album Ghetto Fabolous (2001), which featured hits like “Can’t Deny It” (with Nate Dogg) and “Trade It All.” He is known for his clever wordplay, melodic rap style, freestyles, and mixtapes, with other successful albums including Street Dreams (2003) and singles like “Into You” (with Tamia) and “Young’n (Holla Back).” He has achieved commercial success (millions of records sold, platinum singles), Grammy nominations, and a long career in hip-hop, initially signed to Def Jam. Neighbors and reports from the time described him positively.2

     Steven L. Richardson is an American physicist, computational materials scientist, and professor emeritus of electrical engineering at Howard University. Born in Brooklyn to a subway conductor father and nurse mother, he was one of five children and grew up in the Brevoort Houses. He attended Brooklyn Preparatory High School, studied chemistry at Columbia University (as a National Achievement Scholar), earned an M.S. (1981) and Ph.D. (1983) in theoretical condensed matter physics from Ohio State University, and held fellowships at institutions including MIT, UC Berkeley, and Xerox. His work focuses on using supercomputers to calculate properties of materials and molecules; he has held roles at the National Science Foundation, Eastman Kodak, and as a visiting professor at places like MIT. He is a co-principal investigator in an NSF center for quantum materials, has received awards including the NSF Career Advancement Award and AAAS Fellowship (2022), and is a member of several scientific societies. His career highlights contributions to computational chemistry/physics and mentoring in STEM.3)

     These are the primary figures listed across reliable sources like Wikipedia for the development. Searches for additional celebrities, athletes (e.g., mentions of basketball players like Bernard King or World B. Free in the area), or other notables did not yield confirmed residents who grew up there—some references appear to relate to playing basketball in the area rather than living in the houses. Public housing projects like Brevoort often produce many successful alumni in various fields, but only these two are prominently noted in available records.4

     For the most up-to-date or comprehensive list, checking local Bed-Stuy historical resources, NYCHA records, or resident alumni groups could reveal additional names.