da-underground

The Story of An Uptown Vandal! SADE TCM

Thu, 22 Jul 2010 23:31:53 +0100

"When did you start writing?" After having been asked the question so many times I do wonder exactly when was the instant when I started writing so-called graffiti. I can't pinpoint the exact moment but I do remember that I started to be fascinated by the writing on the hallways of my projects when I was in the 5th grade. This was in 77 just before the big blackout. I remember that the king of the hallways in the McKinley Projects Building 905 on 161st and Tinton Ave was Jug2. He had the prerequisite looping tag with the Roman numeral 2 and he always did the character with the ski goggles like Tracy168. I remember Staff 161 was allover my hallways as well but I had no idea who he was so he was just another name to me at the time. Staff 161 used to do tags on the ceilings with lighters that at first had me puzzled how they were done. At first I just used to look at them and marvel at the size and style. I didn't know what style was but the different shapes and colors and impressions of different tips that were being used to make these marks struck me. I never shared this fascination with anyone it was just an activity for me every time I walked down the stairs from the 12th floor. I used to make my best efforts to make my notebook look like my hallways I looked at. I think that the first piece I ever did was in the 6th grade when I fell in love with a girl who called herself "SUGAR". I thought that doing a piece for her was the way to her heart. Funny.

At first I experimented with many names like everyone else. My first name was "GANDO". This was the name of a New York Knicks player that every time he drove to the basket the fans and sportscaster would yell "GAAAANDO" and so I picked that name. I played around with GEE-SKI using the G from my first name and the "SKI" suffix everybody was using at the time. This playing around with names used up a lot of notebook paper and lead to a lot of pencil and EL Marko marker tags in my hallways.

In 1979 I was attending JHS149 in the Bronx with my friend Richie. I didn't know it at the time but Richie was RUSH MPC. At first I didn't pay it much mind when he spoke about what he was doing because it was just talk. You know how teenagers all get together and boast about all that "they're not really doing" ha ha. Richie used to have these huge markers that used to bug me out. I used to badger him to tell me where he got them. My sheltered ass couldn't understand anything he was saying to me. Then one day I rolled up on him on the steps of the school and he's taking a tag. He says, "take a tag". I never wrote with a big marker before. I had been experimenting with a new name "KANACTION" and so I took that tag. I guess that technically, that was the minute I started writing. Thanks a lot RUSH MPC you fucked up my life! Just kidding…

By now I was taking the 2 and 5 train to and from school. At first I was looking at the trains but I really didn't understand what I was seeing. I didn't understand what I would come to understand as an underground culture with levels of status, fame and unwritten rules. By 1979 I started "getting it". I would buy EL Marko markers from the bodega telling my mother I was using the money for baseball cards. I played around with KANCTION, KINGKAN, and KRAZY KRYLON KAN (KKK). I would take motion tags on the trains I rode back and forth from school everyday. One day I'm sitting in English class and I look out the window and I see KAN2 on the mailbox on the corner of WILLIS ave. By this time I was starting to be up on what was going on and I knew that Kan2 bombed with Presweet, Geeski, Flasher and G-Man, names I had come to see everywhere at the time. So that pretty much killed my fantasy of writing KAN. At the time me and my cousin Manny who would later start writing CRYPTON and then DUNE and my friend Andre who later wrote FANE had aspirations to be a rap crew like the COLD CRUSH Brothers and the Fantastic Five. We called ourselves THE LA ROCK 3. My m.c. name was SHADE SKI so I started writing SHADE. By now I had met a bunch of writers. This was inevitable being that I grew up in the South East Bronx and that my Junior High School was down the street from Fashion Moda. I still was only up to taking hallway and street tags at this point but I wasn't done yet.

Starting High School I met BOE174 and a kid Diamond from 174th st that used to do jackets and hung out with "TAPE MASTER". For those that don't know who tape master is, before HIP Hop went public if you wanted a tape of a 'jam" with the Cold Crush 4 or Fantastic Five or Treacherous 3 or DJ Breakout or Master Don and the Death Committee or DJ Baron etc…you had to go to TAPE MASTER! Diamond taught me how to do jackets with acrylic and how to mix fabric medium into the acrylic so it wouldn't crack. I used to ride the train with M.C. TIP SKI who was partners with Trigger Vic and MC'd for Mene Gene. Now that's real hip-hop history for you so-called hip-hop historians! I also rode the train everyday to 14th from the Bronx with Geeski TR. I used to always listen to all the graffiti folklore that he had for me being he ran with two of the prolific street and bus bombers of the day PRESWEET and FLASHER. I used to always show him the latest and greatest outline I had for him to critique. One day he said to me, "Yo you gotta drop that 'H" it messes up the flow of your letters. Because I looked up to him I didn't give it a second thought and so I had the name SADE.

      The first time I went into a layup was with BOE174 but we only went in and out. We ran around, kicked a few conductor doors open, kicked out a few windows and broke out.Right about this time I met BEA and REVEN. Reven was already up on trains like I wanted to be. I only had motion tags at this point. One day Diamond invites me to do a gate for a store in 174th st. When I get there I'm introduced to them. After the gate we're going home and I find out BEA and REVEN live in my neighborhood which explains their tags all over my hallways. I do a bubble letter SADE piece/throwup on the side of Woolworth's on Prospect Ave and 161st and REVEN does a few tags with the leftover paint. That was my first spray-paint illegal piece and in broad daylight at that! I was on my way!...

      In 1981 I met TRO. I was walking into the PS161 schoolyard late at night and this guy was taking a tag and I say, "yo what you write?" he in turn asks the same. After the introductions and a few tags we hit it off and we plan to meet up again. When we hooked back up I learn that he's really cool friends with BEO and COSE TDS who were beginning to destroy the 6 line insides about this time with MACK, BRIM, SHARP DELTA, El KAY etc….The first time I went bombing I really didn't, I just went with COSE, BEO and TRO as a lookout, when we came out the tunnel COSE took tags in the station and I asked him to put me up. He wrote SADEIZM with the "Z" and that's how I got that extension on my name.
Things happened quickly by association at that point. I found out AGENT TNT lived behind my building in the same projects and I started hanging out with him at the bench. He introduced me to TRAP who I ran with for a minute. I met Bear 167 who put me down with TDS who I used to meet everyday at the bench for a while. He had me racking shit for him under the guise that he was teaching me the ropes! I was thirsty so I went along. He had me racking Aspirin that he then used to sell to the bodegas and hit me off with a few dollars. He got popped later on and wound up doing some community service at the group home I had landed myself in at the age of 15. He use to tell me the greatest stories about writers and trains, R.I.P BEAR 167! Then I met G-MAN PGA and it was on!! This guy was incredible. At the time, on crutches he taught me racking, bombing, layups, yards, buses, street bombing etc… I hung out with him almost every single day for over a year. He lived in the Patterson Projects where my girlfriend lived.

      My first piece on a train was a SADEISM with the "S" on a panel and a half on the blue and silver 2 and 5's in the winter of 81 going into 1982. I was in High School already in the 10th grade. My only proof is AGENT, Bear 167, GMAN, TRO, COSE and BEO who were with me. It was a beige fill, cherry red outline, sky blue flame cloud with a regal blue outline and white highlights. Even though I had gotten "up" on a train in a layup I consider this my first day of being official! The next day I was at the bench at 149th St with Agent, DEZ TFA and a few other cats I didn't know, when my shit rolled in Agent came and roughed me up in a brotherly way on some old, "yea I see you sonny trying to come up" shit. Yo I'm not going to front I felt like I was the shit right there and then knowing all the shit him and Skeme had done and knowing who Dez was at the time.

I give G-MAN, TRO, COSE and BEO the most credit for teaching me how to do this shit we call "writing". That's not graffiti to me. They taught me how to rack ink, paint, what caps to use, where to get fat caps, how to grind keys, which tunnels to hit and when not to hit, where the best hatches were etc…a real education to this shit. Keep in mind that this was during the first true organization of a dedicated VANDAL SQUAD and the quickest buff ever!
From there I was off to the races. I picked the 6 line because that was the main line Tro, Beo and Cose bombed and Crypton (DUNE) lived on that line. I used to stay at his house and we used to go into the tunnel between 149th and 143rd hatch in front of R & S Strauss. I actually lived on the 2 and 5 at Prospect Ave. Tro and me formed a partnership we caught the tail end of the dirty 6's and started killing the freshly painted 6 line when everybody else was scared to touch them. I remember I used to write these long sentences on the outside panels in price marking ink, "SADEROCKILLINIGGASUPEREALASTINGANGSTEROCTIY" that I had picked up from DURO and MIN. Then they buffed the insides of the sixes!! Oh my god…clean headliners…I lost my mind! The sixes were the first to go all clean on the insides in the eighties besides the 7's. I remember MACK and BIO was smashing them along with us. We were among the first!! They can vouch for us and us for them. BAN2 made a quick comeback at that point too and caught the tunnels something awful!! DELTA went on a rampage too. I remember a kid that used to write WEE was also going off at the time. Good Times!

My favorite ink was price marking ink because it would leave a stain even after it got buffed and because the ink would come through people’s pieces! I like flo-master better than Marsh too but it was starting to get harder to rack at that time. COSE showed me how to make ink using oil-based paint and paint thinner. That shit stunk like crazy! But when it came down to it as long as it was ink and you was catching floods it was all good! Krylon was my favorite for white cars cause it dried so fast but it made a lot of fumes cause it dried in the air with a fat cap that would give you away when the train came by with lights in the tunnels especially with silvers. I liked Rusto better for dirty cars but the shit would take too long to dry.

One day we're sitting in PS 161 park. By this time we had a pretty big crew but the majority was just street cats doing street stuff. The only writers were me, TRO, HYER, FANE, LEX and WOLFIE. TRO comes up with the name THE CRIME MATES and took credit for starting TCM. We rolled with that for a hot minute. One day we were going to the tunnels and my cousin is hounding me for a can. We never use to take him with us but I gave him a can anyways and we broke out to go bombing. The next day I'm walking down the street and I see these CRYPTON tags everywhere. I paid them no mind because they looked toy not realizing it was with the school bus yellow I had given Manny the night before. Fast forward, we take him bombing with us one day and he breaks out with a CRYPTON tag and we all bug out cause he was demolishing our area in the streets. So now the bombing squad was 7 deep. Eventually it winds up just being me TRO, FANE and CRYPTON. Later on I would fight TRO for TCM because he went bombing with BIO and the original TATS CREW and used my silvers to pull out T to B's without asking me for the paint. After I took the crew I changed the name to THOSE CRAZY MOTHEFUCKERS! I mess with BIO about this to this day! Shout out to BIO, NICER and BG!

I think my raid stories are like everyone else that's ever gotten away. I never got raided in the Ghostyard where I pulled out most of my best cars. The wildest moment and closest I came to getting caught was in the esplanade on the 2's and 5s. I'm straddling two cars taking tags on the top of the tunnel beams when I look down and hear a door open slowly and see a DT creeping from one car to the next. The ball moved in the can and it clicked, the DT looked up and tried to jump up and grab my leg. I took off on top of the trains towards 180th. I panicked and just ran and forgot to tell CRYPTON to run. He ran cause I ran. My crazy ass jumped from the top of the train to the tracks at the end of the set and I'm lucky I didn't break a leg. We ran south and climbed down where the el was real close to the ground halfway to 180th. Another time I was in the ZEREGA layup doing silvers when the window slid down and a voice said, "DON"T YOU FUCKIN' MOVE!". Shit he might have well said, "RUN" because that's exactly what we did, then slid down a pole and ran two stations down where we took the train home.

      DUNE got his name from me. At the time the book DUNE had come out and there were these posters on the trains. I admired the S and D combo of SEEN TC5 and DOZE, SEEN (UA) and DUST, SKEME and DEZ and SHARP and DELTA so I thought SADE and DUNE would have that same ring. I think it caught on because to this day when I meet new cats and say I wrote SADE they're always like, "SADE and DUNE right?" We definitely had our own take on this writing thing and feel we contributed a little something.

     It was a cool time and place from 80 to 85. All the big time cats were leaving on the gallery tip. More fell by the wayside to drugs and the street. There were all these toys including me that were training in the early 80's coming on strong in 83, 84 and 85. Crack had exploded and the environment changed. Things were more violent and cutthroat. I personally became the TAX MAN because the racks were getting burnt and paint was scarce. So the drill was, "What you write?" and then "run your paint". Nobody was exempt. I hear a lot of cats that were around then talking that real “rah rah shit” today. Bullshit! There wasn't that many real “fuck you up and take your shit” cats that I was personally around and I hung deep from Brooklyn to the Bronx. The only cats I was around regularly that I wasn't trying without a real good reason was my boy MACK, PER, T-KID, CEM, KEMT and JASE. I heard POKE was no joke and would give it to you quick fast…I'm talking about the knuckle game/ stick a knife in your gut quick fast action. The real shit, not that “woof, woof“ until someone backs down and walking around with a never tested rep like cats nowadays. Don't get me wrong for not mentioning other cats but a lot of dudes were bullies that never got tested either because of size or never fighting one on one.

      I had quite a few incidents. The only beef I ever had where we got the fair one on was with DEZ TFA. Now mind you I was cool with Dez and was a toy around him at the bench in the early 80's. AGENT introduced me to him and he even told me to put up TFA. I have a photo of me in front of a TFA tag before TCM. Anyways he rolled up on me at the 125th Street station on the 2 and 5. We was going down in the tunnel to paint so I had a big bag of paint and we was sitting by the big wooden bench that used to be when you first walked into the station past the turnstiles. Me, DUNE and a bunch of other cats were waiting for some other writers. DUNE and me were going to pull out married cars with SHAME125, SAK MBT and KC MBT. Long story short we got it cracking and they pulled me off the cat cause I was on a mission. He later that night does a DEZZIE blockbuster over the whole car that SAK said was the best car he ever saw me do. A week or so later we catch him in the tunnel and the rest is history or should I say "my story". That's the day he quit writing. I regretted that for years because he was my idol and I always imagined doing the S and D combo, SADE and DEZ car with him. SHAME wound up in beef with him too because he thought SHAME set him up since we let SHAME walk away when we caught DEZ. SHAME happened to be with him, but for the record SHAME had nothing to do with it, so we gave him a pass. It took 23 years before DEZ and I settled our beef. Can you imagine? Goes to show how much we love this shit!

      Another story cats may not know is that I did all the first RE and DIPS MOG cars on the letters. They were both freshman in my high school when I was in my senior year in 1984. I rocked quite a few DIPS, DIPPER and RE top to bottoms and whole cars on the letters in exchange for paint. They set cats up for us to vic as well in exchange for me doing simple cars for them. Thanks to little DIPS for showing me around the Brooklyn layups and yards!! Sorry to RE for flipping on you and taking your paint…but you knew the rules!

The writing cycle went on for me until 1985. By then my non-graffiti street action was getting out of control and I was down to buying paint occasionally because racks were so scarce and toys with good paint so hard to find. I wound up getting caught for some non-graff related activities and found myself upstate. DUNE continued until 86 but then he quit. He was to me as true a writer as they come. At first I did his stuff but he watched and learned. But he never watched too closely. He had his own voice and went after that hardcore! He didn't bench trains and didn't do the politic shit hanging around other writers. He did it for himself more than anything. This explains how he progressed so quickly and ultimately wound up burning me. He had his own style cause he never clocked anybody else's. Mind you he couldn't draw to save his life but he could do a DUNE burner like no one else's business.

I want to acknowledge the true old school, pre 1980, of which I became well versed and educated about well after the fact through the explosion of information on the internet. My favorite writers of all times will be the piecers. I respected the Brooklyn cats for their illmatic hand styles, shout out to SES, PEO, WEISER, BABY168, P13, OE3, NET, NEL, TRIKE GND and the list goes on. But near and dear to my heart were the guys who had style, that could burn you with 6 cans and a few letters or blow your mind with the illest whole cars. Guys like LEE, SLAVE, PESO 131, CHAIN, PART, KOOL 131, NOC167, KADE, TEAN, MEAN3, SEEN TC5, DOZE, SPIN, DUSTER, SEEN UA, ERNI (PAZE), KAZE, SPADE, TACK, AIRBORN, SERVE, SON1, SAK, DERO, KC, SHAME125, RAZ, BIO, NICER, BG, TKID, CEM, SWAN3, SKEME, DEZ, POEM, JON ONE, DONDI, ZEPHYR, FUZZ, MITCH77, WANE, WEST, BABY168, KEL, CRASH, DAZE, POKE IBM, SENTO ETC…those I left out please forgive me but they're too many to remember and I missed so much. And last but not least I always admired the bombers because they did what I always wish I did which was get up like no tomorrow during my looking at train years. Shout outs to the bombers like BLADE, COMET, CAP, TERROR 161, PJAY, RUSH, REST, TATU, AERON, MACK, BRIM, COSE, BEO, G-MAN, PRESWEET, COPE2, POVE, QUIK RTW, MIN, KING IZ THE WIZ, RICH2, HAZE, FLASHER, DURO, BAN2, DUEL, CES157, SPANK, GHOST, etc… For those I left out keep in mind I inhaled just as much paint and marker fumes as you all did so my memory slips me sometimes and I didn't ride or see every train.

Peace and one love to all before, during and after the trains but I want to leave you all with this one thought. My friend of 27 years NICER TAT said to me once that back in the day no matter if you was the king of the mail boxes, mail trucks, buses or whatever if you did bomb trains you couldn't call yourself a writer. So if you never bombed NYC trains can you call yourself a writer? I don't know if that's right or wrong but if you ask me what I write I'll say, "I write SADE TCM!"

Last words: The past defines the future and the future defines the past. To diminish one is to diminish the other. Recognize. All you young so-called graffiti thugs, fall back...it isn’t that serious anymore. All you old jacks re-writing or writing a new history for yourselves...show your flics or shut the fuck up!... Fuck keeping' it real...keep it right!

ZIMAD TD4 (Bronx , New York)

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 23:23:51 +0100

In 1979, I began my 
career as an artist in the South Bronx the place where I was born and 
raised.

     In 1988 I was included in the group exhibition
 at Fashion Moda New York City, Titled, "The South 
Bronx Show." I've exhibited my work at Fashion Moda for the next 3 
years. At the same time I had exhibited at PPH gallery as well.



    My education was in textile design from the Fashion Institute of Technology which would lead to a 
very difficult and demanding field where I designed clothing for singers
 such as,Janet Jackson, Anita Baker,
 all the way to DJ
 Jazzy Jeff and the Fresh Prince. I created a line of children's 
clothing at this time that I sold throughout the USA.
    During 
1987 through 1989 I also worked on a variety of projects including; the 
backdrop for Steam pipe Alley, MTV, and a giant 
backdrop for DJ Jazzy
 Jeff and the Fresh Prince's last tour.


    I had my 
first "one man show at "space time light gallery", also 2 group shows at
 the same gallery. In 1997 and 1998 at Sotheby's auction house in New York in there yearly employee art show, also at 
Guernsey's auction in New York, which contained the works of Haring and Basquiat at the time.

     In July of 
1999 I exhibited at a group show at "American Vision 145
 Gallery.
     In June, July and August of 2002 I exhibited 
at a group show at the "Bottom FeedersGallery.


     In 2003 I exhibited at "Gallery 1199" In this 
year I also sold many of my works throughout Europe and the USA through 
on line auctions.

     Between 2004 and now I've continude to put on gallery shows 
from New York, Los Angeles all the way to Amsterdam, I've designed 
several sneakers for Air Jordan including a pair of limited editions 
only sold in paris. a watch design for Jacob the Jewerler and back packs
 for kids
 through tattoot bags.

     My work has changed over the years. The change 
has occurred because of several unique reasons. The most important being
 the thought of the process, in combination with precise attention to 
color and an open channel feeling in my heart each and every time I sit 
down to work. 

to see my works you can google zimad or go to my page
 at www.myspace.com/zimad
 or www.zimadgallery.com

Who Is The Real STAYHIGH149 ?

Sun, 11 Apr 2010 02:37:37 +0100

Well as we promised this is a website for all artist to be represented . We let all artist present there work video's stories whatever it maybe that is posted on this site about an artist. So as some may know there are two STAYHIGH149 out there and some say one is fake some say the other stole his name this that well you know . But anyways when i was coming up I knew STAYHIGH149 being a skinny black guy from the interviews and all that stuff but then I heard about another out there and truthfully we heard he was being blocked from telling his side of the story so here it is and you be the judge cause we don't know we wasn't there ...... TAG

I am a contemporary Puerto Rican Artist, in my youth I expressed my love for art by writing or as many people know it as tagging, my name on anything I could find for attention, like buses and trains with markers. Later on I moved to spray paint tagging our gangs name ( Latin Lords ) all over the city. Soon after everyone in the gang got nick names, mine was StayHigh149, stay-high because I got high all the time, the 149 came from where we hung out, 149 st. and 3rd. ave. in the Bronx.

My parents moved the family to Puerto Rico around Dec. of 1971, I moved back to N.Y.C. in 1976, started working for Nab Turn Construction in the reconstruction of the old Yankee Stadium, it was at this time that I was exposed as the infamous StayHigh149, while talking to some coworkers as the #4 train went by with so many tags on it, someone said " I write on the trains " and I said "so did I". They asked me what did I write and I said "stayhigh149". One guy said I have seen your tags all over the trains, but not for some time now. I wasn't interested in writing because i was making money, going to school, and was planning to get married.

Many years later while working at my store ( Empire Food Mart & Deli ) in the Bronx, I saw some guys writing on the side of my business. When I called out to them, they did not know if to run or just stay put. I told them that it was OK, but that they should do something positive with their talent and i'll help, one guy said "what do you know about Graffiti" I told him that I have been writing since before he was a sperm in his fathers balls... These guys are Bio, Per, and Nomad, yes, part of the original Tats Crew. Per asked me to write stayhigh149 on a piece of paper, I did, he ran home to compare with some stuff he had on stayhigh149, when he came back he told me "you are stayhigh149, do you know how famous you are?" and showed me some pics of trains with top to bottom bubble letters. I told him that I did not do does trains, but I had a good idea who may have done it. We (Tat Crew and I ) did some tagging and pieces together, along with other writers like BG183, Poem, Serve, T-kid just to name a few and meet some along the way like Seen, Cope, Loomit, etc... I moved away to up state N.Y. so I did not have time for the guys and stopped writing again...

In 1999 I moved to Florida, and started a construction company ( Century Construction ) One day while working on my PC I took a break and started looking up on Graffiti just for the hell of it. I ran into an interview with StayHigh149, I recall saying to myself " I don't remember any interviews". It was on Subway Outlaws, this guy who claims to be the original StayHigh149 was talking about where he was from ( Virginia ) and how he started writing SH and later he added the 149 when he moved to the Bronx, give me a break man in the history of stayhigh149, you would never find a SH with the 149... later in the interview I read that there were many claiming to be him, someone went as far as to tattoo his name on their arm and if it was because of Tracy 168 that blew his cover, the impostor was found. Well they must be talking about me I said to myself, because I have a tattoo of stayhigh149 on my arm since I was 13 yrs old and got my ass kicked by my mother for it...unless there is some one else with one.

I looked up stayhigh149.com and sure enough there he was the same skinny ass dude my cousin and I chased out of the #4 train back around 1971, when we saw him writing, we walked over to see what he wrote and to my surprise, SH149 we chased him but he got away... Lucky for him!!! In his web page he said he was born and raised in the Bronx, Dude you must be so high you forgot where you 're from. LOL... My cousin Danny, who by the way is the original Saint and did the stick figure that is now known as the SH stick figure. I looked up SH149 to see if I found other interviews and of course there he was again, it didn't matter to me that he wrote SH149, but when he goes around saying that he is the only and real SH149 then I most tell the Graff community the real story and who is the original SH149. Yes, he wrote the name and help make it famous today, but if it wasn't for me the name would have never existed. I can't respect him as a writer because he bit my name and tag and still does not want to admit the truth, many of his old friends ask me why bring it up now and I tell them, because when he dies then everyone will tell me why didn;t I bring it up when he was alive.

If you go to Myspace.com/StayHigh149 and check out my pics, NOT THE ORIGINAL STAYHIGH149, you will see and read some of the interviews and it's discrepancies. I wrote to StayHigh149.com, Subway Outlaws, What you write.com, Anomie 1,com and many more in which he has interviews, but no one wants the controversy, or maybe it's because I told them I hold the copyright to the name StayHigh149 and that if I was a bad person i could sue them, but I will not... so I thank you guys for giving me the chance to tell my side of the story...Peace, God Bless

Van II ROC (Bronx NY)

Mon, 29 Mar 2010 03:33:42 +0100

Lets start by you telling them who you are and how long you been involved in this culture called graffiti ?
Im Van2 from Rocstars and I've been writing since the late 70s to late 80s. In '78 I got hooked up with Shy147(rip), Cos207 and Kel139 with his brother Mare139 and so it became a collaboration of thoughts of what crew we were going to represent, SHY, COS and KEL came up with ROC which in later years it evolved into ROCSTARS.

When were you first attracted to the graffiti culture?
I became very attracted to graffiti art early in my teens and started to skipped school as COS and I went to the bench and I seen these colorful names, top to bottoms,window downs and the rest of the guys at the bench were like screaming at each other "YO u just got burnt". By then school was secondary and graffiti was my world.

What is it that makes you stay so involved in the culture after so many years?
What has kepted me involved in the graffiti culture are many things but mostly, for it to be documented as it was and is at this time. But as my personal feeling of why i stay involved after so many years is because Im still connected to many graffiti icons that as a young graff artist gave me the respect and openned doors for me to x-pand my intake of graffiti with the likes of Crash, Daze, Toxic, Koor, Eins, Chalfant, Haring and some old time crews from Brooklyn Aim from SSB. I was surrounded by the best of that era and still am.

How do you feel about the way graffiti has gone in the city in the last 30 years and where would you like to see it 30 more years from now ?
Graffiti in the last 30 some what years has gone from angry youth to getting their name up on subway cars to street art and no respect for the for the trail blazers of this movement that's about to receive a Instant Karma back to its roots, and for the future, its so bright i got to wear shades.

I know you must have some good mission stories from the days can you hit us with one?
Let me hit you with a mission story from a flash back...6 yard, Shy, Cos and I get to the yard by an old lot that had acess to the yard, so in we go and at the third rail there's Seen with Mad so we continue to set up, lay our outlines and ROC-UA was at battle, we found married cars and got to work. It was an awesome event the cars were VAN-COS-SHY---SEEN-MAD, these married cars were killer, from that day on UA and ROC were chasing the crown for the 6 line but as time took its toll as the years passed by it died out.

Any projects or shows you have in the works you like to share with us ?
But at this time and moment Im working on a few projects in the future with Space coast vibe and the tulaa gallery in Vero Beach Fla. with some other projects in the works in France and Italy.

Like to say anything for these up and comers (TOYS) give them a little of your knowledge ?
As to some knowledge for the new comers, respect the trail blazers that have given you the foundation to build on and carry the torch.

Any last words?
I would like to give props to Rise, Aim, Jordan, Scott,Henry Chalfantand Kimberly Gibson for making the impossible possible...last words...Artist are born not made. .....Van2rocstars 80's....follow the stars.

TOTEM (Washington Heights, NY)

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:10:53 +0100

Born and raised in the streets of Washington Heights, TOTEM was no stranger to the IRT #1 line which passed right through Broadway. Seeing all the great burners on the 1 line at that time, when graff was graff, he got interested in it real quick.

Since art ran through his blood, he got into graffiti at the age of 11, writing his name on any corner. He really got into it more as he attended ART & DESIGN HIGH SCHOOL IN 1984.

Art & Design was home to alot of famous writers especially TC5. Through the years, he eventually met alot of people like JUICE,DOZE,SEEN,PSYCHO,POKE,EPS. Over time, he got down with a few crews such as IBM which came first then TC5,FC,XMEN,NTA.

He took a 14 year break to work and raise his son then came back with a vengeance, but strictly to do legal walls only and to do alot of more work and not stopping...to keep the game and crew alive so the rest is history...THE ORIGINAL INFAMOUS TOTEM UPTOWN WASHINGTON HEIGHTS,NYC

VIN ONE (Bronx, New York)

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 01:46:24 +0100

My name is VINONE .Bronx.Most .Famous ..crew..aka Mr.so fly....aka BX Monster..aka Mr.Spyderman.... the reason I got in the game was because of the fame but it became a love of art and being able to do things others can't do....I've been in the game for 17yrs and bombin for 14yrs. You want to know what keeps me in the game? The love for it and to show the newbies I still got it....

Some of the people I looked up to before I got in the game TRACEY ,SEEN ,TYKE ,JA ,COPE2 ,T-KID ,SAK ,VINE RIP those niggas were the shit back in the train day. I remember seeing the trains wit their names all over town. When I was little graff was the shit n easy to do but I was too young to go out to bomb but I learned from my cousins and cope n vine. I love it but I didn't know how to do it until jr high. I learned and came up wit vin and learned how to piece and do fillins. I came to find out that there were writers like ovie, teck, kash4kash and others in my jr. high. I did my thing n made a name for myself but I didn't get fame until high school where I was bombin all over. I took over the ‘1’ line for 2yrs, hit the ‘4’ line, hit all the highways and bombed tunnels and bridges. That's how I got fame and then I bombed wit the best of them like the BTC crew, CEK , ENVY, SINCE , AMEK , NOKE , JEE, even SPEK RIP. Also, other crews like ATB, KD, BTB, BTD, VOP, GOD, 5x7, KBC, HAR and many more...........

My favorite thing was to bomb alone on foot and back then my favorite spot was the bridge on the ‘1’ line, another in ghost town on the ‘1’ and the spot that came out in the mag on 125 on the west side. Now it’s the 59th street bridge on the F.D.R. and the one on 181 on the west side. I remember when I got bagged by vandal, it was on the westside highway on 181 in 1999. I had just finished the spot on a building and I'm banging tags on the way to my car n they saw me and waited by my car n bagged me.

I stopped writing for a bit and went down south and hit trains in NC and LA for 2yrs, then came back and hit PA. Then I stopped painting for 6yrs until one of my old school spot got banged by a new writer, you guys all know him as OZBE or 0283, and that's what put me back in the game. To teach all the newbies how to show respect for the old school. I started taking him out then after I took all his spots and got tired of it, I found some of the craziest spots and hit them and went as big as a city bus. All my letters were at least 7ft high n 15ft long. From 2007 to 2009 I did over 350 fills just to show how we use to do it. I still got it in me. I even came out in the vandal book so I don't need the fame I just love to show niggas how old school do.

There's one other thing I have to say graff is dying and it’s all because of writers going over each other n killing each other over paint n spots that are going to get cleaned by the city one day anyway. We have already lost a lot of writers over this dumb shit so stop the violence and get together n fuck up the city. That's what graff is about art and fun. And to all u new writers, step your game up. Not all were born to write or bomb and if u do make sure fills are fresh. Too much wack shit out there. For all u haters keep hating cause I already have fame so eat a dick no homo......VIN ONE, BMF, ATB, BTC, KBC, HAR ...for life.

SESOER (Los Angeles , CA)

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:23:35 +0100

I could say I started graffiti when I was about 5 years old. At that point I lived in Mexico and had a patio with this huge blue wall that looked boring. It would make me think of the sea. One day I decided to pick up a few painting utensils as crayons, markers, spray paint and drew a huge whale and fishes with random letters on the side! Haha, I remember this because I got my ass beat and my dad made me scrub the shit of for days even though it never came off! Haha! After that we move to LA and all the colorful walls caught my eye and I would always wonder about it. Asking my mama what it was, and she would answer "rayones", the Spanish word for scribbles.

               Then we moved to a city north of LA named Oxnard I didn't see much of this beautiful art around, so I got into comic books and cartoons. Once I was a little older, I started noticing my uncles would do graffiti, they would write "dwk" in everything, I found their black books and pics from freights and walls they would rock! That's when I started asking about this graffiti culture! Then I moved but kept the little knowledge I had about this beautiful culture! I got my own black book and some makers and started writing on every trash can in every alley i would pass! Had a few issues with the law, I’d stop but I would always go back to writing on things that didn’t belong to me! Then I got my hands in the cope2 video and that’s where I picked up the basics of bombing! I was going all out, painting on buses when I would get off, I painted police cars, day time bombing in active streets. I was just going crazy on the graff tip, but of course there are always snitches so I got raided and went back to jail.


               This time I didn’t do a few days but a few months!! What can I say I’m a Graffaholik for real ! While I was in there I sketched, something I would hardly do and came out with a different mental, started focusing on murals and paid jobs. I still hit the streets. There's nothing better then the triple rush of doing a billboard while the alcohol runs through your veins! But getting paid for doing graffiti also feels good especially with the economy these days! I could say I was one of the pioneers of this new movement called "body art" when I started doing it wasn’t because everyone was doing it, I was just being a drunk asshole writing on girls at parties and it evolved to doing pieces on beautiful females. Once I started getting my work out there through the internet, I started getting invited to events, first with walls and dolls by BMT, then by Girls gone graff by Fear UTI and Bubbles Magazine by FAE and SNAPR. I am now setting up my own events. I am SESOER ONE from LITcrew, a new era graffiti artist representing this hiphop element!

"MERES" The Deadly 4mula (Long Island City, NY)

Sun, 14 Mar 2010 20:00:21 +0100

Meres was born in the South Bronx and raised in Queens, New York. Taking on an interest in graffiti at the early age of 13, Meres developed his craft starting with tags and throw-ups. In 1991, he started TD4 (The Deadly 4mula) crew, which consisted of other artists with similar interests. By the mid-90’s, Meres changed over to piecing.

He painted hundreds of pieces in all 5 boroughs as well as Florida, Connecticut, Ohio, New Jersey, North Carolina and, Holland. In 2001, Meres took over Phun Phactory in LIC, Queens, which had been closed for almost a year. Over the course of the past 5 years Meres transformed the destroyed (tagged and vandalized) building into an outdoor museum called 5 Pointz, The Institute of Higher Burnin™. He is working towards adding on a school for aspiring aerosol writers. 5 Pointz is visited by and caters to thousands of fans and writers from all over the world.

Meres works as a freelance artist who does everything from artwork in magazine spreads to video shoots. Some of his clientele include: Def Jam, NY Knicks, Swatch, ABC, Coors, Heineken, Deutsche Bank, Grey Hound, Glamour Magazine, Big Red, Wall Street Rising, M.A.D.D. His work has appeared in movies such as Brown Sugar and Bomb the System as well as Matisyahu’s video “Youth”. Meres was recently featured on NY1, MTV, and several other TV stations and newspapers such as NY Times,, Daily News, Newsday, as well as Vibe, Rides, and, Juxtapose magazines. He has exhibited his artworks in museums, galleries, schools, and lounges including the Orlando Museum, Parish Museum, Rush art gallery, Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Building, Polytechnic College,NYU, to name a few. And many more to come.

BLEN 167 (Puerto Rico)

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 01:02:47 +0100

Well what can I say? My name is BLEN 167, I’m originally from the Bronx, NYC but I moved to PR in 1992/ 1993. Graffiti for me has been my open door for many things such as my profession, tattoos. I’ve been tattooing since 1999. I’m down with tons of crews so ill just mention some for the record: BNA KD, OTB, KAOS inc, FUA, KGB, NARVALOW, DWA, etc. I did my thing in NYC from 88 to 92, doing roof tops and some walls but didn’t really do anything big until I moved to Puerto Rico.

The island was an open ground for anything. When I got there I think there were maybe 5 writers on the whole island. Graff grew but died down in 1996 after that there was a huge exploitation when TESE BNA BTA came to the island from Chicago. He basically tore up the island. Then came the 3rd boom of writers and it’s been non stop ever since. There is a lack of style and hand styles, but I think every country has that issue. I do 2 events yearly. One is Puerto Rico’s hip hop festival. We only take 6 to 10 of the islands top writers to expose their talent. The second event is express your skills. There we invite international and local artists to rock walls together. For me it was a chance to rock some walls with some writers I like TC5, THE MAC, EWOK,etc. As for me, ill rock any wall I can and ill paint with anyone. Recently I went to Europe for a small tour to France, Spain, Switzerland, and Germany.

There I rocked with some great guys. Like old school train writer COLORS , REST, and KONGO of the MAC Crew from France, and DISCO from the NARVA LOW Crew, in Spain with CHAN of the MAC crew , and BLOOD LINE Crew in lliedas Meeting Of Style s Germany was with the YARD 5 writer team , FOK, KENT, PHOS, POET, GAME, CREN, SCOTTY, and many more all together I loved my trip and will be back in November to bring some Bx/ Pr flavor. As for Puerto Rico, I’ll continue to rock my island beach front walls and keep doing my thing in the streets with my tags and throwies.

Peace out and thanks to graffaholiks for hooking me up ....................

BLEN 167
BNA KD XMEN FUA!!

CRIZ 156 (Montreal, Canada)

Sat, 15 Aug 2009 00:28:00 +0100

                                         Born and raised in the South Bronx and then Spanish Harlem

CREWS: 156 OTB TEK TCM Team TFO SK TDO HP

Influenced by: FC,FBA,156,COD,TAT, Dero in particular but always kept it true with the NYC style of Lettering.

             While living in the South BX I was seeing the works done by locally by cats like Tyke, Sade, Dune, Reven, Bea, Kent III, Bash,Karl,Gizmo (R.I.P),Case2,Moet,Crack, Pre-Sweet TR nation, G-man PGA and the list could go on.

              I would always take the 5 train from Jackson Ave and had the privlage to see the amazing cars that were being pulled out in the early and late 80's including TAT TNB TOA,COD,BlockBusters by KEMT and Cope2 just kinging the IRT's Tyke, Rea, Pose (R.I.P) and Ric going against MPC. as well as Seen(UA) and PJ's comeback with his wholecars and their throw ups.

After moving to Spanish Harlem I met Vulcan, Radio KA, Dero (who was painting with a cat that wrote Brian at the time) Dar TRC, Shop TWB all at the Hall Of Fame which was not far from me. I then met up with BIA3, Har, and BadBoy who had formed a crew called HP -High Post and I ran with them for a bit hitting Spanish Harlem, Sanitation trucks, and some Layups Shortly after I became a member of 156 shortly before JonOne left to Paris in 87. JOZ (R.I.P) ,Easy, and Josh5 hadd all the city gates on smash by then.

In 89 I left the game, As the train era was coming to a close Sent,know Shoroz, DC3, and Dome were doing it up with a vengence. I moved to Canada in 2002 and Moved to Montreal in 2005 and thats where I reconnected with the Graff game as it was like NYC in the 80's to Me, I met Zek ,Sake, etc and ran with it from there and started Piecing again. I contacted Jon and asked him if he would allow me to start a Chapter up here and from there it took off, I started reconnecting with the fam back in NYC which brought the resurgence of 156 back to North America also Brought Meeting Of Style to Montreal with Senk and Zek see MOSMTL.COM.

CRIZ www.156allstarz.com