2) Early Influences and L.A. Starts Up
February 12th, 2007 by steveWP
This is additional material to the text of “Graffiti L.A.: street styles and art”
Though these cuts from the text make most sense in the context of the original text and seem a bit of a hash here, they should still make sense enough on their own. Material such as the following was cut from the original text for a number of reasons. Sometimes the editors didn’t feel enough information was presented about a particular person to justify a quote. Sometimes there just wasn’t enough room for everthing in a particular section. Many times I “rescued” quotes and information from cuts and got it back into the text, but other commentary was cut without my noticing it until too late. There had to be give and take with the publisher, especially under an extremely short deadline.
‘Early Influences’ Cut Text and Commentary
The anonymous source commenting about the beginnings of things (pg. 12) had this additional bit to say:
Our whole concern was just what’s this guy doing? And what’s that guy doing? And I heard someone did something over there, and someone would say Miner and someone would say “oh, I hear he’s this freaky dude with long black hair and long black nails!” And nobody was dressing in any special way at the time. There was Pjay, one of the best early writers in L.A., tall black dude, kind of black-consciousness proud guy, cool as hell, and then also in the same crew was Rival who looked like Eddie Van Halen with curly long hair, and Miner who was into punk. At this time you didn’t do Cholo writing unless you were in a gang. Along with that, unlike today, you didn’t dress like a tough guy unless you were a tough guy or were willing to suffer the consequences.
On page 18 I present some basic definitions, and give a general definition of “wildstyle” as the creative abstraction and manipulation of letterforms. I do recognize that some writers refer to wildstyle to mean a particular style of interlocking letters and use of arrow forms. Also, as with many terms, the meaning of “bombing” is not agreed upon universally. In talking to various veteran writers, the term might refer exclusively to throw-ups, throw ups and tags, or any illegal work. Some might refer to “piece-bombing” to be specific.
A recommendation that should have been in the book, is “Wallbangin’” by Susan A. Phillips. This book goes deeply into Cholo culture.
“Los Angeles Starts Up” Cut Text and Commentary
On the map (pg. 20-21) and in the text (pg. 34) I made a real screw-up: somehow I spaced out and I called the Northeast area “Northwest.” So to the Northeast writers (especially SHs), my appologies. Northeast writers such as Asylm even put an arrow pointing Northeast, so I should have caught that! Also I forgot to put Highland Park on the map: it would be right where it says “Northwest.”
The East Side (pg. 24)
Although a number of crews say they started in 1984 or even 1983, in talking to veteran writers, it seems that the crew to first have a real presence was LABS.
Crime/Rick: Radiotron [an all-ages club where kids could break-dance and hear rap] by MacArthur park, was where we [breakers] used to hang out, and that’s where many of us became friends. After being individuals, we (Crime, along with Shandu, Primo Dee, Risco, Dave) formed L.A. Bomb Squad (LABS) in late ‘84, the first crew we knew of in L.A, and because we limited the size of our crew, others started to form their own crews.
The other important east side crew to start in ‘84 was KGB (Kids Gone Bad). They shared a number of members with K2S, and were active until ‘89. Crime continued: “In ‘85 I put LABS on hold and started K2S (Kill To Succeed) with 5 people; Crime, Prime, Cartoon, Defer and Risco.”
The first battle at Belmont Tunnel, which was started as a yard by LABS, was between Shandu and Graff, AKA “Quickdraw” to create some buzz and see what happens,” according to Shandu. The technique according to Shandu (whose first inspiration in ‘82/3 was a graphic, saying “Graffiti 1999″ by Fab 5 Freddie of New York) was ’still very bubble-ish’ at that early stage. It was not a battle by common standards: Shandu and Graff were never in the yard at the same time, but rather, worked back and forth on their pieces over some time.
In the following quote, the bit about Geo disappeared, but Rick (Crime) wanted to give top props to Geo.
I was on the streets in everybody’s face from East L.A. to Pan Pacific with tags, throws-ups, pieces. We started the all-city thing [although Alski was all-city tagging], writing ‘on the run’ just as a slogan with a little running stickman, ‘A quickie by Rickie,’ ‘A fast one by Rick One,’ Geo would write ‘this is only a test’ and then clone his piece.
- Crime
The West Side (pg. 28)
Earlier, we mentioned Hex as the founder of CBS who later moved on to LOD, but another very important L.A. artist also used the name Hex. To distinguish them, L.A. writers usually refer them with their crew names, thus “Hex LOD,” or “Hex TGO.”
TGO meant “To God Only,” with biblical references or religious aphorisms often surrounding Hex TGO’s pieces. Indeed, although he still makes a living as an aerosol artist, he left the graffiti scene to devote himself to religious life.
Hex TGO, along with Omega, a seminal L.A. female writer (with UTI crew), whom he later married, ran the Hip-Hop Shop in Hollywood during the early to mid 1990s. The Hip-Hop Shop was across the street from Fairfax High School and sold graffiti supplies and hip-hop related clothing. But much more importantly, it was an important early legal gathering place where veterans as well as new-jacks (newcomers) could hang out. A number of important L.A. writers have cited Hex and Omega as very inspirational in how they dealt with them early on. Zuco, head of K4P, said “My desire to have a giving attitude came from Hex TGO because he always treated me with respect even when I sucked. And for him to be so skilled and yet open to people, was a real inspiration to never be arrogant.” Swank, SH writer extraordinaire, said “Hex and Omega were always cool with me and showed me the ropes, like telling me how to alter [paint] tips.”
Hex TGO and Slick K2S are widely regarded as two of the earliest L.A. virtuosos, not only of letters, but of representational work that consisted of characters and backgrounds (i.e. the environment the characters, usually human caricatures or cartoon figures, occupy; a cityscape, for example). These two writers engaged in two now legendary battles, one at the Levitz walls in Glendale in 1989 and the other at Belmont in 1990. Prime, who saw both battles, said “Slick did a little better in one, and Hex in the other, but they both did their best.”
……………..
Other notable crews to emerge in the west side included AM Seven (Amongst Majority’s Garbage [”G” being the seventh letter]), TPS (The Private Sector) and WAI (Wild Art Images). AM Seven was founded by Krenz AKA Yem in 1990 and though some members are from the west side of Los Angeles, they were an all-city crew during their more active early days. It was Yem that was really the first to do “corporates,” i.e. the front of billboards with full-color pieces, sometimes integrating the pieces into the existing billboard image. TPS (The Private Sector) was started in 1992 by Joe Joe, in West Los Angeles at Uni High School, and included the distinctive stylist Kofie, who took the unusual route of starting with figurative spray-painting, and later moving onto letters as well. Most of the TPS writers ended being active in other presently active crews such as RF (Rapid Fire, founded 1996) as personal associations shifted and TPS became less active as an entity. WAI started in the South Bay area and are now providing new blood for CBS with their collaborative efforts which can easily be seen in the alleys of the Melrose strip in Hollywood.
Motor and Venice Pavilion
Of all the yards that have come and gone in Los Angeles, Belmont, Motor, and the Venice Pavilion were among the most important venues for writers to gather and represent their work. It was at these yards that writers wanted to get up and be seen. The ‘first’ Verse and Siner, both of LTS were among the first writers to begin using the Motor and National yard in 1986. The walls had to be buffed out, a term co-opted from New York where train graffiti was literally buffed off with scrubbers and solution. Walls are also “buffed out” with house paint and rollers by writers themselves if they plan on writing anything larger or more complicated than a quick throw-up in order to make a clean area (if going over other graffiti) or to seal the pores of raw wall so the paint adheres evenly.
People searched all over for yards. Venice Pavilion was for “locals only”; Venice Breakwaters, a junior-high [gang] of V13 Suicidals, had it down [controlled]. The word didn’t get out until Venice got hip around 1984. That’s when people started going down there and writers too and saying Hey, check this out! And at the same time Zephyr and Revolt [both from New York] did a piece right on the breakwater. In 1987′ “88 it blew up and a lot of writers came.
- Baba
…………………….
Page 30, re South Side crews:
Cre8 [one of the founders of RTN] was very cool: he brought his mom and family to the yards to share what he was doing with them.
- Eklips
Page 32, re mid-city crews:
RTA (rapid transit artists), formed from those in the mid-city neighborhood interested in either piecing or catching tags, became LTS (Last To Serve).
- SinerI think LTS is one of the best crews in the history of LA.
- Eklips
Page 33: to see the main inspiration for ‘Genius’ character work and why it was so sophisticated compared to most, see www.wrightsonart.com
Page 33 (this is a fuller text bit): GFA (Graffiti Force Artists), formed in ‘84/5 with local Burbank and North Hollywood high school friends Plex and Grem. Grem brought a lot of legitimacy to the valley, but the goal was to paint at the big yards, not just their little alley in the valley. Plex was from the Burbank area, and Wise was from the opposite edge in Woodland Hills where he formed TCF (The Chosen Few) with Rage, also in ‘85. Baba had been in Burbank and moved to Canoga Park which was a link. As in other areas of L.A. prior to hip-hop, tagging was a mix of Latino/Cholo, skater-punk and heavy metal stoner graff with some gang activity. Graff came out of that street language. Some graffiti was even using 3D at that early stage. TCF linked people to AWR and KSN.
…………………
One of the few big disappointments in the book is that a page-and-a-half wide shot of an Ayer bridge piece should have accompanied the Revok/Zes comments on “All City Influences” but got cut. That and one other Ayer bridge piece are in the CD-Rom that come with the book in any event
Alternate Chaka Views
The following views complement Revok and Zesa’s comments (”All-City Influences”) on page 36, about Chaka.
KSN was don’t you had these guys rocking all these big pieces, and then you had this little fucking freak Chaka going around and doing all this stupid shit. After Chaka it was like trying to get out of quicksand; every single writer in L.A. paid dues to make graffiti a legitimate art form. And then right when we start getting recognition and shows, this little idiot shows up and he killed it for everybody. We all wanted to be able to say “look teachers!, look parents!” that said we’d never amount to anything, that we made it on our own terms; it would have been the greatest form of anarchy. It was like mid-80s beatniks, doing our art by our rules and made society look at us, and then this little asshole just killed it. To this day I’ll never forgive him. He spawned a million little wannabes. So a lot of crews just died.
- Baba“Chaka is just L.A., and I don’t mean that in a good or a bad way. He caught a break: Jay Leno made a joke about Chaka, so he went to world-wide fame overnight, and he got all this publicity because they wanted to make an example out of him. Why did they pick Chaka? Probably because that was the only one they could read. To the average person, all tags looks the same, but Chaka’s didn’t because they could read it. So he accomplished what he wanted. As far as him “messing things up” for graffiti or not, it just doesn’t matter anymore.
- Risk“Regarding Chaka, if it wasn’t him, it would have been someone else. We wanted media fame and he got it. We give him props for it. And graffiti is still here. Bus mobbing probably had as much to do with negative public perception as well.”
- Make and Size“That’s graffiti at it’s best; going nuts, exactly what graffiti is. But there was also Jimer, Gin, Stanz.”
- Vox“He got stiffed with the bill. Dope. If he was in it for fame, he got a nice check by being busted. He’s modest by today’s standards.”
- AtlasAgain, the anti-Chaka reaction pushed kids onto freights; and once that went across America, then kids across rural areas were like “I’m on it!” thinking that must be the cool thing to do. Chaka inspired harsher legislation, and before that, it was more under the covers and people were more cool about it. Scribing became a way to “beat the buff” and that’s also the inspiration for heavens; that became the permanence factor.
- Plex and Wise
YO GRAFITTI IS HOT YOU BETTER STAY UP…I’M FROM NEW YORK.MANHATTAN I HANG OUT WITH LEGEND WITH COPE2 JA AL ABUSO EVANER STATUS AND EC THEY TRUE LEGENDS IN MANHATTAN! YOU KNOW I’M A LEGEND TO HASE.CGB NGB YGK ROA CCB WGH CTV MSC MSK IDK 649 AND MORE
Chaka came out right when more writers were tagging everything with no artistic ability, and he was up everywhere, which also made all the other non-artist writers want to get up even more overshadowing all the true artists.
-Sniper One, ran with CMA and some KWS from 87 to 90
Yo! Great facts on your history of L.A. You mentioned a lot of homies and crew’s but I must let you know you did not mention anybody from my CREW, The Crew that put tagging/Mobbing on the map in L.A. Back in the Mid 80’s the NOTORIOUS KINGS/NEXT TO SERVE (NTS) You remember.
Skez, Spect, Base, Isher, Priester, Bongie1, Flex,
PEACE!
Priester,
Thanks for contributing to the history. Please note that in my introduction I mention that I focus on those crews that have strong piece work along with bombing, so if the emphasis is on bombing, that may be why I slept on NTS. On the other hand, doesn’t NTS also stand for “Notorious” and “Never Take Second”? Also, I am noticing NTS as time goes on, and particularly Flex, who gave me a nice NTS (”Never Trust Satan”) on paper that I’m glad to have on my wall.
Thanks again for writing,
Steve
YUP-YUP PEACEOUT!! HOMEBOY!
Yeah, I don’t think there’s enough credit out there for NTS(K) (Next To Serve, then Notorious Kings), especially what those dudes Desier and Sesk did. As far as the RTD bus bombing history goes, I say the crown goes to the NTSK’s, those dudes had the lines running through H.P., Bell, Maywood, and all Slauson Ave. down through South Central on lockdown.
Yo, Priester…I remember catching the tags from you and the writers you mentioned above..I lived in Maywood during that time.
Peace
You didn’t talk about K2S STN they were the catalyst for alot ous writers in the 80’s and gave birth to some of the best crews in L.A. ie W247 213K Dope Style FB ESK DB allof us grew up and were influnced heavily by writers like:
Tempt
Defer
Cash
Duke
Prime
Skept
Geo R.I.P.
Cartoon
Heaven
Sine R.I.P.
Relic
Repo
Teler
K2STN LA 213 W247 DS Family!
Style,
Remember that the things on my site here are just things that didn’t make it into the book for space reasons. I do give props to most of the people you list, but were I able to modify the book today, I would make sure there was more in there about some of the others like Def, Cash and Heaven. I think everyone else is given respects in the actual book.
Thanks for writing and contributing to the history.
Dear Publisher:
SDD was Establish in the ealry 80’s from the city of South Gate…
we will be re-uniting soon in MAY 2009….
the Founders:
OG “DEF” ONE (ICE)
JOESKE LOC (SKING 211)
both been writing since 1980
Joeske also started a crew back in the mid 80’s OFSk
“OUT FUCKING SOCIETY” is a click of SDD
Alot of respected writers/piecers started from OFS…
SDD is known thru everyone in LA County. The crew never has came up in any books, we always kept a low profile….
We recently got back in touch and began to piece again (15 years later)…
Also another piecer from SDD that dates back to the ear/mid 80’s ( is also a member of UTI), will also be attending…(much respect to the homie NUKE - SDD)
Steve,
We hope you can make it we have many stories and never publish pictures that date back to 1981….
HISTORY IN DA MAKING…
before I go I would like to say was up to the homies PLEK and THANX WAI CREW…WHAT UP FUCKERS!!!!!!! and to my cousin big “DRUG-805″ OFS SDD
thanks
CRANE - SDD - OFS
SOUTH GATE, CALIFAS
CANT 4 GET BOUT…
~~ -CTK-GV-DHS-LMC-RIA-FUA-BSO-DAS-ECM-S.M.AS.H.-
-P.U.N.K.S.MDR-LFR- B.R.U.C.L.K.S.,BRC,AT,HLC,SOA,JPL,KOG,
……KWS,WTK,KNS,RTDK,K4,DKS,DKC,OFA,TSS,KAM,CMK,FTR,RTW,VCK,STK,TM,GM,YR,GAW,TE,UNR,CMH,SKA,
WOOOO SHEIT….
How about these EK,CDP,BLA, just to name a few that have not received any credit but then again theres to many out there.
WATTS UP TO ALL THE DUB”S
WHATS KRACKIN FELON, NOISE, CHASE,JIX, TWIX CUNT, FLAKER, ER BODY ELSE FROM DAH BIG ECM 110K
WATTS UP!!
Wicked 213 Kriminals
W T K
El ROBSTER
Wow,to hear all thoze crewz mentioned took me way back!i also gve propz to thoze crewz who gave me the reespekt I gave bak.thoze krewz are: OTR,KGB,LOD,NHD,SKA,NTS,TSS,DTW,K4P,and the list can go on but unfortunately alot of krewz really did show there true kolorz,cuz I am from the hated pico union OUT.FOR.ACTION.KINGZ…….OG EXCEL.OnE! DoWN TOWN LOS ANGELES…..
Credit where credit is due…
The first bomb thrown at the Belmont tunnel was done by the Double Vision Crew. It was the “B-Boy” bomb done by Presto, Blast69, Ink and Silver. The Double Vision Crew were also one of the first tagging crews in L.A. The yard was just starting to get tagged up but the first bomb was done by them.
After the “B-Boy” bomb was covered up, the B-Boy’s head was still visible for many, many years after that.
I wonder whatever happen to HARD from BCCA. He was one of the first writers I started seeing in Downtown LA.. “I think this was around the mid-80’s.. BCCA CREW ..( Before Crime Comes Art). At the time he seemed to be a solo writer.. I never seen him up with anybody else. He would use one throw up, A hugh letter “H” and than he would mob his name right next to the H. It was writers like him that inspired me to write. I also remember other writers, such as this cat by the name HUSK ONE, he use to write with this other dude by the name of SHOK ONE.. I remember these were some of the first writers I started seeing on the Habor Freeway coming into South Central Los Angeles.. BAK CREW is what they were representing back than. (BAD ASS KINGS).. These guys were around before IFK were (INTERNATIONAL FREEWAY KILLERS).
Whatever happen to KEYONE from ITS CREW? (IT TAKES SKILL) He put in a lot of work too. or JIMER from TNT CREW?
Whatever happen to TRIAX & DARN.. They got up almost more CHAKA from LOD CREW.
I remember all the Old school writers…
HEX ONE TGO… I love that dude.. I remember the HIP HOP SHOP On melrose ..HEX gave his life to JESUS.. I remember
when SKILL got saved, I used to run with guys.. I remember my Marski from the NY.. We use to all go to church together..
It’s been years since I seen any of these dudes…
CHAKA LOD
SLEEZ LOD
PALE STP
OILER COI
125ER BLA
SACRED COI
ROCK BLA
JIMER TNT
MAVE (The Marker King)
NARKO UNS
WISK RTD
RISK WCA
SKILL UTI
SNAP UTI
PANIC UTI
SK8 CBS
LEST LOD
PIKE SD CREW
TACOE SD CREW
FATAL OFS
AKAI OFS
KEY ONE ITS
GESO ONE (SOLO WRITER)
CROMER OTR
PREL LOD OTR TSS
HARM NHD
DESOH RTDK (This cat was a bus king in the 90’s)
FABLE AWR
FUSE AWR
AKUA BLA
DUEL KWS
YES KWS
AWSOM (SOLO WRITER)
FRAME DTK (I miss this dude, I use buy all my caps from him)
SABER AWR
AD2000..
Fuck all you bitch ass niggaz it was all about Soonone in the 80s toys!!!
yo its coolto hear all the og crews that rocked the 80’s much respect to ou guys gave me all the inspiration to get my styles up like SDD TSD OFS TSS and OTR… thanks with all our help and i’ll still be rockin TSD and SDD
You talking about Zephyer ,Revolt.87,88,but Soonone already did a blockbuster on venice beach in 83,84 more then likely before you were ever writing or you would have known that most of the dudes who say they was getting up are talking shit a fact ,And any nigga that don’t know Soon was the first kid puttin work in LA is a fool east or west side real graffiti heads from the 80s would know that!
And that shit about miner,pj,rival please, Rival is my man but that bitch ass toy miner came out in in 85 the best at that time was SoonmotherfuckinOne pj I never saw one of his burner that couid fuck with Soon you nigger must be smokin Sherman sticks I don’t even remember seeing pj, if you won’t to change history shoot your self
So let me tell you the truth Soon was the first real graffiti writer in LA starting in 82 all the real OG’s know the deal ! Back in the day’s it’ was only a few dude’s doing graffiti late 82 SoonOne,late 83 ,Dim,Legit. early 84 Alski,Dae,News 84 ,Miner Risk,.Ser ,Rival RIP,PJ,Zeus Dream, Riot68, .that’s on the West side . Shandu,Rick,duke,Risco,Primo dee ,Geo,Prime,I started seeing those guy’s in early 84,on the East side I met Crime at the Radiotron when I was doing some burner’s inside the club. around 84 when a lot of guy’ were break dancer’s and they switched to graffiti because they thought it was a easy thing to do just tagging up but when it came to piece’s only a few were good, Crime Prime,and a few other’s at that time but be clear they all knew who was doing it first Tag’s,throw up’s burner’s blockbuster’s the whole nine trust and believe they know. Back to the rumor’s that Soon,and Legit were dead that had to come from when we left LA and they stop seeing hour tag’s and burner’s so some guy started the rumor’s but it make it easier for a lot of writer’s to say they was writing in the early 80’s to say they were writing before me dude’s saying I was in they hood remember I was first you was in my hood son any dude’s talking about me started in 84,85 or Soon at the Pan Pacific only was no real writer ,they must have just started graffiti and are way out the loop, don’t believe the hype.All the guy’s I just spoke about no the deal !
SOON was the first LA King! hands down he held the title…. Tags, throw ups, and pieces. His pieces back then still hang today. Not many people can say that. REAL TALK!
Respect to L.A.’s “first graffiti artist” and first king “SOONONE”.
Yo, yo! Yall dudes in this post, i understand you guy’s have your own history and all from your era’s but understand that questioning “SOON” is like questioning “KRS ONE” or “KOOL G. RAP”…you simply cant challenge this guy nor can you disrespect him! Wanna know why…..
Some of you youngins might say who is SOON? Well SOON is your favorite writers, favorite writer and idol, yes, go ask them! He’s the legend that introduced your favorite pioneer and legend to what graffiti IS during the first era in Los Angeles, and that’s real language, he was the innovative force to lay it all down, the whole thing, the blueprint!
I myself witnessed seeing him and “LEGIT” be up all over the place when i was a 13 year old kid in the backseat of my parents cars, it inspired me to wanna become a graffiti writer myself back then. I had never seen anybody get up with huge throw-ups and dope pieces like this guy. SOON was “far ahead” of his time you guy’s and that’s why i respect homie alot like the people you all admire!
Even though i retired many years back, my problem with the graffiti world of today is that you cats don’t respect the forefathers of the game, and that’s crazy! You can’t test us nor can you dis us! If you do not know your history when you get in this graf game you need to do your homework, actually i would advise you to learn about the culture before even getting involved with it because you can cause alot of confusion for the next generations to come if you yourself don’t know the “accurate information” these L.A. History book and DVD’s come out! SOON was out here doing this stuff when some of your parents were young! That in itself is enough to not even question his history or even talk back to the man.
And no disrespect to writers like “CHAKA” or anyone else in the list of names i just read in this post but they are not the only people that did it big in Los Angeles, alot of those people came way later and just happen to obtain commercial success. There are many people that made serious names for themselves out here in L.A., i can name at least 35 people of the top of my head, skyhigh fame!
My point of saying that is..”you have to learn your H.I.S.T.O.R.Y.!!!” It’s deep and it all started with a man out of N.Y.C named “SOONONE YOUNGLORDS”, and we need to all thank that man for what he created here in Los Angeles. You don’t have to kiss any man’s ass but show some respect and give him his well deserved credit and props, and i’m talking to you filmmakers and book publishers also!!
A Old Schooler
PEACE
Indeed,This dude set it off in L.A in all sorts of ways. trend setta and legend. But L.A evolved wit and without him. Respect to the graff builders of history,the true know who played they’re parts. Good to see soon is still around to set the stories straight. M7
Yo what ever happend to Prell OTR or SHAE OTR TSS? Does anyone know what went down with these two cats?
Can’t say that I do,but do remember them up.
Jefferson and Motor yard history,pan pacific,belmont and sanborn set it off,the west coast tracks were sick,but the crenshaw wall was hall of Fame!
I remember SOON and Legit, then there was Miner aka Davism, Alski (first to go all city), Geo, Skept, Crime, News I and I am talking about 1985 and before. 1984 I remember seeing some of these names, and I think in December 1983 I saw a couple names, not sure. History for real.
MUCH RESECT TO ALL THE OLD SCHOOL WRITERS THE 1ST
THE 2ND AND THE LAST. BUT CALL ME BYIST BUT I THINK NTS
SHOULD OF GOT SOME MENTION IN THE BOOK ALONG WITH ALOT OF OTHER CREWS, BECAUSE AT ONE POINT YOU COULD HAVE CALLED US 300 BECAUSE WILL HAD ALOT OF HEADS AND CAN WRITE THROW UPS THE HOLE 9 WELL MOST
OF THE HOMIES. AND NOT TO MENTION THAT ALOT OF CATS THAT STARTED SOME CREWS THATS BIG IN THE ART WORLD TODAY GOT THIER START FROM NTS. LIKE ZUCO N ALMOST THE MAJORITY OF HIS ORIGINAL CREW. SO MY THING IS I NO YOU GUYS WANT TO PUSH YOUR CREWS, BUT YOU GUYS CAN KEEP IT REAL AT THE SAME TRUST ME YOULL SLEEP BETTER ITS O.K.
PEACE YALL
NO DISRESPECT TO ZUCO HES A COOL PERSON I SEEN HIS NAME THERE. BUT ITS ALOT OF CREWS THAT FORMED UNDER THE ARM OF NTS IT SEEMED LIKE AT ONE TIME EVERY BODY WANTED TO BE FROM NTS. IT WAS LIKE THEY WAS FROM A CREW BUT REALLY WAS TRYING TO GET TO NTS. I REMEBER WATCHING BEAT STREET ANG FALLING IN LOVE WITH THE COLORS AND THE ART WORK AND THE BBOY AND WAS LIKE WOW!!!
Yo! Peace out to all the old school crews… you know who you are…
Listen, NTS, without question, deserves its place in L.A. graff history. However, NTS was a tagging crew and really didn’t have pieces out there, like K2S, STN, K4P, etc., for example…
They were NOTORIOUS (pun intended) for mobbing busses and mobbing them well… I can assure you that if you rode the RTD back in ‘88, which in my opinion was when bus mobbing was at its best, you were riding in a bus with an NTS tag - no question!
Whether it was “SKEZ”, “ZERO”, “DREK” or “SESK” getting those windows and billboards, “ISH” OR “SHONE 64″ on scribes, you were riding in a bus that was hit by an NTS writer…
I wasn’t from NTS, I repped K4P and KWS…. Although I was asked about it a lot… but you didn’t have to be from NTS to know who they were… there presence was there - you couldn’t ignore it…
I had a lot of NOTORIOUS homeys… a lot of the OG’s knew me and were down with me…
When I met “SKEZ ONE” , I was on the 60 line on my way downtown with the little homey, “CHES ONE”… it could’ve been ‘87 or ‘88, don’t really remember, but that was when I was repping the KILL-4-PRIDE crew…
Skez was with “SKILL ONE” (UTI), and a bag full of Krylons, on their way to go piecing at an undicslosed location… they said didn’t want to burn their yard, but asked me if I wanted to go with them anyway… they wouldn’t tell me where it was, unless I went with them… after that, whenever I ran in to either one of those cats, they would always - always show mad love…
Those were the days… that’s how writers met… you just happened to run in to them and ask, “What you write?”… Remember that?
I ran with a grip of those NOTORIOUS kids back when we were doing our thing… “ZERO ONE”, “SENEK” and I used to mob Pacific (in Huntington Park) on a regular… We’d meet up and my pad or we’d meet at Tommy’s on Florence and Pacific… The homies, “DUSE” & “SESK” used to go mobbing with me, too… and if you can remember these cats, “OOPS” and “NOID”… then you’ve got to be old-school, fool!
“SKEZ” introduced me to “RED” and “SEK ONE”, two old school NOTORIOUSOS… The homey “STASH”, “STROH” were down with me, too… Can’t forget about the homies, “PRIE ONE” and “ZESK”…
Man, the list of those old school cats goes on and on….
I recently heard that the homey “SYSTEM” passed… he was mad cool, too… He was roll dogs with “FINAL ONE” when I met him…
So, yeah… NTS was an important part of L.A.’s graff history, but this book is mostly about piecing… which is what the graff scene is really all about…
But I think that the graff life we lived during those times was special in its own right… A lot of taggers weren’t piecing, because they just didn’t have the drive that true graff artists had… they were content with just getting up… and that’s fine… to each his/her own…
But don’t get it twisted, the bus-mobbers had a passion, but it was to get up as much as possible…
There were the battles, getting to meet and greet those writers that were up, racking and grinding your Mean Streak on RTD Glasshouses… Uni-Wides on roof tops, Uni-Paints, Mean Streaks of combined colors on the billboards, scribes, front windshields, driver’s side, destinations, tops and grills… you can’t front on that… that sh*t was mad fun…
There’s history in the L.A. GRAFFITI/HIP-HOP Scene and we were all part of it… whether piecing or bus mobbing… it’s all graff…
My only regret is getting caught up in tag-banging… When that trip hit the scene, it started f*cking everything up… crews became gangs and a lot of cool dudes got caught up in the mess…
I’m not proud to say it, but I got caught up in it, too… I lost a few homeys to the gang violence… some I lost to the prison system… some are still in prison to this day… but that’s another story for another time…
I just thought I’d throw in my two cents… I ran across this page typing in “L.A. Graffiti”… and just like everyone else, these posts take me back…
Peace to all those old-school writers… you know who you are, because you were there…
“STEELONE”
Word up ,mad respect for the NOTORIOUS crw. I remember when The K4P homies came down to the R.T.A yard and breathed life back into it,along with Ink5 and Jimer.(early 90’s). L.A we’ve come a long way,with many interesting stories to share and learn from.
Check out www.riskrock.com The Lost Legend , The Error In Time ! History for real ,For OG’s and soilder’s a must see !
Eh Steve stop by 50mm and peep out those 88 and 92 fliqs of mines.
steelone you 100% right we all got caught up with that tag banging shit I think when the media start covering it it really got out of control. forgot the reasons you started doing it in the first place because you didnt want to gangbang, but I think because alot of crews had gang members in it the mentallity came with it. yea and those cats you named are the old school homies. you also right about it being more about writing for the crew. we had alot of homiea that did graffiti art, but with other crew it still all good. much love to all the crews. memories are great. k4p is a dope graffiti crew along with the others.
Does any1 know how to get a hold of PLOW? He was from KCA and started FOE with QUICK and RAXS. Those cats did mostly bombs RTD’s.
pROPS oUT tO:
OTR
LOD
IFK
S2N
K2S
WCA
sPECIAL pROPS tO:
sLEEZ
pRICE
sAME
pREL
mOSH
pIKE
rOX
gINoNE
bELMONT tUNNELS
bARNSDALE aRT pARK
lEVITZ yARD
rAPID tRANSIT dISCRICT
vENICE bEACH
pAN pACIFIC
mARSHALL HIGH sCHOOL
bELMONT hIGH sCHOOL
hOLLYWOOD hIGH sCHOOL
..aND aNYONE eLSE tHAT rEMEMBERS tHOSE yEARS
“KRIK”