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
MateOne A.K.A EmteOne, KNS (Kings Never Surrender), BSK (Back Street Kings) TM (Total Madness)
Peace Out!!!!
Yea honestly I enjoyed the article espescially the nts 687 it a bummer the art. Scene turns its head at straight tagging mobbing gettingup killing shit u know but if the book focused on dope monbbers they’re be a lot new schoolols school I dig ..kudles search ralos cappuccino smear upset stesek alas oil modok cash flip harm drex cloud Wes heck sight upset vanish chaka.smeck rip Eroe rip rastah rip Ayers rip. We can all agree these writers influenced a lot of cats to get up in grimeey areas..damn shout out to space invaders. my ruthless rotten hollywood. KidsNts Cmh687j4f$1 ..also mta should her a lil more cred..as well as eight J’s jor kep hai si flip n cash went all city tags busses scribes also oil jiec n Jesk siner brail dreye Lts kog changed the game..but ya free flex free cudles also props to Orr al Orr al also halo near and lapdk got up for tagging and ska and Colin and What aABOUT AOB I o a J2h unrelated NM smeck rip n charm you could do a book on busses an Scribner’s if you incorporated etch. U could include imas guzl smear ae yues rip but yea a lot of shit u didn’t touch on but I enjoydit also dont4get near 129 UK ue up every where vamp NFL props I saw ur bombs in Burbank when I waslike 13 and breakers rolls with groovers and writers and then u had rebels fucking greenlight was enforced an fools that couldn’t write we in big Keewatin started banging what about the old days
Also I didn’t know gat became 7th letter or amgarbage no diss. Mean I just didn’t no the meaning. Cash Money H0es krylon
I forgot to mention jigz ..macho match cew on any bus I remembered. Also r n h had valley busses locked also sahl n Col n and Los and sleez a nd miker
Hey Steve,
Great Site Approeciate all the blood sweat and tears putting this together, I know alot on Ny/ Philly Graff but not alot on the hist of west coast Legends..I wanted to ask in your breakdown on early La Graff you mentioned “cartoon “fr K2S.. is that the same cartoon aka Mister Cartoon? Thanks for your time .
Hi Haze,
No, during his early graff phase, Mr. Cartoon was Flame (and I do have one of those pics in my book). You may be able to find some of those pics on 50mmlosangeles.com but the Cartoon from K2S is someone else. Some times the guys would distinguish him from Mr. Cartoon by saying “Carlos Cartoon.” To add to the confusion, another great L.A. writer is Toons. His piecing is great stuff.
Thanks for writing,
Steve
any one from the og tss in la?
any one from the og tss in la from roosevelt high and from the city of bell gardens and east la from the projects
Thanks for the site! brings back lots of memeories!!
Some that I have not seen others mention are Roc 125 and C92…what happened to them! all up around downtown.
How times have changed.
Peace to:
DKC, CKS, SMC, RTDMOBB, FOE’K, NSD, BTK!
BigLou! RTDM where u at!!!
South Central LA Writer’s
Devoe NFL Crew, Ansec NFL Flipper LAS, CHB Crew, Success
& Ther. Bandoh WSI, UNC, CSL Crew. Nassin TNT, DOA. Phake
UNC, Pride UNC Bogie One. Klome BTE, Nesek BTE CIA Crew.
Weiser, Turn MGC, K4P Crew. Rener FC Crew, Zoer One RIP.
Brief ONE, RIP. Plaie HB NWK RTD Crew. Woosh WSI Crew.
Sesk One NTS Crew, Scaler NTS, TSS, OTR, BNH Crew. I’ll
post more when I could think of some.
Yo, you guys really you to get up on your LA graff history.You need reasearch a cat named Soon One. Who was orignally from NY.Nobody was fuckin with him in terms of skill back in the days (1984-85).He did the Radiotron,Pan Pacific building,& a few other joints.Ask all the originals about him.He has a joint in subway Subway Art book.You did get Rick/Crime, Shandu,& Geo right for the East Side. Cratoon was even poppin off back then too.He used to write Flame I think. He’s from San Pedro.LOng Beach was poppin off too at the same time LA was or maybe even earlier because alot of cats from NY were stationed in LB via The Navy.I got pics of pieces from 83/84 that were at least a year or two old when I took them.But you know how it goes everybody has there own story.
Hey JC,
Soon’s history is on the site here, from Soon himself, if you just look around. Also, this site has cuts from the book, so what you think is overlooked may be in the book.
Thanks for writing in,
Steve
I’m from the mid 90’s
At first had no influences because I didn’t take it serious until about a nice 6 months in the game.
1st crews I saw up were STP KRS TUG CBS UTI DOC TBG 5STAR MTA JOR USC FOG MOT 129 TPS YR ICR NASA MSK AWR COI CULT CEW NFL UAO TKO OTR LTS KOG DCT WB LOD DFW MCP NHD KNL KWS P.I.E …… ETC…..
MID 90’S CHAKA,TOLSE, MOTIVE, HAWK, SWING, JIGZ, GUSTO, DAVIS, GANK, GKAE, GRE, GRAE, CHIL, REEL, SPIF, GIRL, CISCO, THORN, CITY, TAGER, KLENT, MACHO, 125ER, PERSUE, JAMES, N8V, SIMPLE, HALOE, SILOE, ASIA, PALE, BEKOE, MEAR, SKATE, OILER, BUDGET, VALKS, AROL, HYDRO, UNIT, 7DEE, SOME, DEMON, OZIE, USE, 101ER, SAHL, MODOK, ACROE, A12, MONSTER, FATE, ALEUS, SPAIR, NACHO, WISK, PHABL, BUS, SACRED, EROSEK, SOLOE, KOALA, DIZM, AYER, ZES…. JUST TO NAME A FEW…..
Peace to all LA Graff Writers that our active today. Peace to all the bus mobbers, fwy killers, bridge and hangovers, heavens, rooftops, billboards, scribers, landmarks, slaptags, drippers, streakers, paint markers, fat caps, throw ups, blocks, burners, piecers, ghost fills throw up and shadows quick ups row calls, one liner throw ups.
Don’t forget to write! Peace to all my real graffiti heads. You know who you are. Stay up!
The kid from Venice to North Hollywood to East La to Dtla Hollywood to SilverLake and around the way. To live and die in La.
Peace to all the og crew I’m Yogi. From that OMGKREW. Fuck Kws but reapect to all the other og crews that still do there thang
I didnt get to live the glory dayss like most graffers in the 80s and 90s, but while i was growing up in the 90s i got to see a gang of crews who put it down such as
STP KRS TUG CBS UTI DOC MTA JOR USC FOG129 TPS ICR NASA MSK AWR COI CULT CEW NFL UAO TKO OTR LTS KOG DCT WB LOD DFW MCP NHD CIA KWS NFD GFS AM7 RTN STN WCA
I also got to see these amazing writers like JIGZ, GUSTO, GANK, GKAE,SPIF, GIRL, CISCO, THORN, CITY, TAGER, KLENT, MACHO, 125ER, PERSUE, N8V, SIMPLE, HALOE, SILOE, ASIA, PALE, BEKOE, MEAR, SKATE, OILER, BUDGET, VALKS,SOME, DEMON, OZIE, USE1, 101ER, SAHL,SABER, ZES, RIME,AYER, MODOK, ACROE, A12, MONSTER, FATE, ALEUS, SPAIR, NACHO, WISK, PHABL, BUS, SACRED,EKLIPS,CRE8,ZENDER ,ZUCO,PHASE52,HEX,RISKY,WISK, ICON, AUDIO, SUFER, UPSET,HEARO, BAER, BUCKET, TOOMER, SOON, INV8DER, DRILLZ,VYAL… and the list can go on…just a few names i remember but dang good memories going out checking out the work these people and others put in while i was starting up..well peace to all stay up L.A heads much respect to all of the true crews and writers holding it down.. ART OVER WARS…Biggest weapon for writers are cans not guns
WHAT UP MY THE BIG HOMIE JAY BOY, NEMZ,AND ALL MY COMPTON ECM MEMBERS,,MASHING ON ALL ENIMIGAS,,KEEP PUSHING ESE
What about Bombers …
FE. DTW.EI. BM. AIS. HAI. TSS
OTR. DTLA. HTR. J2H. BS. 2DN.
PAL. MBC. AOB. TKO. KK. KTO.
DIA. MLK. CNE. SBK. NEA.
Wow…takes me back to the 90’s..Hollywood and Western Ave…..I remember LOD,PAL, PTL, IMOK, SBK, CCK, LEX and JIK. I still remember my crew HSL, and Above the Rest…ATR….Og Toppster
Much love and respect to KCC and HR CREW used to mob wit devoe and slamer in jr high. To the homie rakus that i met at Lakewood high thanks for helpin me get into DE Mob!!! I started writing 89 nothing but gud times through out the 90’s
KAW – LSD late 80’s early 90’s! WK – AIS kope~micks~takes~fraser~kear
80/81 LA’s first was disco dave(bronx),quikdraw & crase one(bronx). a lot of people dont realize that dream (smd) was writing in early 83 under the name TAG, A lot of writers talk about graffiti started at radiotron.not true!!! graff writers was up in that spot before it was called radiotron. there was a club there called radio club with real hip hop heads. can any of you graff writers that talk radiotron/graffiti tell where the name radiotron came from. i sit back watch and listen to this fake history(his-story) that writers are telling to the media and in the books.i know tha real story. peace!!!
These kids today dont care about nothin and have no regard for history.I dont care if you seen me up or you never heard of me.I will say this,my boy “Geso RIP” TRM TK crews was killin shit in 88,89.Anybody who was up and down Venice Blvd,I’m talkin from Downtown clear to the beach,knows what I’m talkin about,anybody else in denial.Pase and them other fags had a whole crew of haters out dissin the boy,if you remember TB,The Bitch crew….Anyways it just irks a mofo how my boy dont never get his propers when it comes to these lil forums that sounds like a bunch of old ladies in a rest home,tryin to have everyone remember it their way,when truth be told,most a these cats was just lookin to sell out since day one,that was their whole primary objective for getting involved in this lifestyle in the first place.
I can’t believe nobody mentioned my partner in crime “Sane” (the Original Latin king) from the Jefferson Yard he is one of the most gifted artists i know. Shout out to my LTS-RTA-SK crew Sane, Made, Slite, Disc, Sina, Plex.
Watts up yall ova here still south centraling babee!! shout out to flex skez oops zero physic n remembering many rip’s rover notorious kings babe
MUST B CRAZY KLAN 622
LOS ANGELES 90004 AREA
CHAPTER53
MODEONE
THOSE 76
SLECO
DELAH
CISMO
301ER
TITLE
UNIOH
SWADE
OZER
409ER
BIMIC
SHIBER
IDEAL
PARTER
SPEX
ACHE ONE ATR ISSK 818
Hey fellow taggers i just wanted for you to remember another tagging krew which battle first MBC and lost then J2H which after that battle we became enemies, both krews were new with lots of potential writers, these are some names of taggers who loved the art. all of this homies from DFOK DOING FAME ONLY KREW
BOSK
NOTCH
UNI
DUFF
REC
IKON
VANISH
HINT
RIDL
SWISS
ANOI
LUNS
SIXR
BORD
KOKOH
DERST
BEAR
SPEKS
DIVINE
REMOVE/ EI / DFO
SEND
KASM
NOME
DONE
90038
PILM
VILCOE
KOPAH
PANGA
DOUBT
RAW
SHAMROCK
BERST
NAID
My memories of the 1980s. In regards to the East Side, when it comes to early influences you gota mention Double Vision Crew near First St. They are not around anymore, but Im sure many of the early piecers from the East Side were influenced by them. Other big names were MAK, STN, K2S, UNA amd ITS. When it came to tagging, Boyle Heights was hit hard by TNT near Brooklyn Ave. There were many smaller crews with clean though, like UKA amd W2C. I remember East LA being hit hard by VCK.
EVOE MEANE ESTOE ENOM GIRL SUER n the rest of the sin city ECM fam fuck enemies
@ OG Writer Talking all the fake history shit when the cat’s you talking about ain’t got No history Dave, I saw a few piece 1 with a woodpecker on it in red in black trash for 84 a few tag’s and never saw him again , Now Crase ah Crase aka Graff1was not a Graffiti writer he was a graff writer for a break dancing group not out in the street’s bombing shit up rocking block buster’s and burner’s on other cat’s block’s he did The “TRON” and The Belmont, shit that’s 2 piece so he dont even come up on the Ricterscale for you to be called a GRAFFII artist first you got get out there and do some damage with is clearly not the case with these 2 guy I did see the Double vision crew up ,KGB. CRime ,Geo Mr151 ,all about 84 85 it’s just funny how you saw all them but you didn’t see SOON 1 , and at that time in LA Graffiti History I was unmatched in term’s of Style and around graffiti ability you might want to do more research on the LA Street graffiti game and leave the black book guy to your own device’s … SOON!
And who ever said LA graffiti started at the Radio or the radioed is bug gin I been doing my thing way before I even heard of that club I just met a few dude’s up there for different part’s of LA when I would chill up there some dude’s know the real but you know LA being a actor’s kind of town it’s just a whole lot of cat’s playing the Wrong part’s in there movie’s and a lot of real ninja’s who know the business and run by the fake so that’s what you get now a handful of white cat’s masquerading as the real face’s of Graffiti but it just a rip off, Check out who first showed them how to do Graffiti and the rest is true History Dig that up and you’ve just scratched the surfaced !!!
WHAT UP TO THE HOMIES FROM “NHDK”EAST LA’S AGGRESSIVES..STILL WRITTIN.FUCK ALL ENEMIES NO LOVE…ARSOE ONE..
TRASE
KAMA
DECOY
LERN
ANKA
ORLOE
DOAKREW
WE ALL WENT TO ROOSEVELT HIGH
SCHOOL IN BOYLE HEIGHTS
FROM 92-95 GREW UP IN THE
ESTRADA COURTS PROJECTS
A.K.A VNE GANG PJS
Crews hit up at that time I can remember
LOD,IFK,TSS,FIU,KAM,CBS,OTR,NSV,RTD,CKS,
OSB,LPK,COI,FBI,NSC,DOC, THERE’S ALOT MORE I FAIL TO MENTION THAT WAS JUST SOME FROM THE EAST SIDE MUCH LOVE AND RESPECTS TO ALL OLD AND NEW SCHOOL WRITERS!
HEROS GET REMEMBERED BUT WRITERS NEVER DIE!
If we talking bout early writers. Early writers or peacers whats the book bout. Cant forget LTS and KOG AWR out in the west side. Remember seeing Klean and Zes peaces everywhere to from the west to downtown.They had their unike style only they can bust. If you talking bout tagging and not peacing. To many to mentioned back then it was Oiler, Devoe, Macho, SahL, Dizm, and many more if gou talking bout bus rocking their was foos like Dare, SahL, And crews like KK, CEW CULT, RTD, NHD TM,HAI, EI, and many more. Now and days all you see is a bunch of bullshit bunch a shit croosed out bunch a toy shit. To many fake mthfkrs. With the execption of a few and those few are alot of the OG crews still left and paving the wag for these young cats like mentioned earlier no respect and no knowledge of history of the graff game. Shouts outs to K4P MAK KK CEW and all the dwntwn writers.
To all those Old School, ruff looking, street, big baggy clothes, all painted up in the gloves…Kids back in the day…You all know how we use to do it… First time in a long time, Im going back in time, props to the old high school fellas…
The original roll call “MD” out of Los Angeles…
MD CREW From the 90’s lok
——————-
-VADE
-EROK
-GEAR
-LOST
-OTES
-PUNISH
-GOTHIC
-CHOPS BHC
-FE21 kOS
-PINER 2FD
Madd respect to the original 5DC crew…vamp/episodex/e698…
What up my boy! I remember that old funky apt we all lived in at sanborn/sunset…Well, we are all old and grown…but we still flex the skills now and again…much respect from back in the days to 2013…still dope as “f”
yo, get at me online with some business production type ish…
If I forgot any of the Old School lOKS…HERE it is repping for that original Mid City area to Vermont/Olympic…shop!
JIMER LTS MTD
NARCO/PHUCK UNS HBF
POISON HBF UNS
BLUE HB
EMERGE CRUISERS
SKROE KOS
RESP
CHOPS BHC “Manchester England”
5DC
MTD
Much respect to all LA writers, especially the ones who started it all back in the early 80’s you all set the standard…West side East side graffitti it all rocked!!
Whats up with my people in the 818…anyone remember the FC crew?
DENEKLOK HighRollingKings RealStreerFame click fuck 5omm never accept our pictures si we always did it the old Sokol way no internet just fucking shit up north eastla kings fuck bitches selling oranges dick eating faggots I drops kaka de Perro 32fags young kock suckers pussy ass snitches bitches wearing skirts and the rest of enemies that didn’t get a long with us. We don’t give a fuck about your fame as longest you remember all the times we putting work on you motherfuckers that’s enough HRK HTD RSF 226F rip Bomik Chiko Looney Roloh
HOW ABOUT THEM SOUTH CENTRAL KREWS LIKE NFL OKS KWS UPN NCK PCSK BOS WTK SOK WBL PS NR GAC OFA TFK STK NTS KC….. NAMES I REMEMBER DEVOENFL SPEEDNFL SOLOENFL PREOKS TALEKOKS GRANEOKS DEKOOKS YAKOOKS DISTPS FRASENR 56KNCK MEHZNCK PRIMONCK TRYNCK ANGEL16NCK LUSTERUPN 27KUPN DREXSOK JOKEGAC KREDGAC TASKGAC NITROBOS TEKMOBOS MECK AND MANY MORE OTHER KREWS CUBACDP SECTORCDP CITYCDP MACHOCEW
KOREL KK MIRERTCK GUSHTCK THORTCK LKS LPK KDP CHICOUNC KMT KS KAK ECM BISERMAK4P DAAAAAMN !!!
BACK IN THE DAYS LA CREWS “KI”KINGS INSANE”129″KNL” KINGZ N LORDZ””CYS”CRAZY YOUNGSTERS”ISS”INSANE SUSPECTS” GB”GOING BAZURK” NEA”NEVER ENDING ARTIST” CHB”CAN’T HOLD BACK”CSR”CAN’T STOP RIGHTING”TK”TOKER”KRS”KINGZ RULING
SOCIETY”DYP”DESTROYING YOUR PROPERTY”NHD” NO HARM DONE”USC” UNSTOPABLE CRIMINALS” MCP”MEXICAN CAUSING PANIC”SK”SERIAL KILLAS”STK”SHOT TO KILL”STP”SETTING THE PACE”ADK”ADDICTION KILLS”R4F”RIGHTING 4 FUN”B4P”BOMBING 4 PLEASURE”A12″ADAM 12″ ATR”ABOVE THE REST” TIK”TOTALY INSANE KIDS”WDC”WHOLE DIFFERENT CHAPTER”ETB”EXPECT THE BEST”TOS”TAKING OUT SUCKAS”OLS” OVERLORDS” MGD”MEXICAN GETTIG DOWN”OFA”OFFICIAL FREEWAY ARTIST”THL”THUG LIFE”IH”INSANE HABITS”DAM”DOWN ASS MEXICANS”2DF” 2 DAM FAMOUS”2FD” 2 FUCKEN DRAMATIC” SICK AS CREWS LATE 80’S EARLY 90”S”
For the record, the founders of STN (Second To None) was started by
Sine One (David Davilas) RIP) (1970- June 1987)
Doc43 (Sergio Rueda)
Make One (Galo Canote)
Sine gave me my name “Doc43” shortly before creating STN crew.
STN and K2S is now synonymous with each other and is now goes by K2STN. K2S/LABs was influential in us starting STN crew back in late 1984.
Shortly after starting the crew, Defer (Alex), Skept (Paul) and Easy (RIP) were added to the crew.
COKE ONE
PRIDE
STANER
GLENDALE/HOLLYWOOD
86-89
As one of the originators of a Los Angeles based Tagging Crew known as TAG ALL CITY I just want to send a shout out to the Homies from TAC, TDK, MAK, K2S, STN, OTR, NHD, UCA, BAD2 and the rest of the WRITERS that hung out at The Writers Bench on Vermont and Hollywood, The Belmont Tunnel,
Saludos:
RARE, ROM, LASER, FLY O.G. TAG ALL CITY
DESIGN, LERNER AKA JOEROCK, SEXER O.G. THOSE DAMN KIDS
NEOONE, MANDOE, QUIZ RIP, BESK O.G. MODERN ART KINGS
PRIME, CRIME RICKONE, DUKE, DEFER, SKEPT, SINE RIP, RISKO RIP, MAKE GALO, DOC43, WISE, CASH, RELIC, HYDE ETC O.G. K2S STN
ALSO:
PRICE, OME, ELER, KRAZE, OZEE, ACID, SAME, TRIAX, FUSE, CUBE, PREL, FABER, GIN, HARM, ESK, PREONE, AND ALL THE LOST ANGELS WRITERS AND GRAFF ARTISTS…..N/E, ELA. WLA, DTLA AND ESPECIALLY TO THE GENTE FROM THE 213 AREA: RAMPART DISTRICT, MAC ARTHUR PARK, PICO UNION, AND DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES…………
DEVO KCC MOBERS … stillKCC’Sg strong respect to all the old school Crews … Thanks to all the OG KCC’S.
Big up’s to NTS/NBT, my crew, (REAR 2, COZER AND FLEX). WHERE YA AT, B? Back in the days of ’91-’95 off of Vernon ave and Central at the Jack N The Box..HaHaHa!
To all the the homies from COMPTON ECM back in the day / SPRITS * TWIX*SEEN*JUST*DEMON*NEMS*JIXS*EXPO*CHILLS*KELICK*LENO*FLOE*TERCO*SKILLS*MAIN*NICO*CYCO*SMOKE*DRAIMS*AND ANYBODY THAT I FORGOT MISS THOS GOOD DAYS
I must give my 2 cents, Soon he was a pioneer in L.A. graff, representing N.Y. style, which was a style the that everyone followed. It took many years for L.A. writers to actually create something their own, but K2STN had a very unique style that differed from all others. Its a tell tale style of their own. Though today this style is rarely done by those who created it, graff today is a blend of many, copied from different areas, no distinction anymore, mostly a big blend, indifferent from any other city. So props to those whose ground breaking art form led the way to actually create and not replicate. If you were there you would know, props to all K2STN in mid 80s up to mid 90s and those that put it down a decades later. Also early graff had few in the scene, most writers knew each other or heard of others, maybe a few fell into the cracks and were never noticed, because they did nothing, but I find it humorous when so many claim to have been there (1983 upto 85) or before especially when they are under 43 years of age. BTW double vision crew was not the first to paint at the tunnel, LABS was, or atleast the first to fuckin rock that shit.
Alway good to hear from someone that knows what he’s talking about!Thanks for writing!
Notorious 4 life (ntsk) central & veron the box! they know what it is.
I wanted to repp the Lincoln Heights crews DEF PAS KTA LMC FUA DCK HRK DUI ENI HIV DA PBK TMR NRA KM TFS TAD
it’s crazy to see crews come and go and the crews that last end up beefing it with each other yeah back than I repp BAR DCK MAK BUS despite what I repp it’s all in the past and I don’t go out dissing anyone all that is in
The past
anyone know the history of Lincoln Heights crew beefs??
DCK and FUA was a battle of 50 cans and FUA didn’t like that some older heads of DCK talked to fools from DEF
I remember Back in 1986 I was 13 years old and chillin with the homies of “Floor Masters” in East Los. My main brother was Task, and Sharde. With cut cardboard on the ground we’d bust moves right on the pavement. We were always on the lookout for slick surfaces (even at church) to have a chance to throwdown some quick moves. Task and I used to bump into “Handiman” at church and we’d all joke about busting moves when no one was looking. As the energy of Hip Hop Run DMC, Dougie Fresh, and Nucleus evolved so did we. Crews all over L.A. started to sprout up all over the place. Too many to mention : LABS, DVC, TNT, NTS, K2S from Venice to Northeast LA we were all connected by RTD. Most of us were just kids (without drivers licenses) and this was the only method to get around. It was only natural that we would begin to Mob up RTD. It was actually a way to connect and meet each other on the bus. I remember I met a bunch of Writers and Artists on RTD. – Acid, DEF, Shandu, Risk, Make, Gin, and a whole slew of others. Who rembmers World of Art Supply (#RackCentral). I tended to stick to my hood chillin with the homies: Task One, Deeco (RIP), Sharde, Blast69, and Make – Murals like “Krylon” and the “Zoodies” wall being the earliest pieces. Urban Art in LA was in full swing – At that time we owned the world, and we were indestructible. Grabbing onto the Windshield wipers of the RTD buses to tag the Marquee wasn’t shit. Go big, tag the whole bus, billboards, bus benches, windshields, tag the planet. #gainfame
I had the time of my life. It’s good to see the old school artist come up in the Art World. – Stay up, – One Love – TRAGIC