Alright so thanks for taking the time out to do this interview, looks like we did a brief interview with you before. You’ve been painting for 12 years and currently reside in Oakland, CA. How have you seen the game change in your 12 years? How would you compare the Oakland scene to other scenes you were apart of in the past?


What’s good Bombingscience, really appreciate your time and support, means everything to me. Oakland, the Town, Graff out here is mobby, haha, I love it!  From the time I first stayed out here until now, I wouldn’t say it changed but grew. Shit gets cooked every day/night.  From Full murals and burners to hella throws and tags.  Oakland has a huge heart for graffiti and that’s why I love it here.  Oakland made me finally feel at home with what I do, I appreciate The Town so much.  I had a decent chapter in Sacramento, for sure a different style than Oakland.  The Town just has that engine running all day as far as graff scene, it pushes me and others, that’s why I feel Oakland has that real heart for us.  Shout out East Oakland big love.  


2) Dude the amount of work you put out and the level of professionalism is pretty top notch, I gotta say. I see these days you work a lot of characters into your pieces, what made you want to incorporate these into your pieces? I know some people dont like putting them into their work but for you was it always about the character and the tag together? I love the dracula piece by the way!


I’m so grateful, thank you.  Sheesh, as far as the characters go, it’s honestly just something I love the characters themselves, truly. It represents everything I grew up with or currently enjoy.  I like to incorporate them because it feels like I have a huge guardian looking out for my shit from bums, haters and toys, haha, jk. It’s always the character and my piece, I’m so drawn to that because I’m targeting, not just writers but everyone.  There’s a lot of people doing graffiti now, so Im trying to be consistent with the new flavor, new character formulas, we got to be different, variety is key, plus it’s a gang of fun.  Thank you, funny thing about that Dracula panel, that cover always spooked me at Blockbuster as a kid, so we ran that idea, scary ass night in the train yard, too. Sheesh, haha.

   
I see putting famous pop culture characters in your work has gotten you a lot of attention online, but i also see that most of your work is on trains. This begs the question: Do you work professionally in a creative field outside of graffiti? Do you sell pieces of your work or anything like that?


It just happens that the characters are what I love too, I really stay true to what I like and love for character selection. YES TRAINS.  As I’m currently typing this my train yard is running a tad hot, haha, hence why I’ve been blessing The Town.  But I’m a freight painter originally, and steel has always been my priority.  That nationwide is far superior to me than all city. I’m just a regular guy, I really want to be apart of a creative field outside of graffiti, I’m still searching dearly.  I’m kind of getting in gear with the whole selling my work, I never really felt good enough, kind of still don’t. But I have done work for people and I’m always down.   


This is connected to the previous question: Are you street educated or did you go to school for design? Where do you see your work going in the next few years?


I really wish I can say I had schooling, truly.  Although, everything I’ve learned thus far was from close friends and self-studying/teaching. A lot of failures and still going, ahah, but that’s what it takes right?  So to address your question, street educated for the win… I might look into school, could polish a lot for me. In the next few years, I hope I can grow and progress where I am currently, I don’t care for the speed of the growth as long as I’m progressing.  I hope I can paint and be paid as an artist full time or even Tattoo like Pemex does on a daily, haha.  Dead serious though.  I wouldn’t mind owning a graffiti shop too! One of my dreams.


What is your favorite documentary or book that covers the history or major players of graffiti and why? 


Hmmm, I don’t really have a favorite but here’s a few I grew with: I love Beat Street, of course, for the purity of the art form, music and the intro to graffiti. Infamy covered a lot for me , too. I really like this movie: Against the Wall – Quality of life.  It’s budget and cheesy, but it has a nice core, shit that really happens with graffiti and life.  I recommend. 

How did you get the name DAPR and what crew do you rep? Are most of the people you collaborate with people from your crew?


Damn, lol, only a few really know this but I’ll share.  So DAPR is my real-life name initials.  I wrote DAPRO for a few weeks when I first started, yes “dapro” lmao fuck … I dropped the O, thank god. Been DAPR since.  Ask all my people, I’m always in a tie even when I paint, so I’m really DAPR in real life haha.  No crew, tried it, it wasn’t for me, politics are too heavy for my liking. The only person I truly paint with is Ovek, that’s my brother and our chemistry is unmatched, on and off the panels.  Shout out Steph for telling me to drop the O bout 15 years ago.  Blessed. 

What’s your go-to hip hop artist to listen to while you’re working? Who would you say is underappreciated in either hip hop or graffiti that deserves more recognition?


I love Hip hop but my range is extremely wide.  A lot of Jazz and Rnb flows through me while I paint also slap rock, metal, and punk too, ask Ovek I be singing in the Yard, he be sick af lol haha.  But when I feel mobby I listen to The Jacka, Andre Nickatina, and Mac Dre. I fuck w Larry June, Bluebucksclan is gas too.  No cap I like Drake shit, Metro Boomin, Lil baby. I love Corridos music too, Nathan Cano, Marca Mp.  I don’t understand all but it’s always in my rotation.  I don’t really feel like I know anyone who needs more recognition, I feel like everyone gets what they put out, and if not then some patience and it’ll boom! Real always recognize real.  

For people interested in getting into graffiti, what do you recommend for getting started? Is there anything that you wish you know now that you wish you knew in the beginning?

This is a good question. Drawing is the one biggest aspect to graff for me.  Aside from the actually skill, that’ll come naturally. The more you draw the more creative you become.  Understanding colors,  scaling and light source helped me a lot.  Tagging and getting up, destroying shit is cool and I respect it, but at the end of the day that shit gets washed out by someone who takes this shit to the max, which is quality.  Crews are cool, I don’t recommend unless you grew up with them and started at the same time, other than that, it’s a lot of drama and politics.  Have fun don’t worry about the rest, own your own lane and really ask yourself why you want to do this.  I do it for myself, to add growth to the culture and for all who support me, but myself first.  Have graffiti goals, I know it sounds corny but you’ll see yourself getting better over time.  

Any crazy travel stories you can share?

Nothing too crazy, nothing like the stories I’ve heard from my homies haha. Me and Ovek had an auto rack pull off on us mid outline in Oakland.  Ovek determined ass got on gps followed it and he fucking found it in Milpitas, we ended up finishing it fully. That shit was so clutch big ups to OVEK. Haha  Couple chases here and there.  But all good fun, still plenty of time for new stories though so who knows.  


Any shout outs you would like to give? Where can people follow you and purchase your work?

Yes I want to shout out my Brother Ovek , my guy seen me go through ups and downs and always stay rocking with me, Love him to death, we close in real life its a blessing.  Shout out to Casey and Christine B.  my best friend outside of graffiti.  BIG THANKS to LOOPCOLORSUSA and my Rep Adam and Stop penguin. Thanks for giving me a chance to be on the team I always wanted to be part of something in this community, so thank you.  Shout out PEMEX not a lot of people know but he’s a huge corner coach to my work, always guiding me and keeping me polished thank you. 3AYEM, rest easy brother thanks for showing me style and spending time with me when we had it thanks for believing in me to be your tattoo apprentice, thanks for letting be apart of something great.  SHOUT OUT THE MAYOR of OAKLAND CEAV 640 that’s my nigga, thanks from coming clutch on the spots while my train yard is down.  Shout out BOMBINGSCIENCE for all the love and support you’ve given me, honored always, your team is great! SHOUT OUT TO the DAPR family everyone that pushes me and tell me to keep going thank you, I’m still going! 


Website will be up in the summer with product and work, I’ll have those high-quality pieces for the low $$$.  Other than that you can tap in on my IG for any work etc.  @dapr_trap
Always sending love ,
Dapr

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