Alright so thanks for taking the time out to do this interview, can you give us a brief introduction to who you are, what your history is in the graffiti game and Where did the name Stem come from? What crew do you rep?
I am STEM YNN got interested in Graffiti around 1981 but didn’t start writing the name until 1985 I was influenced to do Graff by flatbush Graffiti writers like tnc, crew tekay, kies, hash, tnc, Trim, etc. Before I got my name I had the names that everyone and their mother had like; Joker, ace, duce, and king. A kid told me to change the King name before I get beef so I came up with an idea since I was into baseball cards at that time I took one of my favorite teams and wrote it backwards which was the Mets! And that’s how I became Stem no one I knew was writing it and I was sure that was the name for me. Later on, I heard there were others but as I got better it didn’t matter cause I was the dope Stem and what I do would make them disappear later on I came up with the crew YNN in like 89 1990 the crew I had before that was Ufa before I had a crew I ran with Fboom and Hops and Bares Tbr I was TNS TOS in BUSHWICK that’s where most of my career started also cause I went to school with them around this time.
What originally brought me to your work is I love how you incorporate the characters into your piece and you seem to have a personal history with comic books, not only as a fan but also a creator of them. When did you decide that comics was also another element of what you wanted to do as an artist or were they always there from the beginning?
I was always into comics and before I did Graffiti that’s what I would do: collect baseball cards and steal comics from the store go by my pops house and draw them all day…I once drew the whole marvel universe just to sharpen my anatomy skills Cause I always noticed a lot of people I knew drew but could not do anatomy in Graff and in personal art. Later on I tried making my own comics and even cut school one day and went to Marvel comics with my friends that’s when it was easy to walk in with no appointments this was when they was at 270 Park Ave and my school was 14 st union square so I wasn’t far. I met with an artist and showed him my work I think it was bushema. He asked how old I was and gave me some boards and said do a story on them…told me when I turn 18 and graduate high-school to come back but when I graduated I never went back cause Graff took over my life looking back at it now I wish I went back smh..Now their location is at radio city I tried to go in they won’t see anybody now and strictly send rejection letters to anyone trying to join them being that they are full.
You have so many different outlets from comics to original pieces to walls and trains, do you do this as a full time job? How did you get the ball rolling on your career to be able to do so many different things?
I do alot work comics, blackbooks, trains etc and have a job. How do I find the time? Sometimes I don’t even know my friends and other people that follow me say I’m not human and that I’m an android I just have a lot of energy and love for the skills I was born with and I don’t do drugs I stay up all night to get a lot of things done logos, airbrush shirts, etc…believe it or not, most of my customers are ghost followers lol.
One of my favorite pieces of yours is the latest spiderverse piece, it would be cool to see you expand on the style and idea and maybe do all the spidermen in a single image! Is spiderman your favorite comic character, if not who and why?
Thanks.. I mostly do alot of black characters and touch on alot of images other writers won’t do. So it basically wasn’t me just doing spiderman it was basically about miles morales I like spiderman too but he was done alot I try to do characters others don’t do a lot of people copy so I try to do the most difficult ones so if they do it makes them feel bad for doing it I don’t own marvel characters but if I did it first and you wanna do it too because I did it it’s a little weird to me.. My favorite characters are dr doom. Spiderman and the Uncanny X-men. And as everyone knows TRANSFORMERS. Not really a DC head that much.
What is your favorite documentary or book that covers the history or major players of graffiti and why?
My favorite Documentaries is Stylewars cause it covered alot of topics and things I didn’t know as a young kid
I see you also do collabs with other writers and artists, do you think collaborating is a good way to learn from other artists and writers? In your opinion is this the best aspect of graffiti?
I really don’t collaborate with too much people I’m not into that I mostly do stuff with my crew if I do collaborate its people I’ve known and respect for years..some writers think they have to paint with everyone just to get attention when all they have to do is focus on themselves first.
Any crazy travel stories you can share? I imagine doing all those trains most bring some crazy stories to mind!
I did a train at a spot I was not familiar with and did not know the schedule so me and my crew mates JLo and niceo had to leave the train and wait 1 hr till they pulled another out then start again..it was annoying but we got it done.
For people wanting to thrive as an artist and make this their career, what kind of advice would you give?
Number one thing surround yourself with winners. Get rid of the haters in your circle and don’t look back always practice your craft to evolve not to repeat, stay off them drugs and focus on being number one only
With all these different things going on what do you have planned for the future of your career? What’s next, another comic?
focusing on more elaborate trains and more sequels maybe go to comic cons to make connections for a gig. And if you haven’t grabbed one already pick one up it’s awesome.
Any shoutouts you would like to give? Where can people follow you?
Shouts to the whole #ynncrew People can follow me @silk_eyelashes_ynn
