Fuck that was alot of reading. Still cool though. And yea the JA shit was the best.

And live in New York? I dunno, i've been stabbed once, wasn't that fun, don't wanna do that again. The scene seems dope, but it's sorta fucked up that you get stabbed over beef. But meh, I guess that's what makes the scene so dope.

 

wow i never read the part 2 of that ja article...

thats some heavy shit.

fuckin unreal.

 

i have met colt b4 online and one of his websites he gives a shout out to me! haha

 

WTF? 2004. lawl.

--------------------

 

that was a sick story so sick. so risky

 

gkae



Q- What do you write?

Gkae- Gkae, Mad Society Kings.

Q- How long have you wrote?

Gkae- A good nine years now, 95' being my best.

Q- Who are your influences?

Gkae- Yeah everything I see, older writers who came before me, gang graffiti, and all the all city writers.

Q- How many times have you been locked up?

Gkae- Five times now, this being the longest. I've done 16 months so far, and I just started a three-year term.

Q- How do you feel about the fact that a rapist got a lighter sentence than you did on the same day?

Gkae- I didn't know that, but it doesn't suprise me; people feel threatened by graffiti, because they don't understand it. When the judge handed me three years he said,"...you don't have one victim you have tens of thousands of victims that have to see your graffiti on their way to work."

Q- What would you tell younger writers?

Gkae- If you do graffiti realize what you are risking, but if you do it go all out!

Q- Do you regret it?

Gkae- No

Q- What do you regret?

Gkae- Hurting my family and friends. I don't regret the graffiti, I feel a majority of it wasn't wrong.

Q- What's jail like?

Gkae- It's no picnic. Ha Ha. It's a headache, constant politics and the food sucks.

Q- Is it a problem being white in jail?

Gkae- L.A. County, yes. Prison, no. It's gotten easier in the past five years. Southsiders and whites hang out more now.

Q- Does it help being Gkae in jail?

Gkae- No, because most of these peoples world's are small, and aren't concerned with graffiti. They could teach you how to cook meth or crack, but they don't know the first thing about graffiti.

Q- How do you feel about your education being on hold?

Gkae- At least when I go to prison I can take my basic college courses.

Q- Do you think you'll still be on point when you get out?

Gkae- Yeah, I won't be gone for that long. I read a lot, especially the newspaper.

Q- Sum up the whole situation in jail?

Gkae- Doing time and I got time to do. Just sitting waiting to get out.

Q- What will you do when you get out?

Gkae- Finish school, make some money, live a semi-normal life as a parolee.

Q- Do you have any last words?

Gkae- If there is something I want people to know is that I did bomb hard, and I don't want to be known as the the guy who went to prison for graffiti. If I bomb again? it's up to me.

 

BAAL pt 1



So when did you get into graffiti

BAAL: early 90`s i wrote a bunch of things but my first tag was kod it was more a nickname though it stood for king of destruction back then we had this thing we called going on a rampage and we would mostly ride our bikes around breaking anything we saw, run up to a bus at the red light and smash the front with a bat, throw bricks through peoples windows set various things on fire you know all the wonderful joys of growing up in the rotten apple so that nickname stuck with me for a little while and i only wrote it a couple of times but a few people would tell me it looked and sounded like a crew not a tag and i started to feel the same way so i started writting midic slats and lil sarz all around the same time i couldint make up my mind but then around 93 i added baal to the list and stuck with that.

Thats a good ammount of time im sure you have some interesting stories.

BAAL: yeah tons some even so crazy people think im making it up but its cool with me i know what really happened and my memories will be with me to the day i die.

Care to share one.

BAAL: Sure why not ill give you a funny one back around 98 i was bombing the f line and streets around it i was with some people from the kmc crew now we where doing streets roofs trucks all the good stuff when me and dk climbed up on a roof it was small maybe three stories but high enough to fracture my ankle so after we hit it we noticed there was a camera on the other side we where going to get down so we put bandannas over our face and started to climb down i was first and about half way down i decided to jump now it was a good idea until i hit the ground, i heard a crack and jumped up in pain now ive broken bones before so i know usualy its numb for a while before the real pain kicks in so thats what happened we left the spot and continued to hit up the streets i was hopping up to the walls doing fillins and handstyles i even hit another roof but after a while my other leg started to hurt from hopping around so my boy rb did that firemans carry to me and took me to the train and i went home that put me on the disabled list for about a month.

So i take it youve been hurt quite a few times was that the worst

BAAL: Yeah my body has been through alot ive broken a few other bones while bombing but i guess a broken bone is the worst thats happened to me so far a couple of close calls when i was younger almost getting crushed by a train but im ok and have learned alot and havent had a close call with a train since.

What got you into tunnel bombing.

BAAL: Curiosity like every other child riding a train i was glued to the window but when we went through tunnels i was amazed even years before i wrote graffiti i was curious about the tunnels when i was around 11 it was the first time i went in one and i was scared i went in a little ways and heard a train coming and ran back to the station but i kept trying i knew by looking out the windows that there was a room in the middle of every tunnel and i wanted to make it to that and the next time i tried i did finding out it was an emergency exit with stairs leading to the street i noticed there where tags in the tunnel i wondered who they where since they shared the same intrest as me i realized the tags where in silver and this made sence to me so i went to the store and got a silver can of touch n tone and headed back to the tunnel i also had friends at the time most of which where original members of brh who shared my intrest of exploring the tunnels and so we did one after the other sometimes in groups as big as 10 people after exploring several different tunnels i notced a couple of tags that kept poping up and that encouraged me It even got to the point after me and some others where verry familiar with the settings we would bring people down there kinda like a tour i mean these people didint even write we would just hangout in the emergency exit drink beer and smoke blunts as long as we kept the noise to a minimum we was able to party right there in the middle of the tunnel man i even had sex in the tunnel the girl was nervous but i assured her she would be ok so we walked to the emergency exit i put my jacket on the ground at the bottom of the stairs and she rode me while trains where speeding right past my head best sex i ever had.

How do you view graffiti today compared to when you first started.

BAAL: Well the golden days are long gone i would have liked to have been a part of it but i was born in the late 70`s so i was just a little kid back then but im glad eventhough i wasint writting back then i still saw and experienced it i wasint intrested in the throw ups and pieces at the time but i do remember seeing different characters on the trains that was pretty cool cause when i was a little kid before i srarted writting i was really intrested in drawing now when i got into graff it was like the changing of the guard the train era was dead and street bombing was in its prime it was like it rained paint on the whole city i was trying to learn everything i could about it i would hear stories of people getting beat up people running from cops where to get jifs and which ones to get what stores are easy to rack from i wanted to know everything about it but at that time i only got up in my neighborhood and train tunnels i would go on missions with this crew wtk and i would walk the lines and tunnels with them and we would get chassed by cops jump and rob people in broad daylight hangout all night drinking and writting we would chill in subway tunnels smoking blunts and all that excited me and when i would go to other neighborhoods i would notice other tags and see some of them in other areas aswell and i wanted to do that and thats when i started bombing solo going all around the city in the middle of the night during the day i would ride the trains for hours scoping out spots my first time i was verry nervous i was use to bombing my neighborhood solo but never another neighborhood i didint know what to expect but everything worked out ok back then there was just a different feel to it plus there where more stronger bombers then weak ones these days everyone wants to write and thers more weak bombers than strong verry rarely do i run into a die hard alot of em have no heart and act like there making this huge impact i can spot these guys a mile away ive seen and been through alot so it dont matter how hard you go or think you go if you dont have the years and experience to back it up then you still paying your dues i guess today overall graff is still graff its just changing with the times i think with each new generation graffiti gets wartered down you had the golden age of trains you had the shiftee street bombing days and now you have artfags and wannabees i remember we would make our own inks and markers drip some candle wax in a deodorant stick stuff a sock in it and fill it up with some griffin that was grimey we all had one and that was just the tip of the iceberg now you got people buying all types of paint and inks off the internet ive been making my own for a long time but i aint special if i know how to make it why dont they you see the gap the tricks of the trade arent being passed down like they used to plus this generaton is getting lazier not wanting to put in the time and work and just order the stuff even when we threw up stickers they where the post office ones or we stole blank labels from a store now you have these kids who print out these vinyl stickers on there computer with no effort at all then act like there doing big things when they put em up i look at it like this i have nothing against throwing up a sticker but atleast put in your own work and not a vinyl print out i will admit though the whole filling up a fire extinguisher with paint thing is funny only problem ive seen with it though is some of these new jacks think that gives em a licence to shoot it on a wall over peoples work when i was little we would take the fire extinguishers from the train tunnels and go to a store hold the door open and spray it in the store who knew 20 years later people would be filling em up with paint.

 

BAAL pt 2



Now you mentioned racking paint as you get older is that still something you do.

BAAL: Yeah but im not one of these wannabees or fake thugs who will say yeah yo i always rack blah blah blah see i do buy paint at certain times depending on the situation its rare but i do it most of my paint is racked though ive learned alot of tricks through the years now im also not one of these guys who you see saying you aint a real writter if you dont rack to each there own but i say if your really a die hard and down why not rack i mean your taking a risk bombing right when i first started cans of krylon where like three or four dollars a can at the local hardware stores and that was alot especially to a little kid i got sick of hanging out and only having one can then i found out about different racking schems one of which i liked was the beer trick like how we would steal double deuces from the corner store and instead we used the method to take paint but this method would only get you 4 cans at the most especially when your a little kid now thats great and all but as i started to bomb other neighborhoods i needed much more paint and thats when some of the larger tricks came into play where you can score a large ammount of cans in one rack.

In some cases people who rack paint resell it to other writters is that something you do.

BAAL: Oh na i never really understood that concept i go through alot of paint why would i wanna sell it i mean i give my crew paint but i dont sell it to em or anyone else not every writter is in it for the long run graffiti to a diehard is like crack to a crackhead if a crackhead stole a bunch of rocks do you think he would hit the corner and flip it or go somewhere and smoke it If a writter needs money sell drugs or get a job there are alot of ways to get money but why sell your paint you can never have to much paint.

Is there a certain type of paint you like to use.

BAAL: I usualy use rustoleum killz and krylon but there are other not so well known brands i get depending on what state im in.

how do you feel about the out of towner scenerio and is that something that has affected you.

BAAL: Years ago i didint see the waves of out of towners i see today now you have whole crews rolling through different citys crushing but im cool with that i dont dislike a writter cause hes from cali or any other state a lot of writters resent them passing through and i can understand where they are coming from but as graffiti evolves so do its limits and writters just arent content with there own city anymore we all have the same goal in mind its just some more than others have the desire to achieve it no matter what in every city you will always have writters who will have a problem with you for being from another place.

How do you view beef in graffiti now as opposed to years ago.

BAAL: When i first started i saw first hand on a daily basis how violent graffiti can be i remember hangingout and different crews would meet on subway platforms and writters would have one on ones or sometimes brawl one time i was with some friends and we got off on a station and there was another group of kids and one of them had beef with this kid we was chillin with so they fought right there on the platform and later on that night i found out it was all over one of there letters being to similiar to the other kids and i was like damn i would hear stories of certain crews jumping different writters and certain spots you gotta be careful to hit cause you might get jumped the school i went to at the time had alot of graffiti related fights i would hear things like his arrow touched my tag or his letter looks like mine or that was my spot some of it was just stupid but some of it i understood my first direct graffiti related beef was in 94 i believe a kid who wrote the tag mask had went over me and i went out one day dissing him back and in the process i was arrested but since i was a minor at the time nothing happened my father just picked me up from the precinct i remember that day verry well the cop who arrested me thought i wrote book cause back then i would bend my l then he noticed i had went over that kid and he gave me a lecture about how people get shot for doing that and i just laughed so off to the precinct it was I remember a few days after that one of my boys told me where his girl lives so me and a few friends who where in brh a crew we had recently started went to her apartment she was home alone and didint want to let us in but we got in then we had her call him and i got on the phone and he was saying he was sorry and he wanted to drop it so after that we just hung out in hig girls appartment for about an hour then left but i was also on the other end of that i had gotten into other beefs and was jumped a couple times and beat up over graffiti beef is something that comes with it why wouldint you expect that now i view some graff related beef as stupid and unnecessary some instances are simply jelousy or egos runing wild but in some cases a beating is needed even in some of my cases i think a couple of beatings helped me see things differently and opened my eyes graffiti beef today isint really that much different i do notice some newjacks push the envelope on some of the rules though.

How do you feel about legal spots do you view that as selling out.

BAAL: Ive done a few legal spots weather its for a show store or party etc. it dosint have the same feel but overall i have a good time i make the best of it I dont view people who do legal spots as sellouts thers many different parts to the game and legal walls is one of them however if you have no background in the street havent paid any dues and just do legals i dont care how nice your are how many magazines and videos show your work you arent a graffiti writter your just a paid muralist on the outskirts of the game looking in at the rest of us graffiti itself started on an illegal premis and every writter should have illegal fame on there resume.

quanity or quality.

BAAL: Being a bomber i go with quantity but you still need some quality mixed in im always sketchin on paper coming up with new styles ill hit the black books off with something real nice but the walls are for my fillins.

What advice do you have for someone just starting out.

BAAL: Graffiti has changed alot since i started now more than ever you have so many wartered down writters but you also have more writters taking greater risks and hitting crazier spots but dont get cought up in the hype pay your dues hook up with some old school heads and learn all you can originality and lonjevity are key just cause you got a few hot years in the game dont make you special ive seen alot of writters in several different cities go real hard but fall off after 5 or so years and thats all you can add to there credits is they went hard nothing more it kills me when i run into someone who says there a king but only have a few years in the game these people get sucked into the hype and cant even comprehend what it takes to earn that title and with originality you want a tag that sticks out not something that someone else has in everyother state after all where all after the same thing fame you dont want someone to come up to you and say was that you i saw in chicago you want them to say damn i saw you up in chicago.

Do you concider yourself a king

BAAL: Not yet but verry soon im coming up on my 20th year ive paid my dues ive made sacraficies im still here after all the drama im just waiting for that 20 year milestone to make it official.

What do you get out of graffiti

BAAL: I love the excitement im an adrenaline junkie i love the feel and smell of it i think about it more than sex i like all the risks involved and seeing my tag all over the feel of walking through train tunnels and climbing on roofs i love it all.

Any final words.

BAAL: Rest in peace sone hex drone slv007 dae and conol see yous soon brh in the 09s.

 

POSH



How long have you been writing?

9 years.

How'd you get started?

I started when I was shacked up in Santa Barbara.

A friend of mine had Spraycan Art and Subway Art on his bookshelf. I took a peek, liked what I saw, and he broke down writing to me. I didn't know anything about it at the time, except what I saw on the walls in LA. He wrote "Cisco".

He gave me the basics...but that was about it.

The first "real" writers I met from LA were Clae BC Crew and Kex also BC Crew. Clae got up and always got the best spots in Santa Barbara. Kex taught me how to make a "stencil tip" long before I ever could use one. I just started using them about a year ago for some detailing.

Who brought you up?

Ares pushed me to bomb. He moved up to SB and lived with me for a while. He was a good partner.

Skate1 was really the one who schooled me though. Most of what I believe about graf and how it should be done..I learned from him. He always had time to school the kids and realized this was the only way to pass on what we know to the next generation.

Drew schooled me on the piecing side of things. He pushed me to do 3Ds, Inner-outlines, background, and concepts. He and Mek really pushed not only me, but all of LA to do harder pieces.

Axis has pushed me a lot to do better backgrounds and characters.

What crews do you represent and what do they mean to you?

I'm in CBS, BTP, and LORDS crews.

CBS was the first really big crew I got into. At the time ('91) there weren't too many other crews in LA that a kid would want to be from. AWR and UTI are the others I can think of. It was a serious honor.

BTP was a bombing crew that me, Chalk (now writes Jones-FlyID Crew) and Ache put together in Santa Barbara. We were all the best (and only) writers, so it was natural to form up. You had to do throw-ups and illegal pieces to get in.

 

RISK pt 1



1. Tell us about your upcoming show, Twenty Six at Track 16 in Santa Monica. Also, what is the meaning behind the title of the show?

Twenty six, represents the twenty six letters of the alphabet, and the 26 years I've been writing. This show is basically a celebration of where I've come from, although I did use some painterly techniques as far as composition and different textures etc. it's all straight Graff. I sat in my studio and pimped them out as if I were out on the streets.

The canvases are all done with a very rough or no sketch with whatever cans I had in the studio. I also did a full body of work including canvases, prints, screens and sculptures, although I've done this stuff before I've never had to so over a hundred pieces of work for one show.

2. How long have you been involved with graffiti and do you think you will be doing it forever?

I've been writing on walls for 26 years, but my Grandma told me I was drawing words when I was a little kid. I would write fire with flames off the top of the letters, or bubble in bubble letters, smoke, clouds stuff like that….

Yea, I think I'll be doing graffiti forever. It's already been over half my life. I already have some serious health problems from it so why quit now.

3. Are you a member of any graffiti crews?

I am down with a lot of crews. I started WCA with Rival, rest in peace. I push MSK, AWR, Seventh Letter and of course I'll be WC forever.

4. Why do you write graffiti?

I write Graffiti to know I'm alive.

5. Were you always active or were there periods that you took a hiatus?

I was always active, you can never stop, especially me. I lived with Krush for years, even when I was busy doing Third Rail, I'd come home and the crew would be there talking Graff shit or checking out flicks or planning a wall etc.

6. Did anyone influence you or mentor you when you were starting out?

Yea , Soon influenced me. He influenced me as far as his shit was clean, his technique. But not style, he was always real big on, doing your own shit.

7. One of your first works that I saw was at a graffiti show that Frame organized in LA in the early 90s. If my memory servers me correctly, it was done on a canvas. It was a letter R with a radio. Do you enjoy working on canvas on a smaller scale or do you prefer a wall?

If it's the one I'm thinking of it was actually done for Skate. It was a T.V, not a radio, but good memory.

I did that TV because Skate was freaking out over some T.V. that Hex did. He liked this gush shit, so I did the S like that with a spike in it. He loved the shit Slick and I were doing with bolts and motion so I did that as well. It was kind of a melting pot of things that he liked as they came to my mind. It was my own personal memorial to Skate, RIP.

 

RISK pt 2



8. Do you think it is a natural progression for graffiti artists to showcase their work in a gallery?

Yes it is. As long as they have put in work. It's really lame for artist to rob the graffiti culture if they have not put in blood sweat and tears for Graff. It's the last real art form, meaning a medium from hand to surface. It's not done on Computers or with digital assistance. Everything from this point forward will be…

9. There seems to be an increased interest in graffiti art recently in galleries, apparel and advertising. Why do you think this is?

Because it is now well over a quarter of a century old with aerosol paint. Graff without aerosol goes back to Cavemen. It has too much history to be ignored any longer. It has endured the test of time, proven itself not to be a fad. Now it's more main stream which makes it more accessible.

10. Do you think graffiti has to be illegal to be graffiti? Do you prefer doing legal walls or illegal walls?

No. Graff does not have to be illegal, but to get true old school graff, you have to have put in time in the streets. Not because that makes you down or any bullshit like that, but because if you haven't painted while looking over your shoulders or with time constraints, or working around different textures and or surfaces you will never achieve that movement and flow.

Without that movement and flow, you may as well do it on a computer. If you ONLY do it on a computer, you're just a sign painter or your faking the funk, robbing the culture. You'll never go far. See it all works together. If you are real, you will be recognized and celebrated through such a venue as a gallery if you choose, or a publication, or a web site etc. If your not real you won't.

It's like corporations using Graffiti To promote their products. It's the same thing. I think its all good because it's really only successful if they use real artist's. Wak Corporations hang themselves because they use a sign painter or a culture pirate. It never really goes far, but on the other hand you have a major corporation using Graff., but they promote dope artist doing the work, I.E. Boost Mobil or Scion etc.

These campaigns work because they can celebrate the artist behind it. If he's real, It's real, and everybody's happy. If your not happy, your probably a hater because your not god enough or haven't put in the dues to get that gig.

11. You have been involved with graffiti for a very long time. Does it affect your family life and relationships?

It used to, but on the same token it got me a lot of…lets just say good things. My family now is completely behind me. I have three baby girls, 2 months old, 2 years old, and 10 years old.

The 2 year old and the 10 year old paint with me on the weekends. The two year old needs help pushing the nozzle but still loves it, we draw every night. My whole family knows whats up.

Even on holidays when I go visit my parents I leave their house in the middle of the night to go paint freights, when I come back in the morning my kids are like Dad Dad, let me see!!! And I pass the camera around, then my parents just look at me and I laugh. It's like pay back for all the shit they gave me. Now its my kids, their grandkids, and they can't say anything they just have to deal with it. It took me 26 years but I guess I finally won that battle.

12. Do you think graffiti changed from when you started in the 80s to 2008?

Hell yea, basically this whole interview answers that one.

 

RISK pt 3



13. I am not trying to ask you to endorse a company, but do you prefer any paint brand over others?

I can't really answer that one right now, because I am working with a few companies on a few projects, However the paint these days is Amazing!!!

14. What do you think about all the new products that are specifically made for graffiti (spray paint, caps, markers, etc.)?

Dope!!!!! It made me get that old feeling again like when you came across icy grape, or hot raspberry, or a old Red Devil. I am working on some products right now as well. I can't talk about them yet. Check back in a few months

15. Do you like to travel and paint outside of Los Angeles?

I love painting in other places. This year I painted in Hong Kong, The Phillipines, Japan, Mexico, Korea, and Spain. I loved every trip!!!

16. For all the newcomers to piecing. What type caps do you like to use for piecing?

There are way too many caps. I use two caps, the yellow universal and an astro fat cap.

17. The internet is a great tool for people to learn about graffiti artists from around the globe. Before the internet, different locations had different writing and piecing styles. Now since everyone has access to the internet, many of the styles look the same. What are your thoughts? Do you think the internet has stifled creativity and originality?

Yes and no. It is way too easy for people to bite, but it has also raised the bar substantially!!! There are kids out there that have only been writing a few years and they are really good. Sometimes I go on MySpace and just trip out how many writers are out there, and how easy it is to communicate. I used to trade flicks via the mail overseas, and it would take weeks, now it takes a minute!!!!

18. Do you usually sketch out your pieces before putting it on a wall?

I go through stages. Lately No, but I will sometimes draw one letter and then just follow that style.

19. Are you currently doing anything design related outside of graffiti?

I am working on a new clothing line that doesn't have much to do with Graffiti. Otherwise everything else I'm working on is Graffiti related.

20. Did you ever consider publishing your work in a book format? Or, maybe a book about your involvement with the early days of West Coast graffiti?

We have been in the process of making a book for over a year now. It will probably come out in late 09. It is a pretty comprehensive book. It is from my childhood until now,It even has a section about my old company Third Rail. There are lots of great stories as well as photos.

 

fuck those JA stories are crazy.

 

For the love of tits.

Can anybody find the Ayer interview they did? Its the one that they show a little snippet at the end of kings destroy.

 

JA ONE the main man... a real writer/artist/vandal. Graffiti king of NYC, and many other areas, possibly the most up of all time... and he's still doing his thing to this day. No one can go has hard as he does (at least not yet