I never want to teach a graffiti 101 class.. what I do is guide those who're interested in learning how to paint, a local college that has a hip hop culture club helps fund what I do by buying paint and supplies.. Anyone who wants to know some basics has to find someone who is willing to share the basics.. I mean if you share the basics with some friend of yours then how is that different from me sharing the basics with a friend of mine? I get to know the folks who show up at the skate park...

graffiti is part of hip hop culture and hip hop culture is what you make it, it's not mainstream, it's not underground, it's what you want it to be.. we see guys not even rapping but just talking over beats about money and hoes and calling it hip hop and then we see serious b-boys competing against other crews calling it hip hop, etc. etc. etc., don't assume you can tell "anyone" when hip hop becomes mainstream, hip hop evolves on an individual level.. it can never be mainstream, as with graffiti culture, it's all based on the individual and what they want to express.. it can never be mainstream.. I should be able to share my painting style and techniques with whoever I want, it doesn't make it more mainstream it just passes on a foundation that others can run with on an individual level..

I'm not trying to open some big school for graffiti art, just as with all elements of hip hop culture it's just a big family sharing our skills in different ways, the way we each share our skills is what this thread is about... so get off me with assumptions man, just be real and tell us why you really paint and what it means to you! dang

 

You said it yourself, graffiti and hip hop is akin to the individual. How can you teach someone about themselves. You can teach them to use bars, to rap with better rhyme schemes, a couple dance moves, etc. but you're only giving them the tools they need to teach themselves. You can't say that legal is better then illegal or vice versa because it all depends on the individual. The people who are really gifted or really have the heart and soul to put into hip hop or graffiti will do it themselves. They'll find ways. Styles are representative of the person's emotions and experiences transcribed onto the paper or the wall or the dance floor. They can be influenced by some shit but that's about it. I paint because I like it, it calms me down. If I write some bars it's because I have something to say. If I make a beat it's too convey how I feel. If I bust some crazy dance moves it's because I need to express myself. That's all there is to it. Arose is right, you can't learn this shit in a class. Maybe a community, but you learn through watching for years. Observation leads to creation.

 

i said nothing of hiphop. it's funny that you would mention the pop, commercial aspect of hiphop with such disdain, without then contrasting and comparing what you do with graffiti. i don't see the difference.

 

Graffiti is hip hop?? This ain't '87. Either way, as an instructor, you're views and opinions are going to be what these poor kids learn. Watered down, faux intellectual, horse shit. "Writing on walls is bad and pointless" just to imply that (which you have) shows your absolute lack of any real knowledge of graffiti. Dropping the hip hop knowledge bomb proves you saw style wars. Good job. You took something inherently rebelious, and removed that aspect of it.You're killing it. Killing the soul and reason behind its very creation. There doesn't need to be a ...you.. spreading your "knowledge" to the next generation. It spreads just fine (excessively even) without you. You're the kind of weird krs one wannabe that is trying to legitimize and illegitimate thing.0 and it makes me want to go out and write terrible racist, sexist, and offensive things everywhere in ugly childish hand writing, JUST so that nobody wants to take you seriously. But if I would do something like that, I won't tell you because you're the kindof of creepy retard that would snitch somebody out. Do yourself a favor, leave here. Go back to streetart.com. Yes, some people responded to your post. If a small mentally retarded child walked up to me and asked what clouds tasted like, I would indulge him. You got indulged. so go.

 

because YOU DONT KNOW THE BASICS. You dont know what the fuck youre talking about, but are delusional and think you do. You go to a hip hop club in tallahassee??? and teach hipsters the basics? lmao. The difference of u teaching someone as upposed to arose teaching someone, is he knows the "basics" amongst other things, and you dont.

Im gonna go teach some people the basics of calculus, when I hardly have a grasp on algebra.

 

^lol... anyways, scipl... if you still want to battle, pm me. could be fun.

 

How the fuck is this thread still here? It's just full of some bullshit guy failing at having an argument against experienced writers.

 

Homie you can't teach anyone how to write properly. You can teach them bars, but It's all relative to the person, you give some retard a hundred cans and by the time he's dumped them his letter structure and control will be night and day

 

Shit Outta Luck: I never did say legal is better, I simply stated my individual opinion, that for me personally I prefer legal. My opinion on what is better than something else has not been expressed, and won't be expressed. Thanks for dropping your raw thoughts in here.. "Observation leads to creation".. I invite those who have an interest in painting to observe.. if they want me to explain something then I'll explain it.. it's not some damn super overly organized class session.. it's just whatever naturally occurs from me picking up paint and doing my thing..

skilligan.. you've opened up some crap-holes.. again people, I don't care what your opinion is of my individual views on painting.. if I see that writing on walls is bad and pointless (in the context of what I was saying.. which skilligan pulled what I said outta context like a fool), then that's me, I don't share my views with anyone unless they wanna know what my views are on graffiti.. next thing.. don't tell me I'd snitch someone out man.. I've never snitched anyone and now that I only stick to legal work, I'm not part of a scene where snitching is even a factor.. when my friend got caught for tagging up a school I didn't say a thing.. I just looked over at what was happening to him and that was it.. what the heck is streetart.com man.. gah.. I've never had someone shove their perceptions of me down my throat in a forum as if they know me in real life.. get off your assumptions of me.. I can have an opinion and a view on painting just like anyone else can.. using my views to smack a label on me over a forum is too dumb to waste more words on..

MASTAH, forming basic letters is what I can do.. it's what I share with those interested.. here's some basic lettering I just finished last
week at a boxing gym:

**The white lettering is what I painted.. sorry for angle, I'm working on getting better shots of it this weekend, I'll post them in here if I remember**



I'm not ever going to say I'm the best at basic lettering or teaching basics.. I share what I've discovered (my techniques for forming letters).. maybe
it helps folks, maybe it doesn't, my work recently inspired another painter to work on a different 3D perspective.. I mean.. I don't care if what I share does nothing, I only share it because for some it's done something.. if I don't know the basics, then prove it to me!
otherwise shut up..

Arose, yeah i've been busy painting a gym, got more work ahead.. I'll pm you though and find time.. will be fun..

fingerlickingchicken, yeah, I'm not saying that I know how to perfectly guide anyone, learning how to form your letter style is an individual journey, inspiration is bound to happen and for some here where I live and paint they've asked me to share my technique for forming letters.. and I've done that and continue to.. is it teaching? I don't care what you wanna label it, I share and then the person either uses what i've shared or doesn't use it, like you said it's relative to the person, sometimes peoplevisit what i'm calling a "workshop" and they just watch, others ask, others practice nearby something similar to what I'm doing.. etc. etc. it's whatever is becomes each time, nothings scripted like some shitty club who adores street art and internet graffiti.. we just paint, share what we like to see, complement each other.. clear?

 

do you yourself learn?.. how much? what kind of stuff?

how's your spiritual development worked with your graffiti stuff, and vice versa?


no rhetoric, I'm interested..

 

There's a lot to pick through here, but I'll go ahead and do mine so I don't end up stealing other people's shit.

I came up in Memphis, homeschooled and an Eagle Scout. I did no drugs, didn't steal, didn't fuck (fell in love repeatedly, instead, b/c I'm all sensitive and shit). I was a lookout for my buddy ARok a few times, but just didn't think I was cut out to paint. I used to draw constantly as a kid, but by high school I had settled on certain things like drawing that I "just couldn't do."

Fast forward, moved to Nashville, everything went wrong. Did too many drugs, almost died, got straight, got engaged and bought a house with this chick, lost all that (plus she kept the dog). Somehow ended up in Chattanooga and found tons of chill people, cool local things happening all the time, and mountains on all sides. I write fiction, as in stories, but with a long period of unemployment came writer's block, or writer's self-hatred, or something. People still read books, but if you write like literary fiction, it's a very small, very specific class of people. You have to wonder why you're doing, and whether you want young professionals who read the NY Times to be the only people you're speaking to. I didn't want that. And then characters started appearing on pages, instead of words. I started focusing on one word at a time.

Here's where the philosophy kicks in. I'm happy to be alive. It's a cliché, but it's true. I used to be the MOST hipster, the MOST ironic, the MOST . . . cleverest, always. I needed to be the smartest guy in the room, and I usually was. Irony is good, sometimes, as a cloak––or a weapon, to take down idiots who deserve it––but it's a short-sighted philosophy. I started to realize that, despite the dangers of being seen as an artfag, or a vandal, that graff/street art has no target audience. Kids love it, artists appreciate, even some old-ass people (like my parents) love it. You do not reach people with a book, except against lottery-like odds. But you can reach anyone on the street, esp. the people who pay attention to the world around them (my favorite kind). The real trial is doing it with love. I've found, if you drop the armor a little bit, and do your best to do what you do with love––be it cooking, writing, tagging, painting, riding a bike, anything––that it will come through. And since you don't get to pick your audience in graff, you have to love everybody.

Almost everybody. Graff can't be one thing. I can't run around telling everybody not to steal their paint; it's part of the culture, always has been. Wal-Mart does not deserve your love, so steal them mofuckers blind for all I care. But IMO, in a small town like Chattanooga, there are a few extra rules. Bombing everything is not an option. The old kings of Chatt (respect to Renik, Astro, Spec, Seven, RIP Giver et al.) are mostly wifed up at this point, not out painting, and that leaves us with very few writers: CWOP1 doing passable throwies, this idiot FreeTards tagging every bathroom in every bar and occasionally hitting street signs with straight two-color FT. tags. The point is, the cops have an extremely short list of who to look for. The old rules still apply: no churches, cemeteries, or houses. Add to that, NO mom-and-pops, not tagging anyway. NO racking from mom-and-pops (esp. Art Creations, who carry German Montana, do bulk discounts, and despite their Art degrees really like graff writers). Public property all day, abandoned buildings, infrastructure, TRAINS (we've got more yards than a lot of cities five times our size).

To sum up: Love the audience, have something to say, and then say it Loud As Fuck with quickness and lots of color. Oh, and no beef. If some jackass crosses me out, he will get his––just not delivered by me like the old days. Your king-status ain't gonna comfort you if your brains are all over some piss-smelling alleyway. And if you're a kid: worry about your next piece, not whether somebody liked the last one.