This interview is about West Coast graffiti history through the eyes of Posh, a Southern California writer turned international legend. In a world of copycats, Posh literally created his own universe, his own crew & participated in the building blocks of the world’s most celebrated crews. Not only does he share his rules of the game & his international adventures, his detailed stories about fallen legends is something truly priceless. So join us as we celebrate a world of raw vandalism via the Posh army – war vehicles, robots & ants who are dying to live.
-Jehu OSD
OG Posh, from Santa Barbara to grimy spots in Los Angeles to painting subways in Switzerland, how are you brother?
Older and more broken down physically, but I am blessed to be above ground.
At a certain point, I saw you go from established piecer to coordinating / rocking full on productions, often times doing the entire background by yourself, conveyor belt style. What inspired you to start painting like that?
I took a trip to NYC in ’95, and saw an FC production at the Harlem Hall of Fame. West and Dero. TC5 and TFA, plus a couple of other guys. They were putting together these productions that were simple but yet completely tied together. So matching colors on the pieces, a complete background, cartoon characters, but just as solid as can be. It looked like proper teamwork and the result was clean.
At what age did you start drawing and what were you like as a kid?
I drew when I was young. 5 or 6. Then stopped until I was 18, when I went from doing punk rock tags to adopting a real graf name. I was a weird kid. Spent a lot of time playing war games and collecting miniature armies.
What movies, cartoons or images were staples in your childhood?
Kung Fu Theater. Master of the Flying Guillotine was probably my favorite. I watched tons of war movies and shows. The Guns of Navarone, The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Day, Rat Patrol.
“Skate led all of us to where we each wanted to be, not necessarily where he wanted us to be. He took the time to grow kids and give them a foundation to build on.”
Over the years, you always spoke so highly of Skate and that true to the roots of graffiti ethos was heard around you and the interaction I witnessed from you. How did you meet Skate and what was he like?
I met Skate when Krash took me to Sanborn yard one day in ’90. He was a good friend. We both were part of the punk scene. I knew LADS from being punk years before I met the CBS guys. He liked to smoke weed, and rap out about politics, philosophy, and the world. What I particularly liked about him is that he’d take time to recognize who you were. He could see people and read them, which made him relatable to anyone. He led all of us to where we each wanted to be, not necessarily where he wanted us to be. He took the time to grow kids and give them a foundation to build on.
Truly a West Coast icon, rest in peace. Was it Skate that put you down with CBS?
Ares is who brought me to the table. I got in on full vote at meeting (back then if someone objected it would have been blocked). I had been on crew probation and doing work for a while, and so got in.
So much of my graffiti journey was spent & inspired by Hollywood & downtown Los Angeles, from the Melrose alleys to the Skate memorial at the ConArt warehouse. Learning about Skate taught me about how a crew functions, hustles & maintains walls, it became the standard & definition of what a graffiti crew is. Fast forward some years, you then started a crew called BTP which eventually took over all of California for the most part. What were your philosophies when it came to running a crew?
Almost all of my philosophies towards BTP and running a crew came from Sk8. BTP originally had started in ’91 in Santa Barbara. Me, Chalk aka Jones (3T), Clock (3T), and Dekay (3T) were founding members. Ole and Jolt revived it in ’94 in OC. Yes, we were one of the first all-state crews where we had people painting top to bottom (and from those areas not just transplants). Proud of what we were able to do. Glad you were a part of that and we got to rock some incredible productions together.
But the basics for the crew were pretty simple.
1) Do work.
2) Show up at meetings, period.
3) Vote-Ins and Vote-Outs should be done by all members at a meeting.
4) Members that bring in others are responsible for them.
5) Handle your shit. If you bring beef, handle it. But crew is there to support, period.
6) Be smart enough to know when to squash a situation. Sk8 would often use diplomacy from a position of strength to stop situations from escalating.
7) Be you. There is room in a crew for all types of people.
As long as 1-6 are good, we’re good.
BTP consisted of some incredible writers. Ole, Drugs (RIP), Apex, Begr, Apart, Aura, Shucks, Eyesr, Keb5, Geb (RIP), Meex, Japan, Adge. Really the crew ended when it should have in 2001. There ended up being too much internal ego and then internal beef, and it just had to end at that point, before it became a crew by name only. I’m still friends with almost everyone and incredibly proud of what they’ve all gone on to do.
“Rob was the type of guy that would make sure you were on the guest list, and when you walked in the door to the club, would literally point, and shout you out on the mic that you have arrived.”
Rob One was always super cool to me the few times I met him. Being some little tagger kid barely beginning and being acknowledged by this legend meant a lot to me. I remember seeing photos of you & Rob painting in the Bronx right? What was Rob like?
Yes, Rob and I painted a lot of places when he came back active again. The Bronx was fun trip in ’98 with me, Rob, DJ Dusk (RIP) and Bleek. We visited Mek and also went to the Rock Steady Reunion.
Rob was wild. Truthfully he loved hip-hop (both the music and graffiti), hookers, and porn. He was the type of guy that would make sure you were on the guest list, and when you walked in the door to the club, would literally point, and shout you out on the mic that you have arrived. “Posh One in the house! CBS crew in the house!” That always felt good. I miss his energy and drive. He was a constant creator.
And like Skate he took time to teach people. A ton of DJs will tell you that they do what they do because of Rob. That he inspired them, taught them, or put them on. He would absolutely love knowing that people are still out here pushing his name.
“Put on your masks and follow me, because we have to go outside the view of the CCTV camera and then under it.”
One time when I was in Amsterdam, these writers were telling me how these Dutch OG’s don’t paint anymore etc. and I was thinking how you just painted trains with them! Tell us about your times in Holland, painting with the Dutch OG’s, and the career vandals of Europe.
Yeah I took a lot of trips to Europe. My first graf trip was in ’90 to Amsterdam. I met Rhyme from CBS/GVB (Amsterdam CBS). I painted in the Vondel Park and did some street work. I went back another 7 times between then and 2001. I love that city. I did end up meeting and painting with most of the people I respect in Amsterdam. Oase, Artik (RIP), Cat22, Set, Cece and Rhyme. These guys were all writers whose work I photographed on that first trip in ’90, and they had influenced my work, so getting to paint with them was an honor. Still keep in touch with the folks there as much as possible. I recently did a sticker collab with my brother The Crazy Dentist, one of my favorite train bombers hands down.
There are a lot of stories from my time there, but one in particular still cracks me up. I went with Pone and Set to go do an ‘easy spot’. And as we get there, Pone says… “Ok this should be easy. Put on your masks and follow me, because we have to go outside the view of the CCTV camera and then under it.” So here I am crawling on the ground like a commando, and we go over the fence, and a hole in the concentration wire in the corner. Then he points to what we’re painting, and I realize it’s a ledge above a highway tunnel that goes under the harbor. And I’m thinking… this is the ‘easy spot’ this guy is taking me to? and literally laughed out loud. Luckily the ledge is large, and so when I get up to it, I realize it is a pretty easy spot. Set was great to paint with as he was cool as can be, calm, and didn’t give off that nervous vibe I hate in painting partners. We all rocked as high as we could reach. And went out the same way we came in, although without the crawling, because we were leaving anyways. Sadly when we got there to flick it in the day, the buff squad was on it. (Rare thing but apparently they did not want people painting this again).
“One of my favorite parts of graf are the friendships I built around the world.”
I also did some other trips to Switzerland. I was able to paint trains with Chubs VTO and some of the other locals that knew the system. Those guys showed me another level to this. Very coordinated missions, with look outs, time limits, and tactics to all of it. I had a new level of respect seeing how they operated.
I saw you set a great example of graffiti etiquette & tact and how to navigate linking up with people around the world without any personal motives aside from staying loyal to this outlaw lifestyle & being a respectful ambassador of your craft. Can you comment on this subject since our movement is so plagued with “politics” and miscommunication?
Truth is I’ve had my share of beef. Mostly from misunderstandings. People getting far too deep into their emotions about things that didn’t even happen. This is just a part of it. The combination of ego, frustration, lack of stability and emotional coping mechanisms all are part of graf. And, I don’t think graffiti would be as interesting without it. But, in general I was able to meet a lot of people and link up with writers in different cities and keep things positive. Most of my connections to the writers in all these cities came from Brett Webb of Art Crimes. He has always supported what I do and has long been a good friend. He trusted me to be a ‘respectful ambassador’ for us here in LA and so gladly connected me with people in other cities. I was definitely doing ‘spraycations’ long before they were called that and meeting local people and hearing their stories was a part of the journey. One of my favorite parts of graf are the friendships I built around the world.
I’d say out of every writer or artist I’ve come across, you were my single biggest influence because you taught me application. You showed me a graffiti formula. Who was your biggest influence?
Thank you! That means a lot to me to hear that. My first influence was a kid named Cisco in Santa Barbara. (Not Cisco from CBS) He had all the books, Spray Can Art and Subway Art, and was trading flicks with Picasso in the Bay Area. I got a crash course. Up until that point I was just some punk kid who liked to vandalize things with phrases or anarchy symbols. He introduced me to Kex and Clae from BC. First LA writers I had met.
Skate put Drew into CBS when he moved up to go to UCSB. He taught me a ton about letter structure, 3d’s, highlights, shadows, color theory. He was a real artist and taught me a lot about basic typography concepts.
“On a selfish level, I wanted everyone to get better with me so we could all shine together.”
Skate was probably my biggest influence. He gave me letters. He taught me the concepts of going big and readable as first priority. He would tell me “Why bother to go and paint something if people don’t know what it says?” He told me to be authentic but understand my audience always. (Speak to the streets as that is the audience). Most importantly he taught me how to pass down knowledge, and how to lead a crew.
As a crew leader, I saw you always giving people a chance to turn into something great with their graffiti. You gave beginners a shot to paint with you, maybe get in your productions, etc. Describe the importance of having vision & encouragement when it relates to up & coming writers trying to find their style & put in work.
This absolutely came from Skate. The truth is that I wasn’t that good at my craft when I met the CBS guys. And most of the members at the time weren’t that good when Skate had put them on a few years before me. So there was a culture in the crew that if you had heart, and if you seemed to fit the vibe of the crew, you could learn the ropes and push to achieve more. The crew had probation as a concept where you had to do work, show what you could do, and then after showing the right spirit and loyalty you could get put on. I appreciated that people took time to teach me things, and so I took time to pass that on. On a selfish level, I wanted everyone to get better with me so we could all shine together.
“I realize I’m sinking into the mud, like quicksand. I can’t get my legs out.”
Certain heads inspired me to do rollers but you were the first person I saw that showed me the formula, the application & how efficient they can be. Doing large roller pieces become my favorite graffiti to do and I know you have some gems about doing roller pieces in hot boy spots.
We actually did a roller spell-out of Bring The Pain together with Drugs at Venice. That was when the pavilion was being actively patrolled from sun up, and so we painted it at the crack of dawn.
A funny roller story is from the internal Lords Crew battle we had in 2001. I went with LA Jae and Cast to a spot off the 110. Jae goes and paints down the way at his own spot, and I start doing my The Front Line roller across the side of a bridge that goes over the creek. The creek was flooded at the time, so I had rubber boots on to try to stay dry. At some point, I’m rolling, and I realize I’m sinking into the mud, like quicksand. I can’t get my legs out, so Cast comes and helps me out, and pulls me up and out of one of the boots. So I’m free, but now he’s gotten himself stuck, and so I have to pull him out. By the time we were done we’re both covered in mud and Cast had lost his shoes. A cop rolls by over the bridge as soon as we’re heading up to see where Jae is at, so we drop to the ground behind some grass. I notice that 5 feet from us is a skunk and he’s scared shitless b/c we just dropped down next to him so he turns around and faces his ass at us. Cast at this point is about to jump and run (and in the process get sprayed and then seen by the cops), so I tell him to chill and wait. He did, and the skunk left, the cop left. At this point Jae is walking up the path back to us all clean and mellow. Yes, So Cal, “Lords Army”, won that Lords battle hands down.
Tell me the story about that yard, without saying too many details, where you did the George In The Jungle production. The whole yard got buffed but the cops left your production up. Rob One painted with you as well right?
Yes, we had just let Bleek in the crew, and so we were trying to link up with him and show him how CBS got down. Rob was pumped that his boy was in and so wanted to paint something epic. We were starting to go down to San Diego to rock the yards down there, Rob had a gig, so we planned a trip to go down there and rock a production. I had a VHS tape with Super Chicken, Tom Slick, and George of the Jungle on it, so we decided to rock the George of the Jungle concept. Ole, Rob, and Bleek all did pieces with animal skin fills, and I did the entire background and all the characters. We did get lucky that we never got stopped bringing in ladders/buckets of paint into the yard. (Without saying much about the location of this, it was insane place to be walking with that gear). We got stopped at the end when it was finished, and they went into the yard, took a look, and then let us go. And then after it ran for years after the yard was buffed.
“The lights on the front of the car slowly are heading towards me. I peek through my hands and I can literally see the face of the cop in the car.“
From large legal & illegal productions, trains & freeways, do you have any wild stories you can share?
Yah, I have tons. But I have a funny “chase” story that I’ve never put out there before. On the night Ole and Aura got into CBS, I took them to paint fr8’s at a spot I had been shown by Dove and Fear. I followed the same program they showed me, and we were painting our car. We were doing a Skate piece and CBS. We’re well into it, and a helicopter passes over and I don’t think much of it. (As they routinely go up and down the freeway that was nearby). We keep painting and again, a helicopter passes over. Again, we ignore it and keep going. About 2 minutes later, it pops-up over the building behind us and shines its light literally down on us. We jump under the fr8, and all hunker down. We look down the yard and now cars are coming in. One parks at each end and another comes into the yard. And the bird is still circling. Ole and Aura want to run but I tell them to stay put and they roll behind the berm of the tracks. I squat down, fold my arms up against my chest, and cover my eyes. And I don’t really hide behind anything. As the car comes in, it makes a u-turn right where we are hiding and the lights on the front of the car slowly are heading towards me. I peek through my hands and I can literally see the face of the cop in the car. He’s not more than 15 feet away at this point. I’m just repeating, “I’m so done, I’m so done, I’m so done.” The lights are getting closer, now probably two feet away from my legs, and they turn off. He keeps doing his u-turn, and heads back out of the yard. I couldn’t believe it. Luckiest day of my life. We hid in another spot and while we waited for everything to cool down. The cops were parked at my car and so we couldn’t leave. We just had to wait it out, and while we are waiting, I see Fear and Dove walking down the tracks to come paint at their spot. So I have to go out and tell them… “Uh, I burnt your spot tonight.” They were pissed obviously. We all went to a nearby restaurant and waited until it was ok to go back and get the car.
One of my favorite moments painting with you was on the side of the 101 freeway in Hollywood, where that homeless camp was, with the crackheads walking around with bandages in between their toes from shooting up. What do you remember from those days?
Ok, so you were on a roll getting all those walls east of La Brea on Melrose (towards the 101). That spot right at the 101 exit, we would never have gotten earlier in the 90’s simply because it was an active Clanton14 hood, and that particular wall and area under the freeway was not available to us for a lot of reasons. But when you got it they were under injunction and so that area had become a homeless camp. What I remember was that literally Prae’s piece got ‘shit on’. Projectile diarrhea up onto the wall. Like this wasn’t smeared, this was literally fired out of someone’s rectum up onto the wall. I also remember that someone turned over their shit bucket thinking it was going to make something good to stand-on, and we just ended up having to smell shit all day. That wall came out dope though. We did a Robotech production with full mechs, Invid fleet, some space and planets. And Drugs did a piece in the shape of a space ship, with a cockpit. Wish we still had that spot to paint.
“To me I’m the broken robot or stray ant that won’t follow the rules.”
One of our productions was featured in a high school Spanish textbook complete with homework questions about the content of the mural. I always likened graffiti as the people’s art, so to do detailed Aztec art in the hood for people to see free of charge will always stand out as a benchmark & highlight for me. Can you talk about that wall a bit?
Yeah, that was also one of those spots that you had hustled. That was me, you, and Plek on that. It was important to me that if we painted that wall it could be accepted as part of the hood, rather than something that didn’t fit. Gangs warred on that wall, so whatever we put there had to be respected if it was going to last. I had already done the Skate piece down the way in the Aztec style (using the codices imagery). So I was deep into studying all of the Mayan and Aztec art that I could. We really all rocked that. One of those productions where the teamwork was solid and we just got it done. It caught a single tag when it first got done that got cleaned up quickly, and then stayed clean until JA tagged on it years later. Definitely proud that it ended up in that high school language textbook, and also another college Chicano Studies textbook.
“The inspiration to do them as illegal characters came from Mr. Element and Reminisce in San Francisco.”
Do you have favorite characters that you paint and do you name them?
The robots are probably my most painted thing, and I guess that makes them my favorite. I also like painting ants as throw-ups. And no, I’ve never named any of the bots or ants. I give the bots #’s sometimes, but they are all just robots. I do robots and ants because of what they represent. To me I’m the broken robot or stray ant that won’t follow the rules. The act of painting shows that I’m not really following the program.
You are known for your very unique characters and they look so sick on trains. Where does the inspiration for these creatures & vehicles come from?
Thanks! So it’s a combination of all of the war games and being influenced by Vaughn Bode. So the solid outlines, cartoon shapes, solid colors, all come from him. The actual content… tanks, helicopters, robots, etc.. all come from the constant study of death machines. The inspiration to do them as illegal characters came from Mr. Element and Reminisce in San Francisco. I went on road trip up there in ’91 and saw both of them up everywhere. I was blown away by the fact they were doing characters that way. Fast, iconic, but up. I wanted something fast and that I could improvise every time.
Do you have favorite characters that you paint and do you name them?
The robots are probably my most painted thing, and I guess that makes them my favorite. I also like painting ants as throw-ups. And no, I’ve never named any of the bots or ants. I give the bots #’s sometimes, but they are all just robots. I do robots and ants because of what they represent. To me I’m the broken robot or stray ant that won’t follow the rules. The act of painting shows that I’m not really following the program.
What does the future hold for your art?
I’m hoping to get back enough physical strength to paint more. My spine is all jacked up, so I struggle to really do much. I still do small stuff with slaps and have some good collabs for this year, but that just doesn’t cut it. (stickers should be extra, never the main program) I made a game for iPhone a few years ago, Mega Tank. So I want to make a sequel of that or another game in 2020.
Anything else you’d like to share? Thank you for doing this Posh.
Yes. Shout out to the Evil Kids squad, Aura, Epoxe, Voyage, Fask, Bender, Demo, Nome, Reptile and Raso. Shout out to my killers Bat and Ola. You all keep me inspired.
Also, want to pay respect to my friends that are no longer here, Skate, RobOne, Bizr, Geb and Drugs.
And thank -you- for taking the time to ask me questions. Appreciate this, Jehu.
How can people see more of your work?
IG: @incaseyouforgotme
BTP (history of) IG: @btp_crew
My shitty art website here at http://www.pooral.com
Posh’s Mega Tank game:
https://apps.apple.com/us/app/mega-tank/id642455094
