OSD

I started OSD in 96 when I moved back to Southern California and put down a few friends of mine that I was already in other crews with. I remember driving through downtown Los Angeles on the 10 freeway and seeing all those K4P rooftops and it made a huge impression on me. Crew first, family first, that shit was so sick to me! And I always modeled my crew philosophy after those early impressions to this day. Personally, I always valued friendship first before worrying if heads in the crew were active because I knew they were painting. Despite the first meaning of the crew (OutSiDers), we were really just that. Free thinking, original style, globally aware outsiders. Be it true history & not the lies the Government feeds us or understanding the root of this graf movement. It’s a trip to think I started this crew but people like Maseo, Naka, Ecks, Goe, Ween, Ensue & Nesta really took it to another level. Without them & others, the crew just would not be the same. They made the crew what it is today. As far as inspirations go, it’s Maseo with his perfect tag and letters/throw ups as I spent alot of time staying at his house in San Francisco. Nesta showed me how to king your area with style. Before Nesta got in, my pieces were so wild. But catching street spots & trains with Nesta really simplified my wild letters and brought a more readable style to the forefront. Truko with his wild shattered glass style yet forever active in the true spirit of hardcore graffiti. He’s kind of the backbone of the crew in an effort to forever evolve the crew and never be stagnant. Slang is the guy I plot with about the crew, the potential of growing a crew with graffiti in our hearts but global consciousness running through our veins and I loved his wicked font styles. Naka with his classic style, always so clean yet forever active. Seeing Naka paint alongside true graf legends & pioneers makes me really happy. These days, newer heads in the crew like Cyber, Paeday & Pynbal are out pushing boundaries. Something I really respect about my brothers, is that they’re doing it for the love of the game. That’s why I am writing about them. I want the world to know how down to earth these guys are yet so fucking savage at the same time.

– Jehu OSD

I started writing graffiti at the age of 13 in Southern California in 1990. I was introduced to it from riding the Amtrak through the LA river shortly after I moved from Colorado. I knew I wanted to do graffiti the instant I saw it from that train. Since I was new to my city I didn’t have any friends or graffiti mentors so I just was winging it for a while. Initially I was just writing thoughts and phrases and eventually started choosing names. My graffiti and my activism were interlocked in my mind and I considered the act of vandalism a form of civil disobedience or protest. Because graffiti is only one branch of my art I took influence from many art forms. I’ve had many graffiti writers I’ve admired throughout the years starting with Skeme. I was also heavily influenced by gang culture in Southern California and the script in gang Graffiti. Saber always was coming up with amazing letter forms. But I mainly looked to my crews for inspiration starting with Cosh/Coke, Jehu and Noe from our crew 3rdi and DCK/DCF that eventually turned into Outsiders. Zoueh from D2R AM7 and Colt45 we’re some homie influences as well. But literally everyone member in OSD played a major role in the development of my art.

– Slang OSD.

I always say tagging since 96′ but didn’t actually start writing till 99.”

“Try to do almost everything with fat caps, it just goes faster and I like the chunkier lines.

– Naka OSD

I messed around with a couple of silly names but probably really settled on my word and got started in 92-93. I ’d say the majority of my work was done in San Francisco between 95-06, now I am based out of Oakland, California. My earliest influences were from crews like NASA BH, CBS, UTI, LOD. As kids we’d go to LA to a store called Beat Non Stop for Graf magazines, tips etc. The alleys along Melrose was where my mind was blown. LA in general was my Mecca. Once I moved to SF a different style blew my mind. My biggest influences were guys like Deen TMF, KR, Twist of course. I was drawn to big, simple, readable letter with style. The wild style of LA was out of my ability level so I focused on bombing. Writers like Icon and Reminisce were using simple images instead of words. The Bay Area was a melting pot of different styles and lots of writers moved here during those years from all over the country. I’m very much into bombing and vandalism over graffiti as art. So I always wanted my name to be recognizable . To me a tag so complicated and wild that the average citizen couldn’t read it wasn’t for me. Same with letters. And I tried to choose spots that were runners over short fame. Cutty spots, smart spots I was in it for the long game, not quick fame and jail. Outsiders is my family. It’s a collection of different styles and personalities, some of them pretty far out and different from one another. I feel we definitely push each other. Payday has that style I was talking about earlier, you can read it from a block away, Nesta’s brain works different, he comes up with stuff I can barely wrap my head around, same with Jehu and Goe. Truko puts in so much work and has more heart then anyone I know. Him and guys like Naka and Cyber inspire me to keep going and do more then I normally would. This is my family who have had my back for 25 years. I feel honored and inspired being a part of OSD.

– Maseo OSD