How did you start?
I was always drawing when I was a kid. When I was 14 in late 1996 I was hooked up by some friends to do graffiti. It was nothing but fun in the beginning, give yourself a name, draw letters and finally throw them up on playgound walls or bridges. Through my friends i came in touch with the ‚old guys‘ from Mannheim and Heidelberg, who were 10 years older and real kings. Beast Real Basco and Scotty, who told me what Hip Hop is about and gave me the knowledge. My biggest Influence always was New York. The pioneers. My rolemodels in Germany was first of all TPMcrew ‚ThePhunkMasters‘ who represented original NY funkstyle. Other influences were of course DARE, SWET, BATES, ODEM, AMOK for example.
For me it is the highest praise imaginable, that I made it to TPM crew. All my crews are very important to me but this one, KANE founded in 1991 was legendary… what can I say, it is like if you’re a musician and the rollin stones ask you to join them.
That is what hiphop gave me from day 1: the knowledge, that I can make it, if I only try enough and work hard. That literally saved my life and I thank all the pioneers for that, one love.
I remember a good about german graffiti, but forgot who ot said and maybe I put it in my own words:
New York is the father and Germamy is the son. The son looks up to the father and respects him. The son adopts his habits but learns to go his own way, what is making the Father proud.“
What is your work about?
Until 2005 I hit streets, the autobahn and trains with my Crew ROT. After some serious trouble with the law enforcement I quit bombing. Today I try to improve my style and do comissions… I think I payed my dues.
For me, comissions or streetart his not graffiti. When I do a comissioned mural, it is just art on a wall. The only common thing to graffiti is the media- the spraycan. For me, graffiti is only about letters wit decorations, including charakters, of course.
What does style mean to you?
Style means giving letters movement and flow. That happens under certain rules, like proportions and dynamic. Some people say, it is boring to stick with the same style all the time. They say you should do more experimental stuff. I think it is the best, to improve one thing really hard, instead of doin 5 different styles half way.
I think, improvin the classic NY Phunk style is the best way, to show respect to the pioneers. And I like it most, thats for sure.
There are some people who have the right to do experimental stuff, cuz they are kings. But for the new generation that ‚ill style‘ or what I call it ‚hipster graffiti‘ is just the excuse for avoiding hard work. I know, that sounds hard, but honestly: kids nowerdays have hundreds of caps, cans, transparent colors and whatever, but they make their legal pieces look like early 80‘ Bronx style with dripping standart cap outlines and talk like kings bout themselves after 1 year. I hope quality strikes back
Greetz 2 all my crewmembers, especially: SPADE 53, SURE, BASCO, TOXIN, SCOTTY76, KANE, MERES DINGO.
Special thanks to PASE and the BRONXTEAM, SNOWGOONS, STREETLOVE MAGAZINE…
RAST *TPM OTM ROT* from Stuttgart, Germany
For more pics from RAST click here
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