Tizerone is one of my new favorite writers that I have come across since I started doing these interviews. As you can see in the documentary posted above, he is a really friendly lovable guy who just loves art and graffiti. This interview I hope serves as a companion interview to the documentary. Enjoy!
First off thanks for agreeing to do this interview. Right before I typed this interview up I watched an interview you did with GSA, which I’ll be posting it here in our interview for people to check out, and in that documentary you mention your dad was an illustrator and that was what inspired you to be a artist. What kind of work did your dad do? Was street art always what you wanted to do or did you have other aspirations like comics, book illustration..etc.? Can you give us a brief summary of yourself?
My father was an illustrator in the late 60’s early 70’s. He was a good draftsman and painter. So, Shucks and I were super influenced by that as kids. We didn’t near many of our friends in Omaha, Nebraska so we amused ourselves by playing and drawing together. Our parents were really into art, so they would take us to galleries and to see film, puppet shows, basically anything that was creative. Which I guess made us want to do the same. We left America because my parents got divorced. By that time my dad was a hardcore alcoholic and was beating us all up. He was super violent. Which in turn made us pretty dysfunctional. My mum was British so we moved in with my Aunt and Uncle’s family in london, England in 1982. I was 7 and Shucks was 9. We carried on drawing. I’m really dyslexic so I wasn’t good at school, I liked drawing and that was pretty much it. I was disruptive in class and was constantly in trouble, I was really angry at that age. My Aunt and Uncle’s kids were teenagers when we moved in with them, making it a full home. 3 adults and 5 kids in one house. They (our cousins) could see we were pretty messed up and really looked out for us.
Two of my cousins were Punks and my eldest cousin was a Soulboy. My youngest cousin took us to see the Futura 2000 piece in 1983 in west london because he rapped on The Clash album. Most of the graffiti at that point was punk and skinhead or anti nuclear/ political graffiti. There was a guy that was painting shadows of people everywhere so people wouldn’t forget the bombing of Hiroshima. Shades was painting NYC style writing by this point around Camden Town, but this was way before we started doing anything. We were still kids, playing with Action Force and G.I.Joe’s. We started collecting comics. Working shit jobs so we could buy comics and sweets. We both started skateboarding in 1986 and were inspired by board graphics by this point we were looking at graffiti.
By 1988/1989 we were doing shit tags, whilst skating. My mother was inspired by Shucks and I, quit her job and became an incredible artist till the end of her life. I’d say she was the person that really backed us and really supported our decisions on how we wanted to live our lives. Her ideologies and her art really inspired me.
I did a BTEC in graphic design when I was 17 but dropped out, then I studied Animation at University but fell out with my course leader, so she threw away one of my films so I failed and gave me 0’s on every project I handed in. So I quit that as well. Which in turn made me do more Graff.
I did a BTEC in graphic design when I was 17 but dropped out, then I studied Animation at University but fell out with my course leader, so she threw away one of my films so I failed and gave me 0’s on every project I handed in. So I quit that as well. Which in turn made me do more Graff.
Being an artist is often a lonely pursuit, I’m curious if you choose street art because often you are doing them with a crew of artists as opposed to being an illustrator where you are often sitting alone in a room for long hours toiling away at your art.
I used to do most of my graffiti by myself, in the early 90’s Shucks moved to NYC/LA so my main partner had left. I kind of lost my shit, and Felton needed to rep in london when he was gone. I didn’t get on with my mother’s boyfriend at this time so I was skating and bombing hard. Just tagging mostly, I was constantly on the move, going from one friend’s house to the other never overstaying my welcome, but always out never at home. I would do tracksides by myself. You see if you live with people in london the only time your alone is if your on the toilet or doing tracksides. That was when I could be alone. I needed those moments at that time in my life.
I was doing chrome dubs through the 90’s, but was really only interested in doing tags. So for a large part of my early days I did stuff alone.
Shucks and I started our own crew ID in 1997. This is when I started really painting, mostly characters at the time because not many people did them in the UK. One because it made me standout from other people and two my letters were pretty shitty. In the mid to late 90’s their were only really a couple crews in london doing productions so we decided to do that as well to stand out from other crews.
This is really when I started painting with other people. When I was younger we didn’t really tell anyone who we were. So it’s really the last 20 years I’ve been painting with other people.
Shucks and I started our own crew ID in 1997. This is when I started really painting, mostly characters at the time because not many people did them in the UK. One because it made me standout from other people and two my letters were pretty shitty. In the mid to late 90’s their were only really a couple crews in london doing productions so we decided to do that as well to stand out from other crews.
This is really when I started painting with other people. When I was younger we didn’t really tell anyone who we were. So it’s really the last 20 years I’ve been painting with other people.
You also mention in the GSA interview that when street artists go to bad neighborhoods, they make them beautiful and people end up moving back into these spots so they are a critical part of the way society works and cities change. However artists are never really recognized for this, instead more and more laws are put on them to try to curb street art. How has the London scene changed over the years in this respect? Has it gotten harder or easier to be a street artist in London?
England has strange laws when it comes to graffiti. They love to put anyone who paints trains in jail, I’ve always found this very strange. Putting artists in prison with actual criminals is odd to me.
Graffiti has changed a lot over the years. It’s not really the same thing as it once was. It should constantly change for it to progress. I still think it’s very important to try and be original, though there is way too much biting going on right now. That needs to stop. It’s also really cool to pretend you don’t care about what you do , but you should want to be the best that you can be. It was Hip Hop don’t stop. The originators of this culture strived for excellence, there was no half assed part to any of it.
There are many more places to paint now it has started to be accepted by the general public. Which is great, though, most of these places will be gone soon once these areas have been totally gentrified. Once they get rid of us poor people it’ll be a really ‘nice’ city. Social cleansing is in full swing.
You say you like to help out the younger generation coming up in the scene so to put things in perspective I’m curious what kind of hours do you put into your work on a typical week? What kind of sacrifices have you made to get to the point you are at now in your career?
Shucks and I have always tried to push the positive sides of Hip Hop culture. From early on we realised knowledge is so important for progression. From us learning techniques and passing on information. British graffiti was hugely ignored, worldwide for many years, we felt it was important for us to be good at graff and to try and raise the bar especially in our city. So for a long time we were trying to do large scale productions and themed walls with people from different crews. London has always had a hardcore/violent scene, and we really tried to bring people together, stopping beefs and forcing people to try harder. At this moment in time people get more props for pretending to be a thug than actually being good at what they do, but that’s not a new flex. My brother is a Zulu (Zulu Nation), he’s very well read on many different histories and has always searched out the truth. We have both tried really hard to push our scene in a positive light, which is quite difficult at times. A lot of people are out for self at this moment in time, which is a shame. Governments are trying to separate people, break up community and make people animalistic. Though, saying that, I believe in the youth, I think the next generation will do it better than we have.
For the last 15 years we have taught many children from all different ages, capabilities, from blind children, to gang prevention and to the homeless. When I was a child there were a lot of huge illegal political public murals in south london, most of them are gone now, but as a kid I was amazed by them. I wanted as a child to one day paint like that. After hooking up with Mr Cenz and Aero with their company Positive Arts, and also Signal Project I was able to make that dream come true.,being able to paint with my heroes and some of the best artists the UK has to offer. Painting huge public murals. Public art is hugely important to communities, it changes areas and becomes focal points for areas and people talk about them like they are people. I always wanted to create beautiful things, even down to tags.
Any chase stories where you got away?
Worst chase I ever had was from Brixton to Peckham on the tracks. I was trying to paint a big piece that you could see from the street from the tracks next to Brixton train station. Three quarters of the way through I looked to my left and saw 12 flash lights coming towards me. So I was forced to run towards the station. I took the line to the left which wasn’t lit up behind the station which was dark but high and has no get downs. I was almost sucked into a fast train, fell on the electric rail and broke my toe. Whilst I was running through Loughborough Junction station I could hear them coming up the stairs, I just carried on running. By the time I was approaching Peckham all the lights of the station were coming on, this was not good. So, I had to climb on the outside of a huge bridge with a 2 inch ledge, jump 2 metres to a house, slide down a roof hop on the top of a fence and jump to the street. Some ninja shit. I was drunk off my ass. I probably wouldn’t have made it if I was sober. Really stupid spot, you could see me from the street. I got away by taxi. Whilst driving home, there were about 7 cars trying to find me.
What kind of books, movies, music or art inspires you today? what do you listen to when you paint?
I literally used to dj to help get extra money, I’m more of a selector than a proper Dj. I still collect music, mostly Hip Hop, Funk, 50’s to 80’s Soul, in the search for Breaks basically. So I mostly listen to that style of music. Big fan of Ska, Punk, Reggae, 60’s Folk, rock and roll. Not hugely into electronic music unless its electro. I used to read a lot, fiction and history. I’m dyslexic so I felt it was important that I taught myself. My teachers expected me to fail and I also didn’t want to sound like a fool in front of intelligent well educated people. I was a comic nerd as a kid, love illustrations and art in general. My mum was a dope artist. She was super driven and was excellent at everything she was into. Miss her everyday. She taught me there is beauty in most things. So I look for colour and shapes in everything and anything. I’ve made up many characters from zoning out on textures and shapes.
I studied Animation at university, my course leader threw away my film because I stuck up for a boy she was bullying. This made me fail my second year so it was my word against hers. I retook my 2nd Year but her and a professional animator gave me zero’s on every project for that second 2nd year. They were dicks. They really tried to bully me, but it didn’t work. I’m not good with authority or bullies. I upset them because I have no respect for them.
My parents schooled us at an early age on film. My dad loved Buster Keaton, Humphrey Bogart and W.C.Fields movies and would take us to the cinema a lot. My mum worked in the film industry, she was the first Unit Publicist in England. She helped many important films get made. She would read scripts, get Producers interested, work throughout production and then look after the stars and organise press. She did all of the Coen Brothers films up to Fargo, The Commitments, Terminator 2, Withnail and I, Hairspray, Footloose, 48 hours, RoboCop and loads of other films. I watch as many films as I can.
Any shout outs you would like to give? Any up and coming artists you think people should pay attention to and where can people follow your work?
I wanna give a shout out to The Most High, Mum , Shucks, Alayha, Mylon, past and present flat mates, to all my crews: Ivory Dukes, 108 Dragons, CVK,SDM, YCP, RHC, GW, HOD, DFN, LORDS, TDO ,1T ,CBM ,T8C, NHS , BMT, CPA, Double Trouble, KTF, SHK.
To all the people who have ever been a friend to me and wanted me to shine, to all the Southbank locals and Stockwell Skate Park locals, all the UK writers & International writers I’ve had a laugh with, same goes to all the strong Hip Hop brothers and sisters I’ve met along the way. To all the women that once kissed me, To my friends and family that passed away.
To all the people who have ever been a friend to me and wanted me to shine, to all the Southbank locals and Stockwell Skate Park locals, all the UK writers & International writers I’ve had a laugh with, same goes to all the strong Hip Hop brothers and sisters I’ve met along the way. To all the women that once kissed me, To my friends and family that passed away.
. Power to The People! You as an individual can change the world for the better. Stay positive and love love supreme. Peace Y’all.
Interview by Wesley Edwards
