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Archive for July, 2010
SOONONE…… The Lost LA Legend…..
Posted July 29th, 2010 at 01:13pm by Risky
Recently I was reconnected with SOON. I was thankful and relieved to hear he was alive. Although we had grown apart and hadn’t seen each other ( or he had supposedly died) he was always in my memories. Bonds and brotherhoods that graffiti writers make are feelings that only a graffiti writer can feel. Soon was a huge influence to many LA OG’s. After talking to him I realized how important it was for him to tell his story. I really don’t pay much attention to press. I believe you are only as good as your last piece, keep on keepin on! But he reminded me of the basic fundamental, ” you’ll never know where it’s at, until you know where it came from!” Real Talk! Soo many new school dudes forget this and their shit lacks soul and integrity. These are two of the most important things about Graffiti. Many people dispute when they started, few have photos, and can back their shit, but bottom line is no one was putting it down like Soon was. If you consider these things on a sliding scale they weren’t even on the charts. He was hands down the first King in LA.
Anyway here’s the deal. I wanted my man to be heard, not censored, or refined to certain questions. I asked him to write his story, so here it is. It’s important people, pass it on……..
(The Error In Time) , When I came to Los Angeles in 82 there was no graffiti art or artist just gang graffiti no one was racking paint and getting up just me no comp no rival's, the street's were clear of graffiti . In my hood you would only see SYC or MFH on my side of town the Mid Town area but throughout LA there was a whole lot of gang graffiti no New York style graffiti to speak of . After me bombing the town and dogging dead man's alley with the first graffiti piece's in LA in 82 . I did a silver and true blue and red back round block buster on Venice beach in 83 an after movie's like style war's and wild style you would see toy's tagging up stuff like Spit and Cap. By late 83 I did the first piece at the Pan Pacific early 84 I did the second one up there in 85 it was a writer's paradise in early 84 then you seen guy start to do some bombing other then the guy's I took bombing with me , Dim ,Soul one ,Legit ,Max, Mike,C ,J.kool, Risky, my crew then you had guy's like Alski ,News,dae, just tag's and throw up no real piece's. Around 84 then a new wave hit the street's Risk,miner,rival, and other's I'm only talking about guy's who put in work not the guy's who hang around writer's but at that time they were all new to new york style graffiti. The one's with money brought there paint but I put some of the guy's up on the true vandal's way of getting paint , racking it that was the only way I was taught. I never brought a can of paint in my life you see I've been writing graffiti a long time, way before I moved to L A so the history and tradition's were passed down from the older writer guy's like Smiley 149 , The Ebony Duke's , SnoMan PA , Kid Panama , real subway writer's with a wealth of knowledge about graffiti's past and rack's . Rack's all over the city from Mt Vernon to Alphabet city from queen's to staten Island and with out the real OG's there would not be a future generation of graffiti writer's. In LA it seem's like its no past when you read the book's on graffiti it like it start's in 85 because the writer's of the book's are trying to separate the New York graffiti style from the LA style but in those day NY was the blue print . With out New York graffiti there would be no Los Angeles graffiti where did the word's, throw up's ,tag's,burner's ,block buster's piece's come from, NY that's why they don't write about the first real all round graffiti writer in LA because they say I'm not from LA, that's what they say . When I moved to LA I was in the 9th grade I went to J.B. Jr high school on Wilshire blvd I did My first piece there a Cheech wizard character in 82 they never seen nothing like that before . But it's a new breed of writer's today they don't no there history and if they do they sound like every book or interview I read on the inter net lost. If you don't mention SoonOne you telling half the story the first graffiti king in LA . I spent my whole childhood doing graffiti in NY as well as LA, Hollywood ,Inglewood ,Santa Monica ,Pasadena ,Glendale , Griffith Park , Westwood blvd , Alhambra , Eagle Rock , Fair Fax , Slauson ,Jefferson blvd , so when I here all the so called legend's talking about when graffiti started in LA I wonder ,who the fuck is this because they wasn't there, and they start with a guy who came out in 85,86 it make's me sick to no that's when the error in time ocurred when you talking about a pioneer's and you don't mention Soon the father of Los Angeles graffiti then I no you was not bombing the street's in the 80's not in LA even the east side writer's know the deal, guy's like Shandu ,Crime,Prime,Geo and Duke know Soon was out before all of them I met some of those dude's at the Radiotron, my hand skill's got me doing all kind's of burner's in that club the front of the building the parking lot you name it I hit it. I had the real first battle in LA right in the Radiotron with this kid named Eaz from ever last I burned his ass up. I had mad tag's and throw up's on both side's of town east and west I was first to hit the panic zone back in 84 with a Severe Risk joint that I did with Risky and Severe . Every body wrote one after there name because of SoonOne. I never seen so many one's after the name, no 126 , no 5's mad one's and that cool my swirl style was adopted by half the LA writer's in the 80's and early 90's and that's cool too but if kid's are using it and don't no where it came from it's a problem they might think it's Dream's or Green's or even Risky's but it's SoonOne's from my throw up's check it out , I'm not gone talk about the 3D's but nigga's know . When we left LA me and Legit in 87,88, we went on the run for a attempted murder charge so that's most likely is where that rumor started at , that we got killed but we still here and doing it better then ever . All charge where droped in that case. Looking forward to doing some work with some old friend's in LA or show's for the public and private collector's hit us up at iamsoonone@yahoo.com . I want to say peace and love to my MOM's and brother Freedom up in Pasadena ,All the real graffiti writer's in the war on the wall's of Los Angeles busting they asses for the love and fame of it all and I hope the error in time never hit's you peace, Big Risk one ,Paris, Cr8, Siner, Ser, Wisk, Relax, Dream, Rival RIP ,Mike C, RIP ,Max1000 keep your head up ,InOne, SoulOne, Crime, Prime, Shandu, Risco RIP Duke RIP, Geo RIP, Eaz , Josh. And all the other's who know of Soon and Legit but don't shine no light on us for starting the graffiti movement in Los Angeles Fuck you !!! Oh yeah what up Joey the only guy to put us in a memorial , we still moving and shaking the jake's and staying sucker free !!!
PAN PACIFIC>>>>>
THE INFAMOUS SWIRL THROW UP>>>>
SONN NEAR BIG HAZZARD>>>>>
EASE FROM SOON EASE RADIOTRON BATTLE>>>
SEVERE RISK ...1st PIECE AT PANIC ZONE Soon, Risky, Severe
LEGIT....By LEGIT...
GOOD STUFF!!!!!GOOD TIMES!!!!!
RISK, SE3 aka HAZE, REVOK, RIME…the lost art form…
Posted July 28th, 2010 at 12:29am by Risky
Last week, I had the pleasure of painting with my man HAZE, aka old school legend SE3, REVOK, and RIME. It was really cool just bombing. It’s almost as if hand styles and throw ups are becoming a lost art form. It was awesome painting with SC3, old school king of the line, Revok with his super innovative hand style, and Rime is a straight up throw up master! We just found a nice alley downtown and straight up bombed. We put up our crew’s and fallen hero’s. If you read all the tags there are a lot of heavy hitters on that wall! When we were done we used black and white and caught some throw ups. On the way out Haze, Rime and myself couldn’t resist hitting some metal and caught a roll up….Good times!!
Venice Beach, Travis Barkers “The Cool Kids”
Posted July 27th, 2010 at 11:48pm by Risky
I got a call from my guys at the Wild Ones. Travis was filming a video for his solo project and asked if we wanted to rock some pieces. When I got there I couldn’t help but bomb. This was my old stomping grounds. I had spent countless hours there in the middle of the night over the years. It looked soo crazy, all the walls are about half the size. They tore many of the old buildings down but the craziest thing is they just let the sand take over the pavilion. The cement tables and benches are still there about two feet under the sand. Crazy! These cones were old BBQ/fire pits! these were actually the chimneys. They were so tall when the floor was six feet down and I was a kid. Anyway it was a good time seeing old friends and bombing the beach…..
Mission accomplished!……
Downtown Progress
Posted July 27th, 2010 at 10:51pm by Risky
I did this piece last week during the heat wave. I was painting at night because it was too hot during the day. Of course the day I finished the weather changed and it cooled off! It’s ok, I’m not finished, I still have to ad a character for the “I” and I’m going to spray some car kandy’s and maybe some flake in the fill. I included a photo with me in front to show the size… This one was for Saber, he kept telling me he wanted to see me do a huge letter piece….Here you go my brotha!…..
BL!SS Magazine X The 7th Letter X Bikini Issue
Posted July 23rd, 2010 at 12:24pm by Risky
BL!SSS Magazine X The 7th Letter X Bikini Issue from MADSTEEZ on Vimeo.
Downtown LA wall revamp
Posted July 13th, 2010 at 03:10am by Risky
Unfortunately a wall that I did with my man BATES has been aging hard, and needs some TLC. I went down today to get busy but the wall was so bad it needed to be scraped, and power washed before it would hold any more paint. DANNY TREJO stopped by to check out the progress. He did a little scraping and told me to make sure people know “he got down on this wall” So now you know!
Years of layers of paint!!!….
My WEST COAST ARTIST brother Mister Cartoon is sprucing his wall up next to it as well. He is adding detail and color to his iconic “LA” Piece…..
BLACKBOOK SESSIONS 8 Ontario Cali
Posted July 13th, 2010 at 02:53am by Risky
Recently Abel and myself were asked to participate in Blackbook Sessions 8. It is a non profit organization that among a variety of other positive things raises over 100,000.00 for scholarships per year. The turnout was great the work was sick, and it was a great time. Here are a few shots of our piece. For more info check out www.blackbooksessions.org.
We dedicated out mural to my man who passed away on my bike a few years back. The event happened to fall on his annual memorial ride. I couldn’t be there with you on Saturday my brother. “RIDE IN PEACE”….. Frank Arana September 13 1973 – July 12 2007. These Greens were the colors of both of our bikes.
My biggest fan!…..
Montana LA store update….
Posted July 8th, 2010 at 12:56pm by Risky
What a site, every product Montana cans makes under one roof. Stocked deep! Paint, markers, inks, specialty cans, books, sketchbooks, bags, caps, etc etc etc!!!!
