The Style Writers
Sight Zilla and Menes One interview graffiti artists and graffiti writers.
The Style Writers
Zuco K4P interview
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Interviewing the legendary Zuco from K4P Crew.....
Yeah, we're smoking fire today. Um, yeah, this is Minute 1, you know. We're doing the podcast. We haven't really haven't named it yet. Site's calling it the Up Next podcast, but UPN. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I'm like, maybe, but you know, I don't know. Man, I shouldn't. I'm not from UPN.
SPEAKER_03I should try to get you uh uh interview with Hex. Because nobody got him. I would love that. Uh nobody got him. That's my boy, too. That's that's historic right there. Yeah, hey, dude, you think man, I've been painting with him. I see. You think it ain't no big honor for me? Shit, I'll be like, I still can't believe it. Man, exactly. But like this motherfucker used to do the illest shit in the early 90s. Hell yeah, man. Battles on Twitter.
SPEAKER_01I used to see his shit, man. That shit was inspiring. Dog to be on that level of graft and shit. I'm still trying to get to that level of graft, you know? Really. You know?
SPEAKER_03Hey, but that foo's one of them kids, one of them dudes like like um, how do I say, man? That motherfucker's determined, dog. Yeah, yeah, he's gonna make it happen. He's gonna make it happen.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he gave me some tips one time because he saw me filling in. He was like, yo, what's up, man? Uh bro, man, I see you filling in, man. Here, man, use this one, man. It's gonna you know it's gonna be better for you.
SPEAKER_03All bad things. Look at that, OG. When I tell you, uh, he like, well, um, he moved, he moved on 48. And I saw him at a show, and I told him I'm from South Central. He was like, Where you stay? I said, I stay on 50. He goes, What? I said, 48. I go, dog, he didn't grow up over here. I saw them back shop. Yeah. He didn't from the hood. But I think he was more from Paramount. Oh, okay. So further east, man. Yeah, further east. So umie one day was like, hey, Zuko, man, you think come help me out with this Radio Tron uh canvas? I was like, yeah, sure, man, when you want me there, you know? Like, nigga, hell yeah, I'm gonna jump on it. So uh this motherfucker started painting with stocks. And I took out my cans, he's like, oh yeah, fill that in real quick, or outline that thing. I was like, hey, hex, like straight up, I need a tip, dog. Like, nigga, one nigga, I can't do what you do. You know what I mean? Yeah, yeah. I do, I I need a tip. I'm sorry, bro. He's like, nah, however, you want to do it. But hey man, that motherfucker. My brother gets out. We the shit I've done with him has only been like an hour and a half times. And the shit he already did like a rhino and all kinds, oh, I was like, God damn, this dude's crazy, dog.
SPEAKER_01Like, what am I gonna do now? You know? I'm trying to get to that speed, you know. Like, I'm just taking a few days on my shit because I love that shit. Like, you know, I look at it and I'm like, man, I could do better, I can add more to it, I could do this to it, I could do that to it. I wonder if Craig's on that philosophy, nigga. He got like 30,000 unfinished pieces.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01He still got that one on Maple that's just right there rolling. I'm like, come on, man, finish that. Like 10 years. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, go finish that, man. He's bullshit. You know, brother Craig, he's on to the next mission and shit, you know.
SPEAKER_03That's my boy, man. But you know, hey, dog, you we don't choose our family, you know what I mean? Exactly. You know what I'm saying? Our family chooses us.
SPEAKER_01You know what I'm saying? Who, who, who, who, who, yeah. People who we want to be around, you know what I'm saying? Real shit, real shit, that it people who we see common things and common interests, you know. For sure, but I feel that's what it is when you choose like your your your graph family, you know?
SPEAKER_03Well, of course. Like right now, like maybe like last year, my boy. Um, well, my boy's dumb started painting, but I went up to Michael and Rizzo. I was like, why you gonna be in a graffiti crew when you're not doing graffiti, my nigga? Mm-hmm. At least go do a piece in the alley or something, take a picture of the nigga, post it up. That's something. Yeah. Cause you painted. Yeah. No, these foods, they don't, they just sometimes life take over, you know? Yeah, it does. Yeah, so you can't be mad at it. You can't be mad at it.
SPEAKER_01Because at certain points, there's be like, you know, every every writer, especially from from far back as no, you have to doing it. Yeah. Every writer, you know, has their hiatus. Some never return. Man, I'm sorry. From their hiatus, you know.
SPEAKER_03I ain't stopped since 90. I ain't stopped. No. I'll show you uh pictures stacks. Cause I'm but I don't put that shit out there. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I'm saying? I'm waiting for my turn. I I don't I wanna be up next. You know? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, I'm just saving all my shit. Um, that's why, you know, me personally, I don't put it on on Instagram or nothing. Cause, you know, I just I I want to wait till I bust.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And I want to do it my way. I don't want to do it like, oh, because oh, damn, these rules and man, fuck all that. It's like, it's like I I don't do art as a job. I work so I can do art just like us. We we have we're daily, you know, my man or Clark Kent. Yep, exactly. You know what I'm saying? No, we got our alter ego and shit, man. Man, don't give me no phone booth.
SPEAKER_01Man, you can switch that shit, man. From P to Z in no time and shit, you know what I'm saying? Oh shit, hell yeah, man. Hell yeah. But yeah, man, what brought you to graffiti, man? How did it all start for you?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Oh, the whole time.
SPEAKER_03Uh what brought me, dog, was um through um uh I guess I knew about it as uh like eight, nine, seven eight, nine, ten, because my brother used to, he was into the uh New York style, and he even did a character with a Kango a long time ago. And um I saw him break dance and stuff, but I was still too young. I was worried to bikes and exploring. Then um, when skateboarding started for me, because I was trying to sell weed, wasn't working in junior high sixth grade, trying to do the most. Oh, over there fucking Hooper.
SPEAKER_01Hooper. That's right, because junior high started in seventh grade grade back then and shit, yeah.
SPEAKER_03And uh and a fucking um, and then through skateboarding, uh, because I was like, man, fuck all that. And then I saw my boy that I went to elementary, like kindergarten and all that shit. I saw him and he was on the skateboard, and he was, you know, he had on like I had maiden t-shirts and shit. And I was like, the fuck is this shit? So um I rolled up and he's like, hey fool, hey, you know, we reacquainted ourselves. And uh so I got into skateboarding through punk rock and heavy metal, but in skateboarding, niggas started using like graffiti art style. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? So I knew about it, but I wasn't into it because I was more into skateboarding. So um uh what happened was in '87, that fool Ain, I used to skate with Ain. Um, you know, those are all my kids homies I grew up with. Seeing that's that's another quick real thing about K for P Dog. We've been friends for life. So um, yeah, it's crazy. Um and then uh so through skateboarding, uh we, you know, since we used to, you know, with my cousins and then we used to go, you know, like gang tag. Because my uh uh I think I come from a big gangster family, but that's what deterred me from being a gangster. Yeah. Because my cousin was like, foo, you ain't gonna gang bang. Get out of here. You already saw all of that. Yeah, you already saw all that yeah. So me and my cousin, they saved us from gangbanging. Um but uh so through skateboarding, man, I I found out about graffiti, and then I saw style wars like fucking like way after, like in '88 or something.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's when because tagging was around, no doubt. Um, because even uh like one of my homies method, I known him since junior high school. So tagging on buses was out already. And um motherfuckers, you know, through skateboarding, man, just because you could go places, you know. And um, once we was going places, fucking I would always be with Ain, and Ain would be, you know, Ain was a monster nigga back then, he hands down. Um he would always carry something to write with. So, you know, got my little name and shit. It's the right Iker 161, because in high school at Jeff, I was in a room called 161, uh room number 161. You could see it off of Compton. And I was a metal shop teacher. My nigga name was Mr. Lupin's dog. So you could, you can, man, but that motherfucker, he was in the war, he was in the war, like second world war. And he taught us how to write in all capital letters, dog. So mixing the skateboarding culture and having a disciplinary, fucking, I just caught my way into it and started writing again, but not hardcore. I was hardcore skateboarding. Because you know, when you night, uh, when you're like 16, 17, your body's full max, you know? So um after uh what was it? So in high school I started in '89. No, in '90. 91, 92. Okay, no. 89. I started in high school. But before that, I was going to junior high school with a bunch of NTS's that, you know, rock the buses. And it was my homies, man, like resist.
SPEAKER_01Yep. That's 122.
SPEAKER_03No, no, no, no, no, no. Resist one there. Yeah, resist resistance. Monkey, monkey knows. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Edwin. His name was Edwin. He was Belize and 2, no? Yeah, Belizean 2. That's my name. Um, I try to remember his name. G Dirt.
SPEAKER_01G Dirt.
SPEAKER_03G Dirt. His real name. Oh, no, he. Oh, they oh, he had a hood name? Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01He was from Fautre.
SPEAKER_03Oh, he got in after? Yeah, he was from Fautre. He was from Fray Trey. And then um, I used to go with uh school with this other guy named Jose. He used to write does, D-O-E-S. And then Method, I went to school with. And Negro problem. C's, I went to school with. Sway. We feel that it's a good thing. Um pranks came in high school. But the transition from junior high school to high school was hardcore skateboarder, uh, slash uh we still gonna keep graffiti in the back of our heads. Uh, because I wasn't active like that. Um but then when I got to high school in '89, no, no, no, no. Yeah, 90. I got in his high school in '90. There. I hope the fucking timelines are right. You don't came over here and fuck me up anyway. No, but that's that's the timeline. Then uh uh uh so then uh in when we get to high school, I'm still hardcore skating. Ames running CHB, now he got Ozer, he got Miggy, he got um um my people's over here on 53rd. What's my dude's name? You know, uh they was Believe in two. Um they they they live in a two-story house off of you know we went to we moved to the East Coast. What the fuck did he write? See, them motherfuckers leave and then they come back together who they are. Yeah, them dudes, um especially in uh you know uh Ansec, like all that shit. I all that shit was encompassed because we lived in the neighborhood. And so having bus riding, who's getting grills, insides, outsiders, all that shit, it passed through here, but it didn't last too long, I think, you know? Because I think after like 91, it just went down, down. So, because I was still uh uh I was still a fucking snatching transfers just to get us from here to Venice, you know what I mean? Because we we used to ditch in high school. All the man, I never went to school in the eighth grade ever. My dad seen the report card, that motherfucker butt busted my ass down. He was like, where the fuck was you? What the hell was you doing? So uh yeah, so then I'm telling you, I didn't see Star Wars till later, man. And then um I but already had influences because of skateboarding and going around the town, seeing West Coast shit, fucking sphere, which is uh OG Abel, and him fucking with Flame. I know Riz did a couple pieces down here. And you know, it was more like the art and skateboarding culture kind of went hand in hand because you know the skateboard deck graphics. Yeah. So you I would be like, damn, what's the difference, you know? So yeah, it was mostly through skateboarding, but when 90 came around, I was like, man, fuck all this tagging. I gotta move up to pieces or throw-ups or something, you know? So that's when I moved up to like did like my first piece. I had done a piece in '87, but it was garbage, you old kid. You wouldn't even understand. But uh, you know, it's a man.
SPEAKER_01You have a picture of that, Bob?
SPEAKER_03No, I wish I did. I'm glad I don't. I know one of my homies somewhere out there has one. Um, but uh yeah, I in '90, I was like, fuck it. Um Ain used to have this like wall over there on Miramonte in Florence. And uh I did an Ike, and I used to be with it, so I had gotten an NTS, like, I think in the 11th grade. And I was rolling hard with them. Uh, you know, I any any any crew I'm done with, I'm rolling hard. 100%. So, so we even had uh, I mean, I didn't have beef with CHB, but we must have had beef with CHB. And they chased us home one time. Oh, it's so funny. We jumped in, jumping fences and shit.
SPEAKER_01Man, so who were some of the heavy hitters during that time, you know, besides CHB, which is damn.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, no, CHB was running. Oh, C D Rheon, um Cure Rat, stupid ass. Oh my god. Nah, you get it at that. You get it at that. No, but that he Cure was cool, but that fool was nut. That foo's crazy. Um, yeah, um me, my little homie Sway was rolling with CHB. And even Coca for a second, I think. Um but then me personally, I uh so when I was in NTS, I got with this one chick. Uh, she was like a notorious queens. And I did my name and I did some hearts and 90, and then 90 was over. I like I never went back to it. Then 92 came around and uh I met Misk. And Misk, I met him as you know his government name. But what attracted me to him was he had an LA Bronx shirt, like the skateboard brand, LA Bronx. And that was in Venice. And we used to always go to Venice, so I recognized it right away and I told him, hey man, you skate? Because he was going to Jeff.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Um he was like, yeah, man, uh you skate? I was like, didn't you look at my shirt? You know, I think I had a power shirt or some bullshit. He was like, where? I said, man, we should get together and skate sometime. All right, boom. Didn't even know he wrote. And then uh that's when I started trying to draw, uh, like try to piece on papers and stuff. And the way I got my name was fucking uh looking at a fucking uh I I got it two ways. One way was looking at a fucking flavor flavor 911 as a joke video. If you pause it at a certain at a certain scene, he has a Zulu medallion. But the way the motherfucker shimmered, it was Z-U-C-O. Instead of Z-U-L-U. Oh, I yeah, Z-U-L-U. So so a certain way it shined, it put two little sticks on both letters, so it looked like Z-U-C-O. You get it? That shit was nuts, man. That shit was nuts. And then another way, uh, was because my brother, my big brother, one of my big brothers, he was from uh they had a they had a gang called Fiber Hustlers right here. So they used to call him T Loco, and they used to tell me they used to call me Little T-Loco. I was like, what? Hell no. So I I um since I had seen Star Wars and fucking um what's that, Wildstyle? Saw both the movies, I was like, damn, Zulu Nation, that shit's crazy, you know? So then I was like, man, I'm tired of these motherfuckers calling me little T Loco, you know? I was looking for a name, looking for a name. And then um I was like, you know what? I had already seen the Flavor Flav video.
unknownI was like, yeah.
SPEAKER_03The ZU in Zulu and the C O in Loco. Put it together to say Zulu, you know, and that's how I got my name. But yeah, that's how I started, man. Like I would say in 1990 is when I started like my graph piecing career. But tagging, I I really wasn't into it, man. That's funny. I wasn't into tagging. But uh, I always saw it. So, you know, a motherfucker always sees and you're always around it, you're gonna know how to do it, regardless, because everybody else is doing it. Um, so yeah, and then after I went, um I met up with Miz. He took me driving. He used to have this old rambler dog, and then like the fucking steering wheel would come off. No bullshit, no bullshit. One time we was on a freeway, we was going to a skate spot, and this motherfucker's like, hey, Pete. And I was like, Did we on the freeway, nigga? You trying to spark that? You trying to spark that or you good? You going you wanna take a little smoke? Um you let me know. Up to you. Oh, okay. I'll take a minute. Take a minute. We let me get a breather. Because that shit you done road right now. I don't know what planet I'm on no more. No, that shit, yeah. Yeah, it kicked, it kicked. Hell yeah. Man, and then uh, so this motherfucker mess fucking around. You know, we was having a good time as skaters. Next thing you know, we had a skate spot, and I think he takes out a market and he starts tagging him like, what the fuck you doing, fool? He's like, oh, I write. I was like, what? He was like, yeah, I write. I go, oh shit, nigga, I write too, you know? Cause it was like already in 1992. No, 91, it was 91. And then I was like, what? Um, so I I had told him, like, yo, I'm from NTS, blah, blah, blah. He was like, oh yeah, I'm from D2R. You know what I'm saying? Cause and um, I don't know how he got into D2R, but that cruise from Pomona.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03The foot. But Mesk already has skills because K for P started in '87, and from '87 to '88, that's when Mesk got in. But then on 89, it died out. Who started? Oh, the homie worries, Steel, Sleek, some dudes from Southgate. The homie worries from East LA. So they've been out since '87, man. The thing was, I think after, you know, sometimes crews lose their mojo because dudes move on, you know. Yeah. They move on, do other shit. But not mask, man. He was like, he had it in the back of his head. He wanted to bring it back up, but he wanted to make it like a sick crew, you know, like with sick writers. And so at the time of 9091, because I had gotten into NTS and CHB had some sort of beef with them. Uh Ain tried to run up on me, like, you know, after we done been skating all that time together, like he tried to turn his face, but I was like, eh, whatever. You know, it's all good, man. You know. It was all in youthful, youthful ego. Yeah, man. You know how we are.
SPEAKER_01So it's all youthful ego, we're all from around here, so you know. Exactly. It is what it is, because we uh we approached each other a certain way. Of course. And then later we, you know, because it's like a fucking movie and shit, you know? Like the kid you used to beef with and shit, all of a sudden he's your best friend later in life, you know?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, man. So then um, yeah, then uh Mesk kind of was like he had got an NTS for one minute. You know what I'm saying? He kind of like jumped in and jumped out. But in jumping in, yeah, I met Method. And then him and you know, my homie Method, I food, man, his tag styles, you came front.
SPEAKER_01Man.
SPEAKER_03Method got styled.
SPEAKER_01It's just been the hardest tag style, far back as I remember. Funny shit, I I remember telling my brother and my homie that, oh yeah, man, I know pranks and method. I see them all the time. You know, them the homies right there. You know, yeah, yeah, yeah. And they're like, no, you don't, no, you don't. I'm like, yeah, I do.
SPEAKER_03It's because we all went to school together.
SPEAKER_01I was like, man, I always saw the tags. I'm like, man, this shit's amazing. I love the style.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then I remember one day I'd being at the bus stop on Central in the 42nd with them. And lo and behold, out comes pranks and methods. Catch the tags right there, big ass clean tags with a yellow streak, method with the crazy styles and shit. Pranks looking out. And then they look at me and they're like, hey man, go say what's up to your homies. Go stay what's up to your homies. I'm like, oh fuck. Got me. Oh that's good. They got me and shit. But you know, later in life, I met Pranks and I told them both. The story is that they started dying like stupid.
SPEAKER_03That's crazy. I know, man, because you know what? Method's always been the easy guy to approach, you know? He's a chill guy's motherfucker. That's my homie, man. You know, a funny story is in junior high school, man, we used to go to school together, all of us, right? And we, for some reason, our our our personalities magnetated. You know what I'm saying? Like we we all hung out with each other. And then uh we used to throw ditching parties. So through the ditching parties, we all knew each other. So because we all went to the same school, we all went to Jeff. We went to different elementaries, but we all went to Jeff and we all went a Jeff. Uh no, Carver and Jeff. Excuse me. Yeah, okay. Um so so one day, oh no, look, look, I got a little eyes. Park that motherfucker right there, oh geez. Yeah. Um, so then um we was having a ditching party at one of Method's neighbor's house on 57th, when he used to live on 57th, and um I remember me getting skating to the corner, and I see Method there. I'm like, hey, fool, we ain't at the ditching party. He's like, fool, I'm catching buses. I was like, oh, where? He was like, hey, can you look out? Can you spot me? I was like, oh yeah, fool, no problem. You know, just spotting them. Catching method tags, bam, bam. No, he used to write rash back then, excuse me. He was catching rash, NTS back then, because we was in junior high. Yeah. Fast forward to high school, um, the thing about Mesk was that mesk already knew how to piece. And, you know, Ain kind of knew how to piece too, but Mesk had more lettering. And Ain had lettering in character, so he was kind of like, and you know, I'm gonna be honest, man, Ain always had a uh talent for art.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. He always did, he always did, man. I came front on that. And then um, so mesk having that quick stint in NTS kind of introduced himself to Method, or I don't know if Method introduced mesk into NTS, I forgot how it was. But um I around the time that I started hanging out with NTS, I think Method and Mesk already knew each other. And my homie Method and Wayne. So Mesk was like, yo, I'm thinking about getting a crew together. So as soon as, because pranks and Method used to hang out all the time, but pranks never got into NTF. Just Method. But he they'd be at the Prax at Pranks' house in the backyard painting and shit. And that's how I made Pranks. So then um fast forward, mesk is like starting to gather a little true, which was um fucking Mesk, Method Pranks, Ain, Coca, Sway, um, argue, you know, old dudes, fucking Kezzy, Jam. You know, he started like assembling dudes, and um it got to a point where there was some animosity from one end to the other, and mesk was already like, look, man, fuck all that. You're gonna be down with us or you're gonna be down with them. But knowing me, I'm 100% okay, so I'm like, nah, you know what? I'm gonna roll over here. Um so getting into graph, um, I started painting with mesk. So I could hands down say mesk showed me what time it was. Yeah. And then Ain. Ain't showed me what time it was, too, because I painted with him a lot. We used to have a little yard over here.
SPEAKER_01Yep. Remember that one.
SPEAKER_03Yep. Between 52nd and 54 to 50 seconds. Mm-hmm. See it off the dash with the colored glass pieces. You know, we got blasted at right there.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I think that was the first piece of yours that I saw.
SPEAKER_03Here.
SPEAKER_01Was there?
SPEAKER_03It was piecing with pieces on.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. Yeah. So so what ended up happening, man, is uh we went to a party that scammed from SM was throwing down on Bay Street. And uh one cat was calling pranks, and they was going at it over the phone. And you know, over the phone, you don't think nothing happens, you know? Yeah. And then uh I re I even remember um Poet caught fucking pranks in the bus and he wanted to beat up pranks, man. I was like, yo, what the fuck, poet chill, dawg? You know, it's the homie, man, nah chill. But uh, yeah, so there was some, there was a lot of crazy shit going on, and um one nigga ended up putting a gun out on pranks, and I was like, oh man, this this is not what I'm here for, dog. I just want to paint. And y'all motherfuckers taking out guns, so I was like, nah, nah. So that night, man, I went upstairs, told the cats, like, look, bro, I'm out, you know, because I don't play that shit. I nigga, I got cousins with guns all day. That's why I don't hang out with them dudes, you know? Cause I'm trying to live, kid. So um, that's when I went full fledged on, you know, K4P, and we just took it from there, and you know, with pranks, medic, ain, C's, rest in peace, um, Coca, Sway, Presto, uh, Argue, um, Kezie, O'Neill, uh, Jamp, um, who else, man? Uh, my boy Niask. He was part of the OG, he's part of the OG tribe. So Niask is from 87. Um What about brother um Pocus? Pocus. He was with us too. Matter of fact. No, he ain't oh yeah, Pocus. I thought you meant Presto. Presto is another cat that was original. Uh there actually, there's a Presto K4P, like it's like, it's like uh paint wash, but you can still see it. It's off the 110 once you pass Adams. If you look on the right hand side, there's a red wall in the far back. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like a really faint K4P. Yeah, I saw that. I saw that. Dude, that's from 90, that's from like 93, 94. I don't know.
SPEAKER_01I remember it from 93. That was that, and then a Chico tag up top of the room.
SPEAKER_03Yep, and then there's a toll on the left, on the yeah, top left. There's a toes, rest in peace. Um so, so, you know, we just started going 100, man. Um, because uh it was like it was like something that had happened with the other cats that mess was like, nah, dog, we don't need these foods, you know. Let's just do it our way. And it was like, alright, fuck it, boom. So, you know, whatever. We just kept going our way, our way. Um and so in 91, 92, I started going to the 7th yard. For all those who don't know, it's on fucking Santa Fe, one block east of 7th. Yeah. It used to be an empty lot where they filmed the Tupac video with desk on it and all that. Where um Hex did LA Germany, that shit. So that's where I kind of uh I want to say made my phones. Because I started piecing there, bam, bam, every weekend. And um, because I was with that chick from Notorious Queens back in the days, she lived in Buck Gardens. There lived a dude named Nerv. So that was her homie. So I met him, and he was like, You from where? I was like, man, that's K for P, bro. He was like, man, I want to get on. I was like, well, let me see what you can do. You know, let me see what you can do. So he showed me drawers, took them with mask and fashion. And I was like, all right, dude. All right, let's give them a try. I was like, cool. Boom, that's home. Look, man. You got 30 days to show what you can do. You know, he did them, let him on the next meeting so that that's what it is too with KVP. Like, you know, we we give dudes time to prove themselves because sometimes you never know, man. Sometimes they get so big headed, they be like, I don't wanna be in KVP no more. I'm gonna go over here. Because now these motherfuckers want me since I've been putting in work. Yeah. Shit happens, it happens. Yeah, ain't no thing, ain't no thing. So um, me personally, man, 7th and Santa Fe yard was my shit. Um, I must have done like 20 to 30 pieces there. Um then uh after that, um we started going bombing super hard. And the thing about all the K for P's that you used to see, those big ass K for Ps, was it was like two, three dudes. But back then we already had it in our mind that one dude has a sketch, the dude that knows how to outline to do his job, you know, so and the thing was they were good at what they did. So my homie prank sketched out the very first rooftop, I think. And Mesk was like, I got this. You know what I mean? Um because Mesk was already a piece of help, so he already knew how to like gauge shit, and then I would come in and I'd be like shooting both hands and shit.
SPEAKER_01And I would remember on the 10 freeway.
SPEAKER_03That's what I'm talking about.
SPEAKER_01There was always like several paper beads, yeah. Right there, like like several of them.
SPEAKER_03You know, mesk, yeah, mesk had seen that rooftop in like fucking 89-90. And no one ever really rocked it, you know? So the first one, I didn't even go to the first one. The first one I think was mesk, ain, and pranks. So pranks fucking had the sketch, and then mesk had the piecing skills, and then Ain was there to help out. You know what I'm saying? Because that was kind of like the first graffiti bombing trio. It was mesk, ain, and pranks. Now imagine, dog, don't know, they had the sick ass styles. Yeah. Styles for miles, man. Ain did a little character. I don't know if you ever remember, but they did the back of Jeff one time. Yep. It said pranks, masky, mask, and ain't K for P. That shit.
SPEAKER_01Um like, cause man, like, pranks in in in itself, like, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Fuck, man. Crazy. Yeah, so many. School bus on Continent 41st. Yep. That's a that's a monumental one right there. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like so if you if you grew up in the in the low bottoms in South Central, you would always see a K4P somewhere. Yeah. And then when you went on the outskirts into downtown, then see more K4Ps.
SPEAKER_03Uh some shit, yeah.
SPEAKER_01How was it campaigning to know set yourselves aside from other crews at the time, you know? Because at the time, you know, there was there was a lot of South, no, South Central crews.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Uh a lot of them weren't piecers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, the thing about it was I think we got lucky because of Mask. Because that motherfucker, man, he's like one of them evil genius motherfuckers, you know what I mean? Like, he already had it in his head. He wanted to make a team and search out the dudes that had the style. So, meeting people is always a must. Um, but yeah, Mask had it planned out somehow. This thing, I mean, he had it planned out to a point where it was like, okay, I'm gonna get the sickest cat. Let's take it from there. So, and not only that, I think we were more organized. Because a lot of motherfuckers in the hood, they when they I remember growing up and I used to have my little my little bike with the Uggin uh with the banana sea shit. Yeah. Hey, let's meet up over here. All right, only one fool comes. All right, let's go.
SPEAKER_01But we make the best of it, you know? Because like at the time, CHB was huge.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like they had like mad pieces everywhere. Um trying to think a KCA, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03KCAP Beast.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And uh Stinger. Yeah, Stinger, yeah, and my other dude.
SPEAKER_01No, those were other cats that I saw, like, damn.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like, like, I like you know, they were kind of y'all competition and shit.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, no, man. Um the thing about but they, you know, never flourished like that. Right, right. That's what I was gonna tell you. See, because of our skateboarding background of all of us, we was used to going places. Or we was used to being adventurous. So that's why, like, when Mesk could be like, let's go bombing. Food, come pick me up. Come pick me up, boom. We got we for a minute we were doing a little crazy shit. We was going out to like Melrose. I know we did a bomb off of Olympic, like after Redondo, I mean uh Pico after Redondo, we just we did a spot. We did it, man, we did a bunch of spots, man. Um the thing was also is that we always, because we were hardcore skateboarders, like when graffiti came around, we took graffiti hardcore. Took that shit very hard. Took that shit. You hey, you seen, you know what I'm saying? Yeah, even when you had that yard right here on Central. Mm-hmm. On 43rd.
SPEAKER_01Bus station? Yeah. Is that what you would call it? The bus station yard. It was at that bus station by the dun bar. Yeah. Like an old GGS bus station. Oh, was it? Yeah, yeah. Damn, I forgot about that, man. Right next to the candle place. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, we had that whole area before it took down the candle place. I remember me, that was a CHB up there. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03That was a fresh yard, man. I actually got pictures, but in Cameron Rose, because the cops, man, oh man, the cops. But yeah, because K4P was organized, and back then, we was like, we felt like we had something to prove because there were so many motherfuckers out there that like nobody in South Central was gonna do what we were gonna do, but you have West Coast, you have OTR, you have LOD, you have CBS, UTI, you know what I'm saying? Big cats, you know, COI at the time, fucking Gang of Crews, man. It was always out there. Um DTK, fucking all them dudes, man. Um So I guess after um after we had a solid ass team from Presto to Nerve. Oh, but going back to Pocus, man, rest in peace, that was one of our first homies we lost. But the thing about Pocus was he was into drug dealing too much, you know what I mean? So he was drug dealing at the wrong place, wrong time, and got like half half his face blown off, dog, with a double barrel. Yeah, crazy shit. Um, I actually got shot and stabbed before. Um Me and Mess got shot at the same time off of um 36 in Maine. Well, we was um, you know, back then we used to we used to break into warehouses and throw parties. So we we went to a warehouse on 36 in Maine where they had a gate, but we already bow cut it and everything. So um we was waiting on the generator because we're gonna throw like an underground.
SPEAKER_02Mm-hmm.
SPEAKER_03Fucking generator never got there. So my homie uh you went to Jeff, right? Do you ever remember some food named Rambo? Some like uh light skinned and Mexican dude.
SPEAKER_01I think so.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, I think so. I remember that. Your name sounds familiar, right? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So he was doing the parties with us. So one day the fucking generator never got there. He's like, man, we're gonna rotate. We're like, all right, man. So we hop in the homie with my my homie's car. Shit don't turn on. Oh fuck. I told him, you know what? Pop the hood, I'm gonna check it out. So I'm looking under the hood, and Mesk is on my left on the curve. He's like, come on, Zuko, hurry up, let's go. Like she know, pa pa. So nigga, I get I get in the back. Mes gets his finger like shut off. Like that motherfucker was hanging and shit. Motherfucker said, take me home, I'll sleep it off. Well nigga, you can't sleep off that motherfucker. He's like, take me. He's like, take me to the fire station. Like, nigga, you ain't on fire, nigga. You cut up. So what happened was they dropped, they um took us to California. Mm-hmm. Right next to the freeway. Yeah. And um, my nigga, mesk was worse than I was because what happened with me since I was, you know, leaning over to look at the engine, the bullet hit me in the back, but it didn't hit me straight up. It hit me to the point where when it traveled this way by my heart. Damn. And then recently I just had an accident and lost my car. I had to go to do MRIs and X-rays and shit. They're like, oh, you got a bullet in there, huh? I was like, yep, I shall do from 1992. Right before, two weeks before the riot. Uh never forget. And Mess had a he had a sling with a cast, because you know, his fingers fucked, his nerves is fucked up from that incident. Um, we still went looting, eh? I'm talking about, you know, you know how we was doing it. You know how we was doing it. I ain't I ain't about to admit to nothing, but you know how we was doing it.
SPEAKER_01When he was in the game, because no, I was the the younger kid, you know. Yeah, anonymously, you know, getting the leftovers after all the hoods, you know, ramsack everything, you know.
SPEAKER_03Man, I had corduroys for days from the swan. Remember the swan right here on 47? Mm-hmm. Corduroys for days, by uh socks, um, and then by mask, he used to live by thrifties on Washington. Man, them motherfuckers ramsacked that motherfucker Saturday morning. We went in there, dog, with a shopping cart and just went like this down the alcohol aisle. Um, went got into a cariseria, had a had a sick barbecue on Sunday. Looted on Saturday, barbecue on Sunday. Crazy shit. But uh, yeah, man. Uh and I got stabbed too. I've been stabbed too. Uh no. Um I got stabbed in my early high school years, like ninth grade, ninth grade, tenth grade. Um, I had one to go to a skate shop to get a board because I was skating. Some thug niggas rolled up, like, hey nigga, give me your skateboard. I was like, what? Hit one food, bye. Started scrappling another food. The food I hit got up, took out a shank, and said, boop, and took my shit. Went um, I actually was on um Slossen between Pacific and that street and back. And you know how there's a little clinic or I went up in there, dog. I was like, excuse me, I just got stabbed. Like, oh, come over here. Doom, did a little quick swap. Don't leave, we'll be right back. We need to get your information. Booked it. Uh, because you know, you scared back then, you know, you scared to show your mom and dad like something happening. You could think, what the fuck was you doing? You get in trouble, you know? Made it out of that one person. Yeah. Like, man, it's caby, and I still got the scar. But um, yeah, as far as the crew man, like we always that that's I guess that's one theme that's kept us all because look, a lot of motherfuckers say we racial or something like that, because it's all like of Latin descent. It's never been that way, dog. Oh. It's never, and you know that, man.
SPEAKER_01No, no.
SPEAKER_03But but we do have an integrity that we don't compromise. You get what I'm saying? Yeah. And that's what it is. We don't ever like clown anyone for being from more crews than one. We don't ever like look down upon it. It's just that we run it like that, so we have our own anatomy.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know what I'm saying? So it's and you know, man, I've been like the unofficial press for like fucking since Mess left. But now it's time for me to step down. As if however people were looking at me, and I'm shoving it off to my boy Court, man. Court's the next gen, dog. Court is a killer. That food court ain't no joke, man. Love that nigga, man. So, you know, basically now it's like, well, basically there's there is no leader. Everything's made by decision. Yeah. Round table, dawg. That's how K for P runs. Round table. I am one of the representatives, I guess you could say. Like, oh shit, what the fuck? My bad. Let me see what shit tell me.
SPEAKER_01And um, but I was in that, you know, yeah, uh team needs to have, you know, like a a representative, you know, like a representative that speaks on behalf of the team, which everybody is one, but it would be for one who'd like to make a bigger decision.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. So forward with the crew. Like sometimes, like I said, sometimes you gotta make an executive decision, dog. And it's it's been times like that. Um, one thing I do regulate is like if you ain't from K for P, don't be trying to write that shit, nigga. We've had um, we recently put on this kid, Valix. Yeah, he's a good kid, man. He tried to do a piece with K for P before his load, before his probation was up. Man, I had to put it on him. I was like, hey fool, you ain't from KVP, yeah. What you doing? But much respect to Valix, man. That was a good dude. And you know, man, that's the thing about us, dog. Like, we fill motherfuckers out first.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, we fill them out, like we'll invite him to come paint or chill. See what's up, you know? They be cool. Um sh you know, you get that meeting invite, come through, see what's up with you. You know, we always talk to our dudes because you won't ever find a KVP dude that don't know the next. Or that hasn't been to their house, or that don't know they mama and their daddy, you know? And it's easy because there's Latin flavoring, you know? It's like everybody in my crew know what a quinchanera is. You know what I'm saying? Everybody knows what about these ones, you know. I mean everybody in general knows, but you know a quinchanera, you come out of a certain way, you know what I'm saying? And it's, you know, that's it's it's all good. It's like family, man. Everybody blends in. And which is it just feels good because at the end of the day, you see it like a strong brotherhood, you know. Um, and that's where you are, man. I could call up any one of my dudes in my crew right now and be like, yo, what's poppin'? You know? Any dude. And we like 20 deep, 25, something. And a lot of old school cats still out there, too, man. They're not piecing as much, but hey, hey, they're still there. And every everything counts. Every little piece counts, dog.
SPEAKER_01Man, so what what what what are some of the tricks to like keeping it going strong for so long? Uh-huh. Like keeping keeping error, like no, keeping it active, picking and being selective on the choices of who you pick to represent the crew and make sure that they're active.
SPEAKER_03You might right. Um, I don't know. Uh uh scarab beetle in the house. Um kind of beat. Uh uh uh wait, tell me the question one more time. I'm fucking hungry.
SPEAKER_01Uh I'm hungry.
SPEAKER_03You done can't fuck me up. No, but you had a good one, you had a good one.
SPEAKER_01So, like, what's the formula of you know longevity?
SPEAKER_03Basically.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_03Alright. Yeah, um I would say every year since 92. Heart. Every year since 92. Heart, dog. Heart. You gotta have heart because and only that, you gotta have a sense of you know, everybody wants to belong. So with that heart and sense of belonging, you get your core group. And the reason for the longevity is we all treat each other as equals. There's no egos. You get what I'm saying? There was with a couple dudes, but as you can see, they're not here no more. But when we get together, there's no ego. That's what it is. No egos is the secret to longevity. Like, I could I could go to my homie court's house if his mom needs to write to the store. Oh, sure, senora. You know? Like, come on, no problem, let's roll. Or if if I'm out of town and my dog needs food, court, be my dog. I got you when I get back. I coops. Yeah, I'll give him the key to the house. You know what I'm saying? Like, it's like that. You gotta have trust, and there can't be no ego because then you don't know who you're dealing with. You're dealing with some fake ass motherfucker that turns it off every now and then, because that's what ego is. You know, you turn it on, you turn it off. But no, with us it's more like family, dog. Like, there's no egos. Oh, yeah, you need help, nigga? No problem. Boom. Nigga, we help each other more than we help our brothers sometimes. You know? True. Because look, man. It's the family you treat. It's the street family, baby. You know? Right here is your. What you know, we'll die right now. Straight up, but that's what I'm saying. You know, like I ain't gonna let nobody, nothing happen to my dudes that I grew up with or my people. It's like, nah, man. Because you know, I know we come from a good pet, a good place. You know, we all have good hearts, dog. Like, because if we didn't, we'd be thugged out. Yeah, up in the pen.
SPEAKER_02Easily.
SPEAKER_03Easy. Come on, man. That still can happen, though. Hey, like Tupac said, don't push me, boy. So uh yeah, man. So I yeah, I think the secret to longevity and our crew was that once we get together, eagles were set aside. And and and kind of I hate to say it, but a democracy form where it was like votes. Hey man, what do you think? You know, we always listen to our crew members like like um one time this one kid tried to get in. My boy Penn was like, You let that motherfucker in, I'm out. Sorry, bro, you can't get in. You know what I'm saying? Like, like we got more love for Penn because hey man, Penn put it down. He he he knows our families, you know. He's been to my homie, you know, we've all been to each other's houses, dog slept over, you know. So yeah, man, no egos, but when you're with your brothers, like prank. When we have a meeting, he don't come out with his chest up niggas in the street. Why I mean I make nigga billions, you know what I mean? Nah. Pranks always like, what's up? He's my 124 pack, let's get it. Yep. End up talking, you know, on the same level. Even though he's in the higher echelon, when it comes to K for P, we all see each other as equals, Doctor. That's how I feel about Brewing.
SPEAKER_01Like every time around my mouth, I'm like, oh man.
SPEAKER_03Fucking brewing.
SPEAKER_01He just rolls up and shit, like you know, like a regular dude and shit. Shout out to Brewing. That motherfucker, man, he back there fucking fighting. Man, that man doing shit. That man doing shit, man. He's doing major shit. You know, it's crazy to see one of your own homies like they used to do this. And then now, oh my god, they doing this. But it's fucking, you feel proud, like that. That's my motherfucker.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it's my boy, right? Yeah, that's my motherfucking man. Um, so recently, I think in um I'm gonna say right before COVID, two years before COVID-19, something like that, 18, 19, I have a homie man that I met here in Los Angeles in an internet cafe. I see this motherfucker looking at graph on the computer. And uh I was in Culver City and they had a laundry and a in an internet cafe right next to it. So while my laundry was being done, I was like, fuck it, let me take a stroke. I go into the internet cafe, I see this kid looking at graffiti art. And I'm like, you know, I ain't trying to be nosy, but then I saw it, and you know, I see graffiti, I get excited, money, you know? Uh and when I saw him, I rolled up to him, I go, hey, you right? He was like, Oh, so he's in Mexico. You know, like straight up, like he's like, no, he didn't understand. I go, oh, I saw graffiti. He goes, Graffitero? I was like, what? You know, then the two two fucking two uh civilizations collide, right? So I'm like, yeah, yeah, yeah. And he was like, oh yeah. And I used to work at the uh Venice Art Walls. Excuse me, for um Stosh and his girl and shit. They have um Um Creative and Creative Unity ICU and Creative Unity. Um I used to work with him, so when I saw him, it was around that time, and I told him, hey, I work at the Venice Art Walls, come down and you can paint. You know, let me see what you got. Just like, all right, boom, came down, he painted. I was like, all right, this food's cool, you know, it's straight from Mexico City. And then um uh months happened, and he was still here visiting with his aunt, and I would let him come paint in my neighborhood over here. Uh I used to live on the next block too. Um I used to let him come paint. So we connected, and I was like, man, I want to go over to Mexico City. I've never been there. So through him, caught a flight, boom, went to Mexico City. Uh, this was when uh I'm in the book called Graffiti LA by Steve Grody. Yeah. I took him a copy and I told him, look, this is me. He was like, oh shit. So it was cool. And um I went over there because uh do you remember Whisk had the has has the book uh Graffiti History of Graffiti LA? So he was doing an expo in Mexico City, so I went the same weekend. So we I painted with Kios. I did a production Saturday, I painted the whole two days while I was there. We only the only break we took was to go to the event where we I saw Wisk, Neo M A K shout out was there, um uh uh Galo Make was there, um File was there. We was all in Mexico City, map mobbing. And um uh so then that happened, and then um uh years later, we kind of had a fallout. So once that fallout, we got over it, he started uh texting me, like, yo, check this out, I've been paying. Man, his Instagram must have had like fucking, I'm not bullshitting, man, it's like 300 pictures already of pieces, pieces, pieces. And I was like, oh, that's dope. You know, because I was still, you know, sometimes when I have a fallout with foods and it's a certain fallout, I kind of don't fuck with them no more. But it was a female fallout, so I got over it. You know what I'm saying? I was a little hurt, but I got over it. It's unnecessary. Yeah, stupid shit. You know, like, man, we could push that out the way and have something more beautiful. You know what I mean? So uh he was like, I'm gonna be in LA, I'm gonna paint with you. I go, alright, that's cool, man. Come paint with me. I was still sketchy, because you know, you know, sometimes when you hurt, nigga, you don't you don't forget that easy. Yeah. But I kind of was like, man, fuck it. Let bygones be bygones, come on. So he painted with me, and Cray rolled up, and Cray's like, hey nigga, why you ain't thinking about putting them on yet? I go, really? I was like, you know, because you know, he had done that bullshit, and then I was like, okay, but uh I hit him up. He used to be in a crew with this one kid in Mexico City that's really sick. Uh, but then they had a fallout, and I told him, what's up? I go, look, if you want to be from KVP, that's the only crew you could be from. He's like, you know what, man, it's because my homie's dope and I want to stay with him. I said, okay, nigga, no problem. You know, I never have a problem that a motherfucker go. So uh he had the fallout, so he called me back. He's like, man, what's up? I was like, man, what's up? Dude, 30 days of bombing, send me the pictures. No, a matter of fact, as a matter of fact, because of all the pieces, because by the time Cray had told me that he already had like fucking, I ain't even front on you, like 400 pieces in his Instagram profile. Like just all different colors, everything. And I mean, it wasn't, they wasn't like he's not a wild style technician or nothing, but he got heart, dog. And when you got heart, trust me, you improved. Because you practice, you practice, you practice, you know. You want to do better. Yeah, you want to be better. Um, so turns out, um, I told him, look, since you're gonna be the first member, okay for being in Mexico City, skip the 30 days. I see you painting. Just rep. He's like, all right, boom. So we got uh we got homeboy in Mexico City and I know Siler from JW in Mexico. There, boy. Him, Dunk, and the fuckers out there. Hey, I don't know how these motherfuckers do it. Fucking Uncle, like hey, I'm gonna tell you, dog, this motherfucker is everywhere. I know. I'm driving, I'm like, damn. Oh shit. Oh, damn. You know, yeah.
SPEAKER_01So I I plan on making a trip, you know, down south more often.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, hey.
SPEAKER_01Nigga, I want to go to Belize, that's cool. I'm trying to set something up like that. So I'm trying to go see the mayor and TJ, you know, Scoff.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01Oh, is that what the club is?
SPEAKER_03That's the mayor, man. That's the homie, man.
SPEAKER_01Stoff is cool. He's a South Central cat, you know? He grew up around here.
SPEAKER_03Scofi's the homie, definitely. Got love for that cat, man. He always hook it up.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like I'm gonna go down there and get with the mayor and TJ and the mayors and Mexico City and shit and all things go. Hey, and taking Belize and shit. He's out there, you know, he's still putting in work.
SPEAKER_03That's dope. That's dope, man. That's dope.
SPEAKER_01Bombing, doing some tags and shit like that.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's dope, man. You know, actually, I'm gonna tell you, man, Brotherhood and our crew, you can see that shit. You know what I'm saying?
SPEAKER_02Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Well, because I was here with the homie the other day, and he's like, man, I see you guys. You guys are like brothers and shit. I'm like, yeah, man, it's my homie's all because we the only ones that are into this shit, that that's putting into it, you know? And we ain't getting nothing out of it. But what we are in in fame terms, but we don't even care about that shit. The thing we care more about is having a good time when you're with the home. Like right now, I'm having a blast. We drank some brews, about to turn his blunt, you know what I mean? Yep, exactly. That's even like, uh, do you remember the silver blue battle, the first one? Oh yeah, yeah. So I was in that motherfucker. Man, what I did is I want to go pick up my homie. We started smoking, drinking, laughing. I get to the battle, I'm having a good time, dog. You know, that's what that's because that's what it's about, man. It ain't gotta be about like motherfucking meditating, you know what I mean? Unless it's some serious shit. Don't get me wrong, because there's some battles out there that boy. You know? So uh, but but uh yeah, man. I mean, it's it's really just about having fun, man. And it's my I call it my therapy. Like, you see, I had to build this damn wall right here and at the home. You know, actually, um, now at the KPP meeting, this last one, we was having throw-up battles. Like, you know, you gotta get these motherfuckers active, man. Fucking Frank's battle method and shit, and yeah, man. I battled poker, you know? And throw-ups, and then you time them and shit. It's good times, man. Motherfuckers, they they start getting pumped and shit, you know? Yeah, they start getting punk. My boy turned with Valentine Sway. Like, we was, you know, battle. Because, you know, you gotta, you gotta, um, sometimes you gotta pump what was was was what originally was it was supposed to be back into these motherfuckers. Yeah, like fun. You know, like oh food, let's go. Shit.
SPEAKER_01It was, man.
SPEAKER_03Hell yeah, hell yeah. Let me see your lighter back down here. Look at the bike at the bike.
SPEAKER_01For the the cats in the future.
SPEAKER_03Tessie 123, Tessie 123. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, and what what advice do you have for a young cat that's trying to like uh come up in the game? Like he's trying to you know make a name for himself. You know, he he he sees pieces and it's something that he wants to do in his life. Like, like we saw some shit that we chose that we wanted to do in our lives. Yeah, what advice would you give that young man?
SPEAKER_03I think I would say, like, you know, keep going to it's not fun anymore, man. You know? And once it stops getting fun and you still want to do it, find an outlet. You know, because ooh, man, we ain't here to talk about beef, but Lord have mercy.
SPEAKER_01Beef is a motherfucker, man. Beef is you've seen us go through it. Yeah, yeah, I've seen it. I know it, you know. I know what it is, you know. Like vice versa. I've been through that motherfucker too, man. It's a beast, like it's a it's uh a bad habit that we picked up along the way. Man, growing up around the environment that we grew up, because different patches of motherfuckers were not like different patches of motherfuckers.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's funny, that's funny too. Because you know, it's funny because it's like Nipsey said, like, you looking for the motherfucker that looks like you, you know what I mean? So it's like, what the fuck? He broke that shit down sick, man. Um yeah, bro, and and you know, the thing about kids in the future, man, is it's a different thing because see now all the styles already done, been laid out, but the new hybrids that kids come with, the new shit is always exciting too, man. I fucking love to see the new shit, man. I and you know, every time I meet a new kid or kid that's really coming out, man, I painted with dudes that was nobodies too. Because I, to me, it's all about painting, and it goes back to the longevity part of it, no ego. I don't care if you got, you know, if you're a youngster dog and you pumped up to paint with me, you know, that's cool. Let's paint, you know? I don't be, I'm not the type of dude like, nah, I ain't gonna paint with you. Uh like, you know what I'm saying? You ain't you ain't on my level. It ain't about that, man. It's about, hey, if he ain't on your level, show him your level, dog. So maybe he can get up another one, you know?
SPEAKER_02Show him some skills.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because it's all about passing knowledge, homie, and that's how you live through your legacy, lives through. You know what I mean? By passing it down.
SPEAKER_01That's that's that's how I picked it up. Like my brother brought it home one day, he said, yeah, I'm PCSK now.
SPEAKER_03Yep, um, no, no, no, no. You want water? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Let me get a water bottle.
SPEAKER_01Man, the future of K-14. Let's talk a little bit about the the middle part.
SPEAKER_03Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_01After the era of Brother Pranks.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And Brother Mesk.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, because they moved away.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they moved away, leading in to Brother Cray.
SPEAKER_03Okay, so Brother Cray got into K for P in '95.
SPEAKER_01Before I remember him being DMA.
SPEAKER_03DMA? He used to write design too.
SPEAKER_01Design, he used to write design.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, um, actually, my boy uh fashion found him. Fashion is the one who was like, hey man, I got this little homie that lived down the street from my mom's house. And he was like, he writes design. And we're like, hey, we seen him up, you know? Like, yeah, shit, he got a straight hand, you know? Uh, next thing you know, we met him. Mask was like, hey man, boop boop, and you know, how would you like being down in KFP, you know? And he was like, What? He was like, Yeah, just you know, do a couple tags, you know. We've always had this probationary period, always. Oh, that shit's been since day one. Because we need to know who we're fucking with, you know? Yeah. So he was hitting it, designed, designed. See in the mud with little copyright logos and shit. Then um one day, because the original K for P that started K-per P was already diminishing, like Argu had went out, he moved away. Presto got went to state, um, pocus passed away. Ain disappeared, he be doing that shit. He disappears and he comes back and he disappears. Um, and and in the midst of us coming up, we had clicked up with a crew called OSB. And that's where we got Sims, we got um Bison and WoW. We had a couple other dudes, Go Five, a couple other dudes, man. And uh once like Mesk left, Pranks left, I wasn't stuck with too many piecers. I had Nerve, but then he was kind of tripping. No, we it was me and Nerve for a while, and that time was when you used to have that yard on Central. So all of that little time, it was just me and Craig kind of representing peace from Cape for Peak. Because everybody else had moved away. Or Meta didn't peace at the time. Um, we had more Tagoka didn't peace at the time, Sway didn't peace, and they were here. Wowzer and them, they was cool, Sims, he pieced, but like we was over here and there was in Southgate, and sometimes we get together and sometimes we didn't. Uh so then Biser was still painted. So Biser would would organize productions, then we let in Kache. And then Kache started organizing productions with Beiser. And so after Kray started, he changed his name once we let him on. Right away when he got on KP, he switched it to Kray. Then uh.
SPEAKER_01Was that because of design 9?
SPEAKER_03No. It's because he knew there was a lot of designs. You know what I mean? Because it's design 9, there's a design like in Seattle or some shit. You know what I mean? There's like tons of motherfuckers. So he was like, nah, fuck that shit. So um, once he got on, we was PC more. Mess was still here, but then Mess left and he's like, Zuko, I'm gonna leave you in charge, you know, to organize to organize meetings and you know, do the thing that, you know, a leader does. So I was like, all right, yeah, nigga, shit, I'll do it. I got my little homie Craig, he was still, he was buried like 17, 18. Because he got in like thing when he was like 15, food. Yeah. He was already doing shit at 15, you know?
SPEAKER_01So, um Yeah, me and Craig were roughly the same.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, huh. But you guys didn't go to school together enough. You went to Jeff?
SPEAKER_01I did go to Jeff, but I went to Jeff for a semester. I was going there for summer school.
SPEAKER_03And what did they ship you to?
SPEAKER_01Uh and Taft.
SPEAKER_03Did you meet did you have homie rider homies out there? Shame. Oh, okay. My writer homies from there.
SPEAKER_01We ride out to Canova Park. That's where I spent like my senior year, I believe. Yeah, I was at Canoga Park. So we I went from Jeff, being from PCSK and all that shit. Yeah. And that's when I that's when I met um Shane, who was Swerve now, who was the unit at the time. I was at Jeff, the homie that lived around the corner from me, uh, who's from the crew now, Nile River.
SPEAKER_03I knew Nile. Now's the homie.
SPEAKER_01Nile lived around the corner. He knew and he knew Shane. And I knew Nile because I I was with Nile when he moved into the neighborhood. He moved in around.
SPEAKER_03Is Nile on Bleasion 2? No. Oh, okay.
SPEAKER_01He's a foundational brother. Foundational Black American.
SPEAKER_03FOI buddy.
SPEAKER_01So um through through him, because he was the first person that I met that did graffiti. Oh, worried. It was like, you know, outside of everybody else that I knew. And he was and vice versa with him, he was like, oh, I didn't even know anybody that did graffiti was over here.
SPEAKER_03Because now was always good, man. Yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01By the time me and him started coming about, all of the older cats was like, man, tag and told.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01It's all about people. It's tagging told. So we were like, man. So that's when you know Now introduced me to Shane.
SPEAKER_03Oh, word.
SPEAKER_01And Shane introduced me to Antic, who was my stepfather. And introduced me to Plot, who's my cousin.
SPEAKER_03That's crazy.
SPEAKER_01And I'm like, hell, I didn't even know. Like, I have family members and shit. And they were like the last batch of black dudes that was doing graffiti over here in 1995, 1994, 1996.
SPEAKER_03She gets credit too, man. You've been around for nigga. I know she's he was a young cat, cuz. Come on, man. Yeah, man. We got mad love, dog. It's all good always good with you, man.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, they were the last batch of brothers that was like painting, and like, you know, that I had a camaraderie with, you know. Yeah, yeah. And there was nobody else around. All everybody else mostly like, you know, fell off. Stopped, moved away. Yeah, you know what I'm saying? Everything was like different.
SPEAKER_03That's so after Craig got in, Mesk left. Pranks was still in the picture, but Pranks is in Pomoan now. You know what I mean?
SPEAKER_01Oh, that's why that piece.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah. So Pranks is in Premonin now. And uh battles. Crazy shit is, man. Um shoutouts to my boy uh uh uh Future. And uh my boy Rask. I knew them cats for a long time, man. And um kill for first object uh Rask started doing this crazy style that like not a lot of dudes was doing, you know. It's more designy than lettery, you know what I mean? But you can still see the letters, shit's fat, right? Cello used to write Rex. So uh from BTA. So uh fast forward to you know, Mesk leaving, no more piecers around. Sims had went off to do play in a band. Ain't was fucking touring in South America because he used to do managing for Spanish rock bands. He used to do that shit. You know, motherfuckers was away. Mahomie Preser was in, you know, stayed. Um C's Wisley wasn't a piecer. He was around, but he wasn't a piecer. Method was around, but he wasn't a piecer, sway or coca, they weren't piecing, it was just pretty much me whenever I could get pranks, and Cray. Like Cray jumped into piecing right away. And it was good. Fucking mysteriously good. I was like, god damn, this boy know what he's doing, you know? And he young as fuck, scrolling with us. Oh, he about to get everywhere. So, so um it just was me and Cray for a while. Boom, you know, let's go here, let's go there. We had Kachir, but Kach was more running on sunset. And you know, we local niggas, you know what I mean? So but then Kacher would get Kray to go do shit over there with him. Then um Beiser was still painting. And Mondo had came back. Mondo from MAK?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So he wanted, he, well, it's not that he wanted, but he started rolling with us. And he was writing Mondo MAKK for P. So we were finally getting somewhere. Oh, and Disrupt. Disrupt and Noak, like them dudes, they they was the only piecers, you know? But we was all separate. But we still kept it tight. Because uh, because uh like we would go to Belmont, excuse me, Belmont and do productions, do stuff together. So that was running from like 95 to like 99. And me bringing up Rask was because Rask had a bomb on Grand and Adams. So it was like, I think it's like 27th and Adams. So in between there, there was a little spot that had a rask.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, I remember that.
SPEAKER_03And fucking Rex captain, Cello. So one day we were piecing for a Streetwise ad over there on Maple, where Kray has that unfinished Cray with the Rask character on the side. Um, we were doing a Streetwise commercial for prank. So then when we're doing that, Lil Cello rolls up, but he was Rex. He was like, hey man, you guys doing this? Like, yeah. He's like, Oh, are you guys right? We're like, Yeah, I'm Zuko K for P. And Craig was like, I'm crazy K for P. He said, Oh man, I've been looking for you guys. You know, like that. So he goes, I'm Rex BTA. And then Cray said, Who? Rex BTA, and then Cray said, Hey man, let me talk to you because he's the one that caprased. So he schooled him on that. And I don't know how it happened, but he changed his name from Rex to Cello. And then started hanging out with Craig tough. So they was inseparable. So the thing about Cello is he knew the little youngsters from the neighborhood that were into graffiti. Younger than, way younger than us, twice, twice as young.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So, you know, a lot of our homies had stopped painting. So Cello's like, I know some dudes, you know? We'll bring them around. Started bringing Nautic around. Oh no, actually, Craig was in jail. Yeah, I went to jail for some shit. He did like two years, two, three years. And he would call me on the phone, like, hey, get Cello in. I don't care, you know? I'm like, all right. Gave Cello the 30 days, he got in. And I'm throwing meetings with like older heads at this point, you know? Like there's really no new heads. And then um uh once he got in, Cray had noticed Nautic and Michael because they was already doing shit. It wasn't it wasn't the best shit, but it was creative. You know, it's creative. And that's what we was looking at, like, damn, that one got imagination, you know? And then uh so one day he bring around Nautic and Michael. You know, and these motherfuckers like dark skinned Mexicans. I was like, oh shit, okay. We've had two pair of two pair of brothers in the crew, like we have an old school member named Ryo and Sia, and those dudes are from a hood. But they're twins. And now we have Michael and Dum, their brother. So that's crazy. And then we had a father and son duo. Mondo from MAK and pros. He's from MTA now. Excuse me. I I kind of was against it. I was like, I don't want, I don't want this nigga's son in the same crew with his dad. Shit's weird, you know? But they wanted it. But any man, anyway, man, um cello brought Nautic, Michael, and at one point, um Cello was like, because Cray was in jail, was like, man, I'm taking Nautic under my wing. So he started painting a grip with Nautic. Yo, I ain't gonna lie to you, because you know, they have fucking San Pedro uh Unlock, fucking uh Avalon, uh, fucking uh 40 fucking 20 foot characters on Central. Then motherfuckers destroyed it. And and them doing that, see, that's crazy how you know you don't know when you're influencing people. With that, we got Render now, we got Court, you know? Like, man, crazy cats, you know?
SPEAKER_02Keeps going.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it keeps going. And and and and you know, the reason why it's still going the way it is, is because that formula works. You get what I'm saying? Like, whatever we're doing, we're doing it right.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You get what I'm saying? So, yeah, yeah, so like I said, man, we always stress to be only from one crew because us personally, and you know what's funny? It's hard to find like-minded people. So, us personally, we feel like it's better that way because you can kind of like it feels real.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Exactly, exactly.
SPEAKER_03Feels real, dog.
SPEAKER_01As we know, there are very few can be very few. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_01And then and uh back then resist 122 being one. And um now to uh Cray being one.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know, like there's like certain um, all right, you cool. You do. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03You you you is different. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, yeah, because uh wow, he's from STK, you know what I'm saying? So, but we see we see it now as like, look, that shit is grandfathered in except for Cray. But you know what the thing about it is like it kind of builds bridges. You get what I'm saying? So, and not only that, dog, it's better to build a bridge than to burn one, dog. That's that's history and facts. And so, um, that's why like my crew, I be telling motherfuckers, you know what, we don't never start it, but we'll end that motherfucker. You know what I'm saying? We won't start it, dawg, but we'll end that motherfucker, even if it's the end of us. Because we believe in it so much. You know, it's like fuck it, all in. You know, but that's that's pretty much it, man. Um man, I wish I had a picture of that billboard I did on Slossen in '92. Rock this motherfucker at Venice, I'm telling you, man. I wish. Oh shit.
SPEAKER_01That's what it's yeah, man.
SPEAKER_03Shit, man. Thanks for having me. I mean, I hope so. Is that it, man? I feel like I owe you like a thousand more stories, dog. Yeah, yeah. No, but that's going. No, I mean, I mean you going. I mean, you could cut out a gang and shit and you know, flip it and flop it. No, but you know, like, like, um, no, I did want to get out there that, and because of Cello and Nautic doing that shit, and now Cello kind of like dropped out for a minute, he's taking a big break. Uh now the dudes that saw Cello and Nautic is coming out the woodwork. You get what I'm saying? Yeah, and then which is the renters and these cats, these new cats, Party. We got a new dude named Party. Um, and then uh little dude we know they probably influencing younger cats, you know? And you know, I guess one thing I want to say about K4P too is that um, like no matter what, we always look out for one another. That's plain and simple, dog. Even even like when Quiet passed away, man, we was more than happy to chill, donate, everything, man. Cause it's he man, and we'll go backwards, you know what I'm saying? Nah, go back.
SPEAKER_01Um, man, such a brother, man. Such a brother.
SPEAKER_03I know, that's crazy. So I know, and my boy C's too, man. That motherfucker years already years, man. We hey they some go, some stay.
SPEAKER_01Um I think that's kind of why me and Ster are doing this, you know what I'm saying? That's right. You never know.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's definitely.
SPEAKER_01You never know what's gonna happen, and like nobody knows the story better than the person that'll be talked about in the history books.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_01These motherfuckers from over here was the shit, and here's why.
SPEAKER_03You know what I'm saying? Right, right, right. And you know what, man, I'm gonna be honest, like, like very few times will we ever carry ourselves with our chest out, because that's not what it is. That's not what we're doing here. We writers, because we we love the art, we love to fucking paint. You know, I've and on a quick personal note, I'm against motherfuckers bombing murals. I always say that shit. I'm against it. I ain't I ain't gonna do nothing. From our era, that's cool shit. Yeah, that's that's that's not a good thing. We ain't never touched a mural, never like that, never like that. And you know what? I'm gonna I'm gonna be honest too. When uh my homies get into my crew, right away I tell them, look, don't bomb any murals, bro, because I know half those motherfucking artists, you know? Like, man, I I mean, you know, and they come to me sometimes because they know I'm a writer.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And they're like, man, what are you talking about? You're talking. I'm like, look, bro, I can't police the world, motherfucker, but I could hold my own tribe. But I can't do nothing for nobody else, you know. But um, and uh, let me see. Yeah, man, that's pretty much it. Um me, and then I, you know, I just picked up styles like fucking uh just practicing, dog. Painting. That's why I'm good now because of the 30 years I've been doing. Like I was telling people, 30 years I better know how to do something, motherfucker. You know, I've um picked up a few skills. I actually just painted a light box. You know how Mark 7 and I did one right here on 46. Oh word. Yeah. 46 and Central, man. Hell yeah. Um, but uh uh uh I painted in Mexico City, painted in fucking San Antonio, I painted in New York with masks. Um yeah, painted in shh, nigga, but I'm waiting on some legalities to get my ass to Europe because that's my next move, you know what I mean? Because I ain't never been across the water like that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and that's something I also want to do.
SPEAKER_03I got a homie out there, I got I got people's man. It's it's crazy. The graffiti community has definitely been like awesome. Yeah, and it's awesome, dog. Because I'll tell you right now, when I was in Mexico City, I went to some underground shit, shisty shit, man. But because my graph boys were there, all red carpet. Red carpet. All them motherfuckers had LA hats. I was like, what the fuck? I'm in Mexico City, dawg. But uh, yeah, man, no. Um uh yeah, the positive graffiti community is very tight. And because of me um helping Hex do things, I met a lot of dudes, man. And I'm I'm gonna take advantage of it because, you know, uh, it's always been a dream of mine to catch a train like a subway shit or something, you know?
unknownFor real?
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that's just about it. You know, once if I if I pull one off, I'm if God strikes me after that, cool. Just get my picture. Make that happen. Make that happen. Get my picture, huh? Nah, nah, man, crazy shit. Um, let me see, what else? Do we give shoutouts too? Nah. Whatever you want, nah.
SPEAKER_01Shout out, man. Shout out. Who who's who's some of the competition that you see from back then to now? Like uh for 4K, 4P, like within within South Central in itself.
SPEAKER_03Oh wow. Well, of course, like RTN would be a competition, because RTN is sick. I mean, you can't deny fucking Create or Mark 7. I know it was for years. But that that's my big bro, you know, Mark 7 is my big bro. Uh Create is older than me in the art of the graph. But I think we're about the same age. And no, you know what? Create used to work with me at this place called Humble Graphics. He started working there and was working, like, I would do all like the running around, like going to pick up flyers and shit, because we used to design flyers there and do like business cards and shit. So I used to have to work with him, one of my homies, Jimbo. But yeah, man, I would say, like, if there was ever like a crazy battle, K R P and RTN, that shit would be nuts. Crazy shit. No, but I would come on, nigga. Shh. Y'all niggas got ink, got mids. Oh my god, those dudes are ridiculous right there. Okay, for being itself.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, man. You got bi, it's not like you know, Frank's new, and man, uh man. Nah, it's gonna be a good thing.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, that would be dope, man. That would be dope, man. But shit. Ink, man. I man, I gotta holler at Ank, man. I gotta get somebody to do uh a proper like C's portrait. You know, because we have one at this little um get together, like it's fundraiser. But that wall homeboy gave it to us, so I want to redo it and do like a good portrait of him. Cause you know these cats nowadays, that shit is fucking, that shit looks ink is sick. Ink is out of control, man. That's the bitch.
SPEAKER_01Man, it's realistic, the shit is like fucking man.
SPEAKER_03That's real, as real it can be, huh?
SPEAKER_01He has the motherfucker on the wall playing.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, man.
SPEAKER_01Emotion and life. That's what it feels like.
SPEAKER_03Not fucking around with ink, boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Ink ain't no joke. But yeah, man, uh, you know, and and only because I know like the artistic creativity of both crews is high level, dog. It's high level. It's high level. Kree's high level. Kree done battled food. I seen Kree's battles. Yeah, yeah. He comes with it. He comes with it.
SPEAKER_02Um, let me see.
SPEAKER_03What else I was gonna say. What else I was gonna say.
SPEAKER_01Oh shit. I'm high as fuck.
SPEAKER_03All right. All right, that's cool, that's cool. Let me show you some pictures.
SPEAKER_01Alright, all right, cut this shit off. Yeah, cut the shit up, bro.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, we catch y'all later, man. Catch y'all later, man. K for P.
SPEAKER_04No face, run the face, run.