The Style Writers
Sight Zilla and Menes One interview graffiti artists and graffiti writers.
The Style Writers
She Bombs Interview
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Sight Zilla interviews the She Bombs. She Bombs is an emerging graffiti artist with a distinctive style. She Bombs has a lot of heart and is a trailblazer in her own lane.
What's up everybody? Um, the first episode of Up Next. Um, I got a very special guest from far away. Um, she's awesome. Um would you like to uh introduce yourself?
SPEAKER_01My name is She Bombs. I'm from the Coachella Valley. Uh grew up in Southern California, but I live out in the Coachella Valley, and I've been writing for a couple years now.
SPEAKER_02Cool, cool, cool. Um, I met I met um She-Bombs at Flat Black shop out in um Palm Desert. Super chill person. I seen her work, she's she's she's it. Um what inspired me about her was that um she's a lady of graph, there's not too many women in graph graffiti, and um it's very inspirational to see women do what they do in a male-dominated sport, especially um um I guess you can say this. I just think it's I just I'm just inspired, really. But um, how important is it for for women to do graffiti?
SPEAKER_01I think it's really important. I mean, growing up, I grew up in Orange County, and I still remember being in like fifth grade and getting the talk from the sheriff's department of what graffiti was, and they just harped on the fact that it was men who did it, and it was for some reason men in gangs is what they they pushed, and they never mentioned that women did it. But as a kid, I remember coming to LA and seeing all this cool graffiti and seeing it on trains and seeing it on the freeways and the walls, and I was like, there's no way that this is just men. Like, some of this is really girly, some of it's really the colors are just beautiful. So when I decided to start it, I specifically picked the name She-Bombs because I wanted to make it super, super clear that it was a woman doing it because I wanted other women to know that if you like this, if this if this like makes that part of your brain just like feel nice, then you should maybe try it too. I mean, you may like it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, it's cool. Um, were there were there um what are your top five um female artists of all time that inspired you to do graffiti?
SPEAKER_01I definitely think uh Lady Pink from New York City was definitely one that's one of my top ones. I love her. She's still making art to this day. Her art is still graffiti-based a lot of the time. I fucking love her. For sure her um uh Lady K157 out in where is she, Paris? I want to say. I just love that the girls got a ball gown on and throwing up Mad Max tags, like middle of Paris, middle of the day. I love her. For sure her um, there's some amazing local ones too. Like I've been following Miss Andy. We were talking about her earlier. She does the most colorful, beautiful fills.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01So and on the freeway, like she's not just in a yard where it's chill and you can do whatever and take your time. Girls on the side of the freeway doing beautiful fills. Um, plain Jane. Uh, I like her a lot too. I want to say she's from LA. She does super cute cartoons, just so crazy cute, very colorful. I really love her as well. And muckrock. I love muckrock. I don't know if she's really a graffiti artist anymore. She's more of a muralist now. I love that girl. She is just. I've met her a few times. I love her art. I love how she takes just stuff that you wouldn't think of, puts tattoos all over and makes them smoke weed. And I love that.
SPEAKER_02I gotta look into her.
SPEAKER_01I love her.
SPEAKER_02Um, Miss Andy, uh, or a lot of people thought she was a dude because she was so clean, colorful, and her style is is is dope, you know. And if you ever meet Miss Andy, she's very shy, very introverted. Um, but she loves she loves the attention, but in a very subtle way. She's not cocky. But one of the most humblest girls you'll ever meet. Uh, so sweet, and um even meet her, you want to like take her in and have her as your little sister. She's like my little sister, so um. So, like, how long you've been writing for, and how long do you plan on writing?
SPEAKER_01So, I started writing right when the pandemic started. I got fired from my job, and I was trying to make my art happen, and I feel like nobody was listening to me. I was had had a fallout with my mom and my family, and I was just very frustrated and angry, and didn't know what I was gonna do. And I I had a backyard with a wall, and I got some spray cans, and it was just messing around. I was like, I like this, but I don't want to do this at home. Yeah, I want to do this places where people can see it. So I went out and I was like, you know, I'm just gonna try it, and I could draw. I've been drawing my whole life. Why can't I do this? And so I went out and tried it, and I sucked a lot. I really sucked for a long time. But something about it, it was just it took away all the stress. It took away, I have a chronic pain disease.
SPEAKER_00Oh no.
SPEAKER_01And when I paint, I feel nothing. I feel no pain, no nothing. It's just pure bliss, pure happiness, pure joy, and just concentrating on the art. And ever since then, I've wanted to do it every day if I could. Wow.
SPEAKER_02That's dope. I mean, like when I first I I feel you when I first started writing, I was I was weak. Um, people are so critical in the graffiti game, especially in the West Coast. Um, but I kept doing it, and I'm glad you kept doing it, and I'm glad you're still going. But how far do you will you do this till the wheels fall off or is this just something Oh heck yeah.
SPEAKER_01Heck yeah, till the wheels fall off for sure. I mean, I feel like this is something I because when you see it, it's more about my art and less about who I what I look like or and it my appearance. I could do this until I'm in a wheelchair and beyond. Like as long as I can still hold the can, I think I'm gonna still do it. I just love it too much.
SPEAKER_02You sound like a living legend. Um how do you deal with the male toxicity in the graffiti game right now?
SPEAKER_01I feel like most of the toxicity comes from online for sure. I mean, the dudes who oh the only time I've gotten negativity from men about my graffiti has come in the form of online comments. And I worked in social media before I ever did graffiti, and so I know what trolls come from and what they're like. And it's easy to say shit from behind a keyboard, and you don't gotta look a girl in the face and be like, yo, your shit sucks. But I work in a graffiti shop, and so a lot of the writers in my area, especially in the valley, it's pretty small, you get to know everybody. And none of those dudes have walked in and be like, yo, your shit sucks, or your toy, or whatever. They've all been like, That's really cool that you go out and paint so much. That's really or they've given me tips and stuff. So I think most of the toxicity for me at least has come online for sure. Because I've chosen to document the entire process, the good, the bad, and the ugly. From literally day one, I filmed everything because I wanted to see the progress myself. Okay, and and along that people have watched it, and it's like that's cool. I never really expected that. In my head, there's still five people watching, and one of them's my boss. Yeah, but uh now there's like thousands of people who watch. It's like, oh, that's cool. I didn't I don't even think about that, but that's where the toxicity comes from. And for me, I think it's just jealousy, like maybe they're jealous they don't know a girl that does this, or a girl who's down to go out by herself and paint, or go on the freeway and do stuff just because she wants to try and do it. Like, yeah, sorry.
SPEAKER_02Okay, so like so, like, most of the time when guys see women that do graffiti, they get all excited, they get all like pumped up, and they want to paint with these girls. They want to paint with the women of Grab, they want to paint with Chew, they want to paint with Meow, they want to paint with Andy, they want to paint with Jism. Um, what is the proper way for a guy to approach a graffiti girl as far as trying to paint with them? Because I spoke to Pink out of um the homegirl Pink. She uh I think she's out of uh mid-city uh Korea town area, and she said, like, you know, it's it's a matter of safety, um, and she doesn't just paint with anyone, you know. And she has to take a third person with her just in case stuff goes sour. Right? Um I home I'm I got another homegirl that dudes have like tried to force themselves on them and try to rape them and stuff like that. So what is the proper way? Like I know there's some dudes that are normal and they want to paint with women because they it's like painting when a unicorn, I guess. So how do they go about doing that? How what's the proper way to approach a woman that does graffiti?
SPEAKER_01I definitely think um building a relationship with her before you ever paint with her is important. Um most of the men I have painted with, I've either have met them in person and we've hung out or we have talked online extensively. And even then, like you you never can 100% trust anybody I don't really know them. And we're all vandals, right? Who knows what we're really doing? So for me, when I go, I always make sure someone knows where I'm going and I share my location constantly through my iPhone. So I've got homies that know, okay, I'm going out here. This is who I'm going with, and this is where we're going. And if any, if you don't hear from me in two hours, send the goons to come find me. Something is wrong. But now I'm very, very privileged to work in a graffiti shop because I get to meet people that I've never would have met who I look up to who are now asking me to paint. And it's like, oh my god, yeah, I will paint with you. But I think you know, don't be creepy. Um, don't pester her about it because that comes off as really like, okay, you're a little too eager. Um, and whether or not to me, if you're if I'm gonna paint with you, I want this to be serious, I want you to teach me something, I want you to be better than me, or at least, you know, not to toot my horn, but as good as me. I don't want to spend my whole time teaching you. That's not why we're painting. This is a different thing. So bring something to the table, bring spots to the table, you know, bring homies, and I will bring homies. And then that's when everyone I think is the most comfortable. Like unicorns will paint, just make us comfortable.
SPEAKER_02All right, that sounds cool. Um, what do you prefer? Uh tags, throwies, burners, or pieces?
SPEAKER_01Really depends on the day, and honestly, I think it depends on how my day is going. So if I am really frustrated, like I've got a 10-year-old, and sometimes kids just drive you up the wall, or relationship problems. I want something fast, I want to go out at night and just put stuff everywhere. So that's when like a good hollow throwy or a good quick um tag is fun. But if I got time and I really want to get in the zone and go to a chill yard, that's when peace is really, really shine. I feel like I'm putting like a whole mural out there for just anyone to see.
SPEAKER_02Um, and so with graffiti, there comes a lot of beef, right? And then there's a lot of girls beefing with each other. I don't know if you know about that. It's silly. Um, we should all come together as as vandals, as writers. But um, how do you feel about beef uh from a woman's perspective? How should it be handled and what's the value of it?
SPEAKER_01Beef is always interesting to me. I mean, I've never been involved in it. I've still I'm still really, really new to the game, and I know that. So I haven't been involved in too much, but I've watched it. And to me, it can be so immature. I think we need to cut, like you said, we need to come together and know that it it's it's kind of us against the normies or like the people who don't do the the sane people who don't do this for fun. So, like, why are we fighting with each uh over spots, over glory, over stuff that's gonna get buffed in like 10 minutes? Why don't we get together and try to take over instead? Because fighting is just like it's just a pissing contest at the end of the day.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01So not really for me. If someone wants to cross me out, that's cool. I'll find another place to paint, or I'll paint over that.
SPEAKER_02Okay. I'll fail you. Um, I just there's a lot of beef I've heard about with between females, and it's really silly, but I don't know if it's just based upon like if it's all just about spots, is it about is it strictly graffiti or is it strictly personal or is it something superficial? So I always wonder about it. Beef in my in my perspective, um, I was I was about it when I was younger, but now and these days I just want to like everybody come together, let's uh let's paint together, let's make some money. Um that will help our situations. And um just like just like you said, like let's just come together, let's let's build, let's, let's, let's go paint. It's us against the whole world. We're like the Sith Lords, and it's like it's crazy. We gotta deal with all these heroes and cops and people that don't even know what graffiti is.
SPEAKER_01Um we have to fight against all that. Why why fight against each other on top of it?
SPEAKER_02Um what do you want the world to know about you that they don't know and shouldn't know that can inspire?
SPEAKER_01For me, I think the biggest thing is that I will get up and paint no matter how bad my pain is, no matter how much I'm dealing with, medical issues, that when you see that I've gone out and paint, not only have I found the time to go do it, but I've overcome so much just bullshit, whether it's medical or in my head or family stuff, that those two to three hours you see me cut down to 30 seconds or less on a TikTok or Instagram or whatever. That meant the world to me.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01And the fact that you get to watch it, I love that you watch it, and I hope you know how much it takes out of me to do it, but that I will do it every day.
SPEAKER_02Um, what's your favorite tip?
SPEAKER_01Favorite tip for me, the my favorite tip is if if you feel like you need to get better at doing graffiti, the best way to do it is to get a can to a wall. You can draw all day, and that's great, and do that. Draw every day, all day, but until you put can to a wall, you'll never understand how to truly bring something together.
SPEAKER_02Um what's your favorite spray paint spray paint brand for fills, and what's your favorite brand for cutting?
SPEAKER_01For fills, I've been really into dang a lot. I use dang for a lot of everything. Yeah, they're out of Canada.
SPEAKER_02Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, I love them. They're like uh get sponsored. Right? Hey dang. I love you guys. I tag you all the time. Um, I use them a lot. Like we sell them at the shop, they're Matt, they're a lower price point, which for Greek graffiti I think is important because you're gonna go through so much pain. Like $5.99? Okay, which isn't bad. Like for us, uh 94 is like a dollar more than that. So but for cutting back and for small details, I feel like you can't go wrong with 94.
SPEAKER_0294?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I love it. It's so beautiful. It's so no from Montana, Montana 94. Yeah, I love 94. But I'm also partial to that because that's where I started. I saw everyone on that I would look up, you know, that was doing graffiti nowadays, you'd see the 94 cans in the background. Like, oh, that's cool. I want to try those. So when I finally got my hands on it, I just felt everything from the smell, I love the smell of 94. It smells good to how it comes out, the colors for small details cutting back and stuff you really got to get in there. I love that. But for graffiti, for fills, for stuff you're gonna dump out a whole can, dang, all the way, all the way. Their valve system is clean, their colors are always true to what you see on the cap. I love them.
SPEAKER_02So, how do you feel about crew politics and what does a crew have to do to recruit you?
SPEAKER_01Crew politics, I've I've talked to a lot of people in crews. I've never been in a crew myself, but I've talked to I have a lot of friends who are in crews, and I've been told by all of them, girl, don't don't be in a crew. And I think that's what they say when they're the most frustrated with their crew. And I get that. I see crews as like not only a bunch of friends, but a big family that ideally you have the same idea of growth, the same idea of loving to paint, and you bring that together as just this group that you hang with and paint with. And in a perfect world, if a crew wanted to recruit me, I guess just come paint with me. If I can talk to you, chill with you, and learn from you, then I could probably be in a crew with you. But whether or not I'll ever be in one, I don't know.
SPEAKER_02If you can be in a crew, what what top three crews are you even consider being from?
SPEAKER_01That's so hard because there's so many crews that I love, but that I don't know if there's any women.
SPEAKER_00What comes to mind?
SPEAKER_01Like for LA especially, I always think NBC. I love them. I don't know if they have any women in them. I don't think they do, but their stuff is amazing. I love them. I love CBS too. CBS, okay.
SPEAKER_02I don't know again.
SPEAKER_01They have some girls? Okay, so they got some girls.
SPEAKER_02Okay, okay, cool. I don't see her paint that much. She doesn't paint as much as you, from what I know. I paint a lot though.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, those two definitely stick out. Um, in my local area, SFK is a great crew. I got a lot of homies from there. I love them. They have shown me a lot of love. They don't have any women in their crew though, I understand. Um, and then BOSW, they're a great crew out where I'm at. Okay. Great guys. I would consider that. Again, I don't know if they have any girls in their crew though. I would love an all-girl crew. Like on the East Coast, I know they got PMS.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01If we had a West Coast version of something like that, oh do they?
SPEAKER_02They got an all-girls crew out here in LA. I forgot what they're called. That would be um I don't know what the politics are in that particular crew. But there is an all-girls crew here in in South LA, and they they do a lot of uh killing. But I mean, why don't you start an all-girls crew?
SPEAKER_01I've thought about it. Um, I have a friend up in San Francisco, she's a wheat paster, but she's also a mom, and so we've always joke around that we'd be the mom graffiti gang.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Um, so that's a possibility. I mean, I've thought about it. I think if I did, it would probably be an all-girl one or an all-mom one or something.
SPEAKER_02Well, what you call an all-moms crew?
SPEAKER_01What we do when you go to beds like that, mom's past bedtime. Bad moms. Uh something cool like that. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02I mean, if if you can recruit, like, let's say you started your all-girls crew right now. Well, who will be your top five recruits right now? I know Andy will be one.
SPEAKER_01Oh, for sure. If she wanted to do it, for sure, Andy. And Meow. And Meow, who doesn't like to talk. Um, I love Meow. She does a lot of painting too. She gets up, man. She's just shy. Uh, let's see, who else, who else, who else? There's so many talented women. I don't know. Again, I would just have to like hang out with them and paint with them. Okay. For sure. There's just so many really talented women. I love the finding more and more painting women. Like, every time I find another one, I follow them because I feel like we can all learn from each other, and it's just cool to see like there's another chick out there who's got in her purse, you know, uh a scribe or a Sakura next to her lipstick. I love that.
SPEAKER_02So, like, I've brought a lot of different girls to my crew and um tried to bring them up in the right way. Most of them got taken away by boyfriends. Um, what is the what is the there's a lot of women and a lot of girls that want to get into graffiti. What is the right way for them to get into graffiti? Because a lot of times you run into these dudes that want to show them but don't really show them, but they want to show them something else. But it kind of kills their their dreams and they see neg they see they see graffiti as something negative, something bad, that never brought them anything good. So, what would be the right approach or the right uh way for a woman or a young girl to get into the world of graffiti?
SPEAKER_01I definitely think don't tie your graffiti to a like a man that you're romantically involved in. Like if you're doing graffiti, don't do it for your boyfriend, a dude you have a crush on, do it for you. And to the point where, like, you don't even always paint with him. Because then you're always gonna associate this activity with that guy, and if God forbid you and that dude hate each other, you're gonna think graffiti's bad when really it's just this dude made it bad for you. And I know I get asked a lot, oh, does your man paint, or like, what crew is your man? My man doesn't paint, I'm the one that paints, he doesn't know anything really about graffiti, and he thinks it's cool, but that's about it. And for me that works, but if I was with the man. Who painted, I think it would be important that he knows that I don't do this for him. I do this for me. I don't even do it to keep up with him. If anything, he's got to keep up with me. But if if that's your way of going into it, this is for you, this isn't for fame, this isn't for money, and this definitely is not for a man, then I think you'll do it no matter what your relationship is like with some dude who also happens to do graffiti.
SPEAKER_02What are some of the I know like graffiti uh uh makes you feel better and um cures a lot of different things? Um but what are some of the um how can I say it? I guess like besides the physical, what else has graffiti done for you as far as healing is concerned?
SPEAKER_01It's done so much. I mean, for me, I have drawn from the day I could hold a pencil. I mean, when I was a kid, I was drawn all over my closet inside of it, you know, coloring and all that stuff. But I never thought I could do anything with that art. I always thought it was like a party trick, like, oh look, I can I can copy anything. But I never took it seriously. I grew up in a f uh with a single mom in really we were really broke living off food stamps. Uh, she worked multiple jobs, so it was very much drilled into me. Pick a realistic job. Art's not realistic, you're not gonna make any money doing art. And I believed that. So I I did office jobs, I was a hairstylist for a long time, I did social media stuff, I went to college, and I was miserable in all of that. I hated it. All I could think about was I wanted to do art, but I thought it was a pipe dream, I thought it was something that I could never do as a consistent job. So when I started to do graffiti, and then I started to get attention for the art that I was doing in graffiti, and people started to like buy my art, it did a lot for my self-esteem, and it did a lot for just my overall happiness. I was finally, I finally felt like I was following my purpose. Like, I don't think God gives you this type of gift for you to just do this on the side. No, I think you get this gift and you're supposed to use it, and if you don't use it, you're gonna be miserable in other parts of your life. Okay. So when I let go and was just finding like, fuck it, I'm gonna put Lisa Simpson smoking a joint on the wall because I fucking want to, and people love it and want to buy copies of it, it feels right, and when that feels right, I gotta keep going for it, and that's what I'm doing.
SPEAKER_02Okay, that's well said. Um, where would you want to have your next breakation and why?
SPEAKER_01Good question. I would want to do up and down the coast. I would want to go from Seattle all the way to the Mexican border. Okay. I think that would be super cool just to hit as many big cities, to see the ocean, and to paint places I really haven't paint. I painted in Seattle a little bit, but that was when I really started. It was before I had my little bomb character. I just want to get that little bomb girl on freaking everything from here to Canada.
SPEAKER_02Who's on your graffiti mom, Rushmore?
SPEAKER_01My graffiti, so what do you mean by that?
SPEAKER_02Like uh greatest of greatest of all time.
SPEAKER_01Greatest of all time. Okay, let's see.
SPEAKER_02Male or female?
SPEAKER_01Male or female.
SPEAKER_02Five five people.
SPEAKER_01Five people, greatest of all time. So definitely Lady Pink, for sure. Just because of where she started, how she started. Love her. For sure her. Um let's see. Who else? I really like um oh, I never remember. He does the dog here. Is it Breck? How do I say his name wrong?
SPEAKER_02I I think you had him on your story.
SPEAKER_01I s I saw him at Venice.
SPEAKER_02That's the homie Breck, yeah.
SPEAKER_01I love his work. I love the way he uses light on his characters. Like he the one I took a picture of where he's like looking at a it's either a cell phone or a video game, and the light is like glowing on the dog's face. It's like, and he's got no real hard lines, everything's real soft and almost dreamy. I love what he does, his stuff is amazing.
SPEAKER_02He reminds me of Meow. He's really like really shy.
SPEAKER_01I see a lot of similarities between graffiti writers and shyness. I definitely love him a lot. Um, Mr. Alex from NBC. Okay, his work, he does the most amazing. He's been doing a lot of mural work lately, actually. But his portraits look like photographs that someone have just slapped on a wall and huge. And it's all spray paint, and it's just beautiful. I love his work a lot. Um, who else am I thinking of? Nose from he's in like every crew I can think of. He's in NBC, he's in CBS, I think he's in SFK, he's in everything. His work is so, I don't know what to call it besides organic. It's like a cross between machinery, and it flows so well, and it's got these just organic movements to it, and a lot of times they're huge. I've come across pieces of his in yards, and they're almost like the size of a roller piece, but on the ground, they're just huge. I love his use of of color, and from what I've been told, I've never painted with him, but from what I've been told, he doesn't even sketch it out beforehand, he just kind of does it.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01And I think that people who can do that are amazing.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01Uh let's see.
SPEAKER_02So that's three, right?
SPEAKER_01That's three.
SPEAKER_02That's uh we got Lady Pink.
SPEAKER_01Lady Pink for sure.
SPEAKER_02We got Breck and we got Noise, right? Noise? He said noise.
SPEAKER_01No, it's Lady Pink, Breck.
SPEAKER_02Am I saying it wrong?
SPEAKER_01What am I thinking? I just blanked.
SPEAKER_02You said A's from CBS, NBC.
SPEAKER_01Oh, um, nose.
SPEAKER_02Nose.
SPEAKER_01Nose, yeah. Uh I love them, those three. Locally from where I'm at in Coachella Valley. Um, I think Apes, he Apes is out from SPV. Okay. He taught me so much about character work. I love he does these big faces with a third eye in the middle. Okay. And he does, he calls them flaracters. So he does like a throwy character with like crazy amount of detail, but it's just two colors thrown up real fast, just on the side of a building, usually as a throw-y.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I love his work. He does a lot with um faces, even in his letters. His letters will have teeth and eyes, and it's very a cohesive, like monster of a piece. I really love that.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Um, who else? Who else? This is always when I draw a blank of like every name I've ever heard of. Uh one more. One more.
SPEAKER_02Meow.
SPEAKER_01Meow for how much she gets? Uh hell yeah. Um honestly, when I met her, I was like finally a girl that it comes near me who paints just as much as I do. I love it. I love Meow. She's like, don't drag me into your interview, girl. I'm not doing this. I don't want to be famous.
SPEAKER_02Um, what can guys uh for guys that do graffiti, how can they um embrace um the women that do graffiti better, and what are some ways that they can make them feel more safer and more comfortable?
SPEAKER_01So I feel like I can actually really talk on this because I'm fortunate to have had a few writers locally to me that have really been mentors to me, specifically Emerk, who is from NBC and SFK. Okay. Just taking finding a woman writer that you click with that you can kind of take under your wing. He's helped me everything from letter structure to how to get better 3D, and it's just a matter of talking with us and not at us. I think that's a big one. Like the mansplaining thing, you don't gotta talk down to us. Okay, help us understand, and he's great at that. That is helpful. So I think if it's your dude and you want to help girls get along with that, find one that you gel with, and you're like, okay, well, what do you want help with? That's always a good question to ask. Like with him, I went to him and be like, Listen, my shadow on myself always looks dumb. I can't figure out where the O shadow goes. And he just sat there one day on my iPad and showed me where it should go. That helped so much. So I'm forever grateful if dudes who will do that.
SPEAKER_02So there's a there's an issue, right? So there's guys that come, they're good guys, they want to help um women get better at graffiti, go paint with them, but some of these women get into domestic violence and domestic abuse situations, or they get a possessive boyfriend that just thinks that they're cheating all the time. How what's the what do you think is the right way for the the girl that does a graffiti to handle that and what will be the right approach for the guy that's just simply trying to figure out if she if she should should do something or just back away?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's a big one. I mean, having trust in your relationship when it comes to painting with members of the opposite sex, like for my my husband and I, he knows I go and paint with men, and he doesn't usually know who these men are, but he trusts me. And I tell him where I'm going, when I'm gonna be back, and he could see everything on Instagram if he really wanted to. So having trust is the most important thing. And if your partner can't trust your friends, whether they're male or female, can they actually trust you? Like, that's something maybe you need to think about in your relationship. But if you have this trust of like, hey, I'm going out with it, shouldn't matter if it's a woman or a man, really, I'm gonna go paint. That's that's your thing, that's your hobby. It's to me, it's no different than hey, I'm gonna go get my nails done. Yeah, that's your thing. And if your man's gonna be like, you can't because you're going with X, Y, or Z, why? And where does that line stop? What when can I not go do uh go to the mall because I'm going with the wrong person or go to the club because I'm going with the wrong person? You know, either you trust me and you're with me because you trust me, or you don't, and you need to not be with me anymore. So for me, that's that's the big thing. If you can't trust me to go out on my own, this isn't a relationship I'm interested in. Okay.
SPEAKER_02I see you got a lot of wisdom, so like I'm gonna ask you this question right here. Should people from the same crew hook up? Because sometimes it could be good, sometimes it can be bad because other guys hit on that girl, or that couple might break up and now the next dude from the crew wants to hook up. Like, are there some rules and boundaries that should be um explained or enforced, or should everyone just be free-spirit hippies from the 70s?
SPEAKER_01I definitely think it's a matter of maturity. Like, I think you can date a crew member, hook up with a crew member as long as you're both mature enough to know, you know, how important is this crew to you? Is this crew your family? Is this crew gonna come first? Because if so, your relationship doesn't matter if it works or not, you're gonna see them still. It's like dating a coworker. If you screw your coworker, but and then you break up but you still work together, are you gonna quit because you don't want to see them anymore? Or are you gonna be mature enough to move past that and be like, yo, it didn't work out? Who cares? We can still make art, we can still move on. There's people in bands who've been broken up for 20 years, still make music together, still tour together. Can you be that level of mature or not? And if you can't, yeah, then maybe don't get involved with that person.
SPEAKER_02So I got a situation for you. Um, let me get your opinion. Dude has a girl, um brings the homie around. Homie hangs out with him, he's the third wheel. She leaves the dude to go with the new guy, the third wheel. The original guy's hot. He's mad, so he wants to fight the new guy. But they're all from they're from the same crew, they're buddies. Shit gets out of hand. Dude starts like uh showing up to the dude's house, threatening to shoot him, kill him. Whose fault is this? Is there any fault and whose fault is if there is anybody's fault, whose fault is it?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, all three of them. All three of them. Because if you know yourself, you know you are gonna get jealous. You probably should you shouldn't date anyone in your crew if you know you're gonna get that jealous. Because what if you always gotta, you always gotta err on the side of what if you break up. Are you gonna be so jealous you can't see that crew member dating another crew member? Because if so, don't put yourself in that situation. So honestly, all three of them, because the girl should have known and both dudes should have known, you don't have to date that person, you don't have to get involved, you don't have to fuck each other, you can walk away, you can be the bigger person. And if you can't, how are you even friends? How are you even in the same crew if you can't be around a member of the opposite sex without immediately wanting to hook up with them?
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_01So honestly, all three of them. And if they can't come together and talk it out like adults, which I'm assuming they all are, then what are you doing?
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_01You know? High school shit should have been left in high school, and fighting over each other's boyfriends, girlfriends because you're jealous should have been left on the playground.
unknownOkay.
SPEAKER_01You know, stuff gets dangerous when you're bringing guns into a situation. You're gonna shoot someone over some dude or some bitch. No one is worth shooting someone else over. No one.
SPEAKER_02And what ways are girls better than guys and graffiti?
SPEAKER_01I think girls are a little bit more. I don't know, they're like more down to to just go and do it. Just let's do it. Like let's not, there's no, let's not necessarily put the politics in it, let's not plan everything, let's just go. Let's just go and let's do it. Not that guys won't do that, but there's something about, especially when girls get together, I've noticed, with painting with other women. We could get fearless in groups that I think guys sometimes almost talk each other, not all the time, but sometimes can talk each other out of stuff. They get all in their head where girls be like, You down? I'm down, let's go. Which is cool. And I think that's more down to having the right group, but girls are hella fearless. There are fear and men are fearless too, but I've seen women do some crazy shit and I love it.
SPEAKER_02Um, what's your uh do you have a ritual for getting ready to go out and paint?
SPEAKER_01I definitely smoke a J for sure. That's gotta happen. Um because I work in a graph shop, I always have a lot of paint, so I don't do the ritual of like going to like buy the paint, pick out the paint from the store. I got it kind of sitting in the garage. So for me, it starts with I sketch it out because I have to see it first. That's usually how I do it. Um, so I'll sketch it out in this in the black book, decide okay, am I gonna do these colors? Get all my colors, and then the morning of I get up super early. I smoke a J when it's still quiet, the kid's not awake, the husband's not awake, the dog's not awake, it's just me. Usually get out before, like right at sunrise. Usually have breakfast at the spot, like coffee or something, I chill. It's a whole thing, and usually I have to work the same day because I'll go every Sunday. So I'll go in the morning and I gotta work at noon. So I'll get there, I'll paint for a few hours, I'll smoke a J or two, I'll love I'll take the whole thing, I'll video it, and then I rush home, take a shower, and run to open a shop. Okay. So that's usually my Sunday. That's my my my ritual.
SPEAKER_02Okay. Um, last but not least, um, do you have a message um to all the little girls, all the teenagers, all the women that don't know much about graffiti, but want to get into graffiti or interested in graffiti, or what simply want to understand graffiti? What's your message to them?
SPEAKER_01My message to them, I think the way I started out was good. I did a ton of research before I ever took a can and put it towards a wall. YouTube, I went and YouTube's every graffiti documentary I could find. The older the better. I wanted to know the history. I feel like maybe it's because I'm a woman and you get that question more of like, oh, what do you know about graffiti? I wanted to have knowledge. My stuff may have been toy when I was starting, but I wanted you to question me on where did graffiti start, and I had an answer. Not only an answer, but I could tell you the debate on whether it was New York or Philly and why that was a debate and who started. I wanted to be able to throw that at you. And I came from the punk scene before I ever did graffiti, and there's always this thing if you're wearing a band t-shirt, some creepy gross dude would be like, name three songs from that shirt. And I always felt like graffiti was gonna be the same way. Like, all right, name three writers you actually like. So I did so much research that even my name came about from the research. When I first went out to do the graffiti, I was like, What the hell am I gonna call myself? I didn't want any iteration of my actual name. I wanted something cool, but something that made it clear to other women that I was a woman. Because at the end of the day, my graffiti was for women, not necessarily for the men. The men get to see it just by the byproduct. So in my head, I thought, what am I gonna be? What am I gonna be in? And I heard the conversation, what does she do? Well, she bumps, and that became my name. And I was like, that's it, because I want other women to be like, Well, what does she do? Well, she bumps. Okay, she goes out and she paints. So if you're a girl and that is something that you feel this drawing to you that you want to try this or find out more about it, research it. Find out who the other women are, find out where it started, find out why they were riding on trains, find out why they were racking paint, find out why there's graffiti stores now instead of necessarily doing it that way. And then when you go out to put a can to a wall, your stuff will look toy, it will, but you'll know everyone started out looking toy. And if you just keep going, it may look cool one day, and then they could be like, hey, that's so-and-so, and you're like, Yeah, that's me. So just keep doing it.
SPEAKER_02So, how can people support you, what you're doing, and make you better?
SPEAKER_01I would say it's it all comes down to my social media. I put everything from merchandise I sell to art shows I have, which I have one coming up this year, probably gonna have two. Everything gets pushed through the social media. So whether it's Instagram or TikTok, they're both she-bums with a period between she and bombs. Um, and I got an art show coming up in November called All Signs Point to Mischief, um, which will all be on road signs. All of the art will be on road signs. So there's a lot of cool stuff coming up for me this year. So if you want to support, just follow me on social media.
SPEAKER_02Alright, cool. I want to support you and trying to make it out to all your shows if I'm available. I want to paint with you, um, sure, uh if however well we can make that happen. Um as long as you guys feel safe and all that. Um, but I want to thank you for um your time, your wisdom, your energy, and your graffiti. Um you're very inspirational. And I think I think you are a gem in this sport, and I think a lot of good things are gonna come through you. And I'm very uh grateful and appreciative that you are another lady out here smashing, bombing, doing your thing. And I didn't even know Meow until today. I was like, wow, okay. So there's a lot of female graph girls out here, and they're just like behind the scenes, creeping behind shadows. They're doing their thing. I I love it. Um I just want to support and balance out the this male dominated sport. But thank you for for uh letting me do this interview with you.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, thank you. It's uh it's honestly a huge honor to come from you. Thank you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, but we're gonna