The Style Writers
Sight Zilla and Menes One interview graffiti artists and graffiti writers.
The Style Writers
Kat One Interview
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Live and Uncut Sight Zilla interviews the young and aspiring Kat One from Los Angeles. Toons One joins the interview that is interesting and enlightening. This is an interview you can learn something from.
So I'm here with the famous, infamous cat. Not just your ordinary cat, but a cat from the west side, Los Angeles, the one that gets up, the one that puts in work. Probably the one of the most hated I've seen. She gets up a lot, but I see her get dissed a lot. And I always wonder why. She must be somebody special or somebody magnificent or powerful if people are trying to hate on her and all that stuff. But I admire her her skill, her bravery, her courage, and her contribution to the culture. Um and this is Kat. Um so the first question I always ask people is like, why do you write the name Kat?
SPEAKER_01Um it's uh to be a little bit more on the safer side. It's just a shorter version of my name.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Um, I actually started getting called Kat by an elementary school teacher. Okay. And it just, yeah, it always stuck. I mean, there could be different variations of my name, like uh shortened, but I think Kat's the probably the best one.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So like how long you been doing graffiti for? Because I've been seeing you up for a while.
SPEAKER_01Um, I always I like this question because I feel like it goes back to the body.
SPEAKER_04Does it go back to childhood? Like writing on walls, like crayons and stuff.
SPEAKER_01Yes, yes, absolutely. So I had two brothers that did graffiti, older brothers, and I had a cousin that was raised like my brother. Okay. And uh we all lived in the same household, and they all three did graffiti. Um, so I thought that it was cool to write on stuff, and uh one of my earliest memories of writing on something that wasn't mine was uh in the third grade. I took a Sharpie to school that was my brother Sharpie, and I wrote on a desk, and I got in like a lot of trouble for that. So, like things like that, or like um growing up in Echo Park, there was a lot of like tag banging crews, and um they didn't really do like burners or even throws, they would just tag, and that was something that I was kind of involved in as a teenager. Um, maybe even a little bit like a pre-teen, even like 11, 12, just writing on stuff, but I didn't get a solid throw until kind of later, like 20 years old.
SPEAKER_04Okay, yeah. So why why throwies? Like, you got people that like they do tags, you got people that peace, but your specialty it seemed like it's throways. Why throways out of all other forms of expression in your feeding?
SPEAKER_01I like to think that it's because I like to do things quick and I like hot spots a lot. So if I'm like gonna be sitting there taking my time, it's not gonna work out for me the way it would work out in a different situation. Okay. Um, and another reason I'm like, I feel like I do risky graffiti in terms of like sometimes I'm going over gang tags. Okay. Sometimes I'm going over, you know, shit that shouldn't be gone over. So I'm trying to get kind of in and out pretty quickly. And I sometimes a lot of the time I can make it look nicer and I can do it better, but I'm just trying to get the fuck out of there. Okay. And a lot of the time too, I'm doing it by myself during the day or even by myself at night. But yeah, especially in the daytime, um, I'm trying to get in and out quick.
SPEAKER_04So I know you I know you recently, not too long ago, had a kid, so like I I don't understand this perspective too much, but I always wanted to know different perspectives on it. But how is your mentality towards graffiti before having a kid versus after having a kid?
SPEAKER_01Um, honestly, now I feel like it's more of like a like it's my time to myself. It's kind of like a release. Um but beforehand writing on other people's shit was kind of like it was more disrespectful then.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_01Like now I look at it and like that's my what would be my girl's day out or whatever. Like whenever I have a break for my kid, I go paint. Okay. So it's more more so like therapeutic now when beforehand it was more like, oh, I want to piss people off.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Is it like I know it's a therapy for you, but has it ever at any time become like a spiritual thing for you, or is it just straight medicine?
SPEAKER_01Well, I think the two go hand in hand a lot. Um when I stopped drinking, drinking is a low-level search for God, you know? So um to replace that, the graffiti, it it was always there, but it got a lot like I started doing it much, much more when I stopped drinking. And I think that became somewhat of a search for God in some type of way. Um, yeah, I mean, yeah, I feel like it's both therapy and a little bit spiritual.
SPEAKER_04That's an interesting concept, a low-level search for God. I mean, like, people can take that in so many different ways. Like, what God are you talking about?
SPEAKER_01I would say, like, when you there's like a lack of a higher power in your life, just generally speaking, you're kind of doing anything and everything to fill the void. Okay. So that's what in AA they call they call alcohol a low-level search for God, or drugs, or it really anything you can get addicted to, which is interesting because graffiti's addictive. Yeah. So that kind of means that graffiti's a low-level search for God too. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. But it could it ever be a high-level search for God at any moment?
SPEAKER_01I think that because of the positive aspects of it or the ways that it can potentially be positive, it can open the doors for it to be a high-level search for God. But things like alcohol, because nothing really good comes of it, um, that would be low.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So you, I mean, we meant you mentioned that like, you know, you started doing graffiti as a child. Now your kid, if they're doing graffiti on the wall, what do you have to say about that? Are you embracing it, or are you gonna do the same thing your parents did to you?
SPEAKER_01So I always catch myself, like, my kid will go to my mom's and like be writing on stuff, and or like my niece, my niece does it a lot more than my daughter does, but she'll like write on furniture and like write on the wall, and my mom will be like, Oh, this happened, she wrote on this, and I'm like, Well, I can't say anything about that because that would be hypocritical. Yeah, so you know, you would have to like mom, you gotta let them know that it's not good because I can't do that. But I think that I had no like artistic outlets. My dad was in prison for a major majority of my life. My mom is like the least, like, she doesn't think shit like that's important. So it became a thing of like I don't I don't know how to draw even basic shit. And um, like just just being like handed a spray can or not even that, just picking one up and then like figuring it out figuring it out on my own was a little bit difficult, and like I'm still not the best, and I'm probably not ever gonna be that good, but it was a jump from having zero creativity in terms of drawing and writing to like starting to try in um early adulthood.
SPEAKER_04I mean, art is art, and you're the best at what you do, you know. You you're your own evolution, you know. You gotta do, you gotta exist the way you need to exist. And the way you exist and the energy that you put into what you do is very magnetic and powerful because I can feel it and I can see it. Um But what what is graffiti, what does it mean to you? What does it do for you? Um you're out there on the street, like what is it? Do you are like are you one with it?
SPEAKER_01Is it like honestly? I think it remains the same message for me, like, through the course of its existence for me.
SPEAKER_04I probably got some um mocktails here.
unknownHere we go.
SPEAKER_04We got some motails doing that, doing interviews.
SPEAKER_01I meddled the mint and strained it. So some of the things that's your name made it through. Angie.
SPEAKER_04Angie gave us some cocktails, mocktails right here. As an interviewing um uh cat right here. Okay. Not I would expect the more fruity, but it is cool.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I think the message for me has remained the same through the entirety of it, which is honestly, my neighborhood was extremely gentrified. It went from being like, if you park there, you're gonna get your fucking car stolen. Yeah, you're gonna probably get stolen by the city. Yeah, probably, probably get, you know, you're probably gonna get shot if you're fucking around and finding out. Now, I mean, there is still a sense of that there, but now it's like completely gentrified. Like there's waves of gentrification in Echo Park that are like the gentrifiers are being gentrified. Like it's like on like gentrification on top of gentrification. So I think that's where it started and that's where it still remains, that it's like a big fuck you to those people. The people that don't want to see it, like I want you to have to see it. Like, I'm um if you're a white person and you're a gentrifier and you're a transplant, and especially if you're racist and you don't like graffiti, I want you to have to see this. Okay. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04What's your what's your nationality? Because I'm trying to figure it out. I don't know if you're black, Indian, Hispanic, I don't know what. I don't I'm trying to figure it out.
SPEAKER_01I'm very, very mixed. Um, my dad is Kate Verdian.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And he's he's Kate Verdian, he's a quarter white, unfortunately. I don't like to talk about that. It's okay.
SPEAKER_02I mean, we all we all but when you where you say white, what what what country?
SPEAKER_01Uh I don't I don't know. White is white, right? There's different differences, yeah. Um yeah, he's we got we got Tombs One here too.
SPEAKER_04If you guys wonder who that that guy is, isn't it?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so my dad's Kate Verdian, he's partially white, but even the Kate Verdian is obviously mixed because they were colonized by Portugal. So my dad's last name is Portuguese. Okay um and my mom is from Nicaragua. But my mom is like she's her family's from like Bluefields, okay, which is like the Caribbean, so she's like borderline Afro-Latina, like her hair is like really curly, and she's very, very brown. Okay, okay.
SPEAKER_04So what would you be like, what would you consider yourself like if you had to describe yourself as a as an ethnicity on some paperwork?
SPEAKER_01Uh I put other. Other? Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Okay. So I see you got like. If if y'all never met Kat, this this girl got a lot of a lot of swag, a lot of style, got the jewelry popping, got the tattoos, the nails are just killing it right now with the nails. What kind of nails are these?
SPEAKER_01They're gel ex my cousin does them. She actually does graffiti too. She's pretty good.
SPEAKER_04Is this cheetah print or jaguar print or what print?
SPEAKER_01I think this would be considered cheetah.
SPEAKER_04Cheetah?
SPEAKER_01Yeah. These are my uh I said that these are my uh Chili's mom nails. So it's like it looks like I'm gonna go to Walmart with these nails.
SPEAKER_04Um how is it like, how far do you think you'll go with this graffiti thing? Is it for to the wheels fall off or because there's like a lot of people do it for a few seasons and they and they leave and they come back. There's some people, only a few people are really consistent and dedicated. But with you, I feel like you're not gonna ever gonna stop. You're gonna keep going.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so my my brother always says it. He says, Oh, they had a hot summer, they had a hot summer, right? And then I was thinking, like, maybe I'm gonna be that person that's gonna, you know, just have a hot summer, but then it's like five, six years later. That's a lot of hot summers and winters and falls, you know. I don't yeah, I don't um I feel like it's slowed down a lot. Like a lot, which makes me kind of uncomfortable.
SPEAKER_03Like I just Why does it make you feel uncomfortable?
SPEAKER_01I just and I I catch myself complaining about it a lot. I don't have the time that I used to have to do it as much, and it just makes me it makes me just my mental health starts like deteriorating a little bit, and I'm just like fuck, I gotta like go right on something or you know do something. And I'm not gonna say other things don't do it for me because honestly, I've been really into saving money lately, yeah, and that's been like helping, and I'm like, oh okay, like I have something to do and like put set my mind to. But um yeah, and it's not like an ego, like an egotistical thing where I'm like, oh, my name has to be up all over the city. No, it's not that, it's just like the action of doing it, like doing it multiple times. I think it just generally helps me be a better person.
SPEAKER_04Um there's scientists have said that um there's a there's a name of a disease for that for people that like to write on things.
SPEAKER_01Wow.
SPEAKER_04It's called hypergraphia. Have you heard of that? It's uh I see it's uh it's basically people that have this obsession on writing on everything.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's that's real.
SPEAKER_04I just found out about it a couple days ago. Hypergraphia. I don't know if they give drugs or anything, medicine for it, the cure.
SPEAKER_01I mean, yeah, I think Yeah, gr like I have a hyper fixation for graffiti. I have a hyperfixation um with with a lot of things. Like even the point of my life and the point of my graffiti when I was stealing graffiti surprise, like even that with within itself was addictive. Like taking shit was addictive. I don't do that anymore. That maybe that's why I'm so bothered when I don't paint, because I'm like, fuck, I don't do anything else bad anymore. Like this is the only thing I do.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, it's the vice that balances you out.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. Kind of unplugs you from the matrix and being like doing this the the loop.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04The loop of doing the same thing over and over and over that people get stuck in.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's I mean, it shows up a lot in my life. It's uh addiction transference. So like I'll be addicted to one thing for a while and then I'll have to put it somewhere else. Like that it was with the alcohol. When I was addicted to alcohol, I stopped because it's really bad for me. Then I had to transfer that to graffiti, and now I'm like, bug, I don't have anywhere else to transfer it to. So, you know, I I kind of I catch myself thinking that I have to be like smarter about it at least, but I don't want to stop.
SPEAKER_04I mean, like your boyfriend, pros, he's on the NCA, right?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04I mean, how does that help? Like having a partner that does graffiti? Does that help make more time and make uh expressing yourself more accessible because you have somebody that understands and it's is okay with it, you know?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it's definitely it's definitely better. And now I feel like I I've always liked painting alone, but um I've always also tried to make graffiti like a social thing, and that always ended up just being really bad.
SPEAKER_04Why is that?
SPEAKER_01I just I feel like it might be me, but a lot of the times people's personalities, especially when the ego starts to get to them about the graffiti, then they start like acting a little a little weird, you know. Yeah, inflated, exactly. And so it makes it it like it's already hard for me to have like friendships and relationships with people, and just like people acting certain ways towards me makes me like oh no, I don't want it. Like I I'll give up on a friendship so easily. I'm like, I'm not dealing with this shit. You know, so having a partner that does it, it makes it so like it makes it so much better. I don't have to deal with anybody's shit. Like I either paint by myself or I paint with my partner. I have my my homegirl Pinky, like that's the only other person I paint with. Like it makes it just makes shit better.
SPEAKER_04I think I think that's important that to have be able to there's a lot of people that can't do graffiti without other people.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And uh I think it's important to be able to do it on your own, do it alone, have your own intimate relationship with the with what your expression. Um what crews are you repping right now?
SPEAKER_01I I'm not in any right now. I actually wanna right now? I'm a winner right now. I actually I had a crew and it was an all-girls crew, and I got I picked every girl in the crew.
SPEAKER_04What's the name of that crew?
SPEAKER_01FYD.
SPEAKER_04FYD, I see I used to see that. Yeah, and what happened with that?
SPEAKER_01I ended up I I just started feeling certain ways about it. Felt like there was resentment towards me.
SPEAKER_04Why is that? Um you fly and all that, but what's going on?
SPEAKER_01I I'm just I'm a little too honest.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. And I'm a little I'm also like, why the fuck is nobody painting? Like I'm the only one painting. Like, you know, it becomes uh yeah, and it that starts to piss people off, but then they don't say anything about it, and then it starts becoming a thing of like fuck this bitch, but I'm not gonna tell her, you know? Yeah. So I was like, I one day I just I just told one of the girls that I thought I think she's a great artist, and I I was like, hey, like you could have it, like I'm good. Yeah, you know.
SPEAKER_04I just understand it. Um I I I totally understand you. Um I guess one day, I don't know. I I I gotta figure out maybe I can talk to Toons about it or some old heads about it, about redefining what a real crew is.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_04What they're supposed to do and what they're supposed to be.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And not this ego competitiveness, trying to crabs in the barrel kind of thing. Um But you used to be from MF, right? It was. What happened with MF? When I first started seeing you, you're in MF. Uh and you know, I talked to uh what's his name? Uh Rogue. Um, he's from MF. I talked to him. And we didn't talk about you, but I'd rather hear your own story about MF if you want to talk about it. We don't have to talk about it if you don't want to talk about it. But I just want to know, like, I used to see you up with MF, and then it went to FYD, and I'm like, what happened? I don't want to ask him. Cause I'm like, he can't speak for you. You can only speak for yourself.
SPEAKER_01Well, bro.
SPEAKER_04You said you're honest, so let me see what let me see how honest you can be.
SPEAKER_01He owes me $8,000 in child support.
SPEAKER_00Oh yeah. Alright.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's he's just uh I kind of came into MF just like as an extension of him. Okay, and then they all wanted to take his side, which is cool, that's fine. But yeah, he's just generally not a good person. Okay, but we do share a child, yeah.
SPEAKER_04Okay. Um so you I'm listening to you, you articulate yourself very well. So you're not the average woman. So where do you get to intellect? Who, what, when, where, how did you get that beer, right? How did you get there? Um how do you read books? Have you been to do you have a master's degree? Because you I talk to you, and it's like I'm not talking to no average, ordinary woman, I'm talking to a woman that has all her nuts and bolts, she has a brain, she has a conscience, she has a soul and a heart. So, like, who raised you? How'd you become this person? Are you self-made? Or just does someone influence you to have the intellect that you have, to have the perspective that you have on graffiti and life and et cetera?
SPEAKER_01Um, I was raised by my dad was in prison until I was like seven, and then he got out and he was good for like a couple years, but then he ended up just falling into the same pattern of gangbanging and sh and shit like that. But Even then, he was like a really good parent. Like he taught me a lot. He he's a very, very smart man. Um, and I it's funny because actually Rogue told me one time that I am the way I am because I was raised off of uh prison tactics and prison politics and that sort of thing, which I never really thought of, but yeah, like a lot of a lot of things my dad taught me was very I like I can talk to someone on the street that's been to prison and it a lot of the views align. Or a lot of the not the views, but like the the general I guess generally what would be considered respect is the same. Or like the way that the way that I take offense to certain things is the same way that someone like my dad would take offense to it.
SPEAKER_04Do you eat French fries?
SPEAKER_01I do.
SPEAKER_04Do you want some French fries?
SPEAKER_01I just don't want to chew in people's ears.
SPEAKER_04Chew away. Make a make a smack, all that, chew with your mouth open. ASMR. We're laying it all out. Yeah, really.
SPEAKER_00Um not something wrong, it's something.
SPEAKER_04Um I guess it's like uh what's your view on um on beef and people hating on you? Because I seen your I've seen your post and you always take the high road and you always have like uh you always are the bigger person when it comes to beef. So what's your take on beef and graffiti?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, the high road thing is very new. Okay. Yeah, I was really, really not nice before. I was very petty, and sometimes I'll still catch myself about to be petty, and I'm like, let me chill the fuck out. I just I feel like when I take the high road, I notice like good shit starts happening to me. Like I don't want to be like evil and negative and mean anymore. Like that's when I start getting fucking a bunch of parking tickets and if I'm arguing with some bitch in the street that I don't know, you know? I don't I don't need that energy. So but there's been a lot of shit that bitches have done to me that I'm like, oh my god, like why are you like this girl went in my baby daddy's phone and took like naked photos of me and posted them on the internet.
SPEAKER_04Well, how's she getting your baby daddy's phone?
SPEAKER_01Well, they're they're like together, I think. But yeah.
SPEAKER_04And he still had them on his phone?
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04Wow, okay.
SPEAKER_01Pretty interesting, huh? Like, you should put dudes still.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Dudes are just sloppy like. Shit is a little bit like a word that's sloppy. That's the dude.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, like I don't know. Just awful, awful shit that people have done to me. I'm like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_02But what she did was was girl shit.
SPEAKER_01Very much so, yeah. And another thing, like I can't go hit people anymore. Like, dude, like if I go and hit someone, they're gonna fucking call the cops on me. Like, I'm not going to jail, I'm sorry. Like, I'm not sure.
SPEAKER_04You think about your your kid first. Yeah. And all the consequences. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And I used to be very fine with assaulting people. I used to and I didn't give a fuck if they beat me up after. I don't fucking care. But it's just I can't do that anymore. And what the fuck do I look like? Like I it's already bad enough that I'm riding on shit with with my you know, the one day I have away from my kid. Like, imagine if I'm going to jail for assault.
SPEAKER_04Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like that's crazy.
SPEAKER_04No, it's very very responsible of you. Yeah, but um these fries are kind of salty though.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but they're still crazy.
SPEAKER_04They're still good.
SPEAKER_01They're good, they're good. Um I don't also another thing that I don't do anymore is no matter how many people write on my shit, first of all, they never leave a fucking name.
SPEAKER_03Oh yeah, I've been seeing that. They'll toss you out and put like slut or the energy coming from.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_03And then I say you do it to yourself, right?
SPEAKER_01No, I didn't do it to myself. There was a picture of it. What happened was there was an instance where someone wrote whore on my shit and they put a sad face in the O, and I thought it looked cool. So I took a picture of it and I took the whore writing and I put it over a digital image of my throat and I made stickers of it.
SPEAKER_04Oh that's some crazy Tai Chi shit right there.
SPEAKER_01Uh-huh.
SPEAKER_04Taking the energy and then shooting them back. Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and it's it's also because everybody that talks shit about me and like call like slut shames me and does this and they're the same fucking way, if not worse. Like, why are you talking shit? But yeah, and yeah, I don't I won't write on people's shit. Like, I won't I'm not wasting my time on that. Like, why would I waste my paint on you? I always thought it was really weird that um there was somebody that I had outed for something that they did, and they like really started to hate me for outing them. It was a woman actually. And um she would like her and her friends would like fucking climb shit to cross like dude, I'm not climbing anything for anyone else. Like, unless I'm gonna be putting my own name up there, like I'm not gonna waste my physical energy on someone else. Like, that's crazy.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_03Alright.
SPEAKER_04You're a D person. Alright. I love it. Um Mount Rushmore, a graffiti artist? All the time.
SPEAKER_01I hate it. I hate this question because I always want to lie and say no one.
SPEAKER_04Well just say no one. I have people I have people say I have none. Just my crew members and my friends.
SPEAKER_01Which is a good answer. Which is a good answer.
SPEAKER_04Um no one besides your brothers, no one else expired your graffiti express your you know career.
SPEAKER_01Um the one thing that I remember seeing and hearing about as a kid was Thai. And that's the same concept of what I have been doing for so long. It's the same thing over and over and over. Yeah, Thai, rest in peace. Same same letters over, over, over. Doesn't matter the surface, doesn't matter where it is. So that was always inspirational. Um I wanna say someone current, but you say it. Honestly, I've I'm not gonna lie, one of my favorite writers is Hopes. Hopes. I I think that his rollers are fucking insane. Like his the spots he choos, like, they're they're pretty good. And there was one um, and I've seen it multiple times, like he'll like almost get caught, or get caught, or something will happen where he doesn't finish. He always comes back. Yeah, never leaves it unfinished.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, uh lots of pre-defined rollers in LA for sure.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, definitely. Um I'm trying to think. Honestly, the only person that's like ever actually sat down with me and taught me how like to do sh like taught me about like what to do with my graffiti is my homegirl Pinky. She's from MRL. Um she that's the only per like no man, uh contrary to popular belief, no man has like sat there teaching me what to do with my letters. Um it's only ever been her. Not even my brothers have taught me.
SPEAKER_04What about pros?
SPEAKER_01And pros does not he's never been to that? No. I I kind of I learned more from watching or even just like for so long I was using Rusto because I was stealing it, and when I got with him, he kind of was like, Alright, like kind of can't be stealing shit, like come on. And I was like, Okay. So I started buying paint. That that's like a whole different thing, you know. It it looks a lot better because I'm you know buying good paint. Um but yeah, I had someone ask me the other day if he that uh they said someone said that I used to fucking suck until I got with pros. What? Yeah, which is not true because it was a guy, I'm like, why are you talking about women like that? But um and uh I honestly like time has passed. Like obviously I'm gonna get better. Like, just because I just so happened to get with him and I progressed like I should doesn't mean that he's helped. There's been times where like I've jumped out of a fence and he's like finishing his shit and I'm like, fuck, I forgot something. And I've even like thought of it like dude, I really don't want to tell him to fucking do this extra line, but like it but I'm gonna have to, and that's been the only time he's ever touched my shit. Like, even my backgrounds, he won't touch. He'll even like he he won't do it. Even if even if he even if if I were to ask him to, which I never will, but he he wouldn't even be comfortable. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So how do you how do you choose your spots?
SPEAKER_01Um, oh my god, I have a whole list.
SPEAKER_04You have a list? Yes. You make a list?
SPEAKER_01Yes.
SPEAKER_04So like how do you know?
SPEAKER_01You just say that, oh, I'm I want that spot, or yeah, some sometimes they're a little outlandish.
SPEAKER_04Like I got a list too. Because I'll be driving around and shit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_04And uh the homies in New York, they don't do that.
SPEAKER_01What do they do? They just hit whatever. Oh no.
SPEAKER_04I told them not, I don't know, bro. Like you gotta write that shit down. And um, they were like, What? And I was like, look, I'm gonna show you. Let me see.
SPEAKER_01Let's go list for list right now.
SPEAKER_04List for list. Look. Look. This shit's long.
SPEAKER_03I think I have a look at that shit.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, there's a lot pending.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, so I I I I'll be on the same shit.
SPEAKER_01Sometimes, you know who's been doing me in? Oh my god, this is so sick. Um sometimes I'll sometimes I'll write something in my list, and for some reason it's always the same guy. I'll write something in my list, and then I'll pass by a couple days later uh later, and uh he he fucking catches it before I do is Christ. Chrys from L O K like Christ is a killer.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, Mm-Sarag be out there knowing a damn thing. But Christ is a killer.
SPEAKER_01You know what? You know who's my favorite writer right now?
SPEAKER_04Who?
SPEAKER_01Fiend.
SPEAKER_04Fiend? Mm-hmm. How do you spell it?
SPEAKER_01F-E-I-N.
SPEAKER_04F-E-I-M.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's he's like uh I think he's a teenager. He's like a yeah, he's a he's a teenager, but he writes Fiend and I think he's from L O K. He be getting up.
SPEAKER_04The one I've been seeing of lately that is like crazy.
SPEAKER_01Little Lady Goat Boy?
SPEAKER_04Little Lady Goat Boy.
SPEAKER_01That would sick.
SPEAKER_04Have you seen him up? Little Lady Goat Boy. No, little lady goat boy.
SPEAKER_01They're tags. They're crazy.
SPEAKER_04He's like I think he he looks like he's in middle school.
SPEAKER_01It looks like he's left-handed.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, crazy. Yeah, he has a selfie with a goat. Have you seen an Instagram account?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_04This dude, like, he looks hella young. He's writing on like all the McDonald's and Bird Kings and Tann.
SPEAKER_00No one.
SPEAKER_01I don't know, man. One time I did an interview with no like facial covering. I was like shades. Yeah.
SPEAKER_04So I thought it was like a little bit more. This is little, this is him right here.
unknownI'm not sure.
SPEAKER_01No, but I think that's the guy that owns the goat. I've seen him on TikTok. I don't think that's him.
SPEAKER_04That's not him?
SPEAKER_01No. He's not the one doing the tagging.
SPEAKER_04Okay. So maybe you just use that as a as a feature of the game.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, he's he's like, he's like using it as, yeah.
SPEAKER_04This is little, little I mean it's super raw. I've seen that. You seen this?
SPEAKER_01Little Liddy Go boy.
SPEAKER_04He's been getting up everywhere. He's the what he's the hot shit on the streets right now. My my homegirl daughter that doesn't be for TD says that he has a big following on TikTok right now. Oh, I bet.
SPEAKER_02And everybody's like, have you seen Little Liddy Go Boy? Well, the name.
SPEAKER_04It's in the name. He's lit.
SPEAKER_03He's lit. Just like drip cane.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. So it's the name that stands out. Um if you had a choice between a scribe, a streak, and a spray can, which one would you use and why?
SPEAKER_01And the drinks are great. How m just one spray can?
SPEAKER_04It could be multiple spray cans. They could be multiple streaks, they're gonna be one good scribe.
SPEAKER_01Can I put them in order from greatest to least?
SPEAKER_04Yeah, I'll pick one.
SPEAKER_01Uh spray can.
SPEAKER_04Why?
SPEAKER_01Because I could if you give me two cans, even if it's like a quarter full, I could do one whole throwy. Okay. But I do like scribing. I've always liked scribing.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01And etching.
SPEAKER_04What's your take on um I had this debate with someone the other day. They were saying that like slap tag, slap tags are not real graffiti. How do you feel about that?
SPEAKER_01I don't, you know, I don't, I'm not good at the sticker thing.
SPEAKER_04I'm not good at it. Yeah. Really?
SPEAKER_01I got a well they are easy.
SPEAKER_04Yeah. I got a homie that feels like rollers are not really graffiti. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01Like if they're straight rollers, I feel like it's too easy. That's what I'm saying. But if if it's like like I do when I do rollers, I do a throw, like a roller throwy. That's fucking hard. But then you're outlining the straight. I mean, yeah. Well, no, because sometimes I'll do it with like a roller pole. But it's still style to it. Yeah, I can see because they could do the lines and then just make a box and then yeah, it kind of makes it easy.
SPEAKER_04So my homie, he he doesn't, no offense to Hopa's, but he don't like Hopes. I mean, he he's cool with Hopes, but he doesn't think Hopes is a real graffiti artist.
SPEAKER_01I I can I can see I can see that because you're not using a I don't know, yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah to me that's what I would say. I I would say, yeah, props to you for getting up or doing your thing.
SPEAKER_04But my homie thing is more like a street art thing.
SPEAKER_02Yes, that makes sense. If I may say you're art, but when you know, for me, whether it doesn't matter if you're doing tags, if you're doing um throw-ups, quick pieces, all all these guys, a lot of these young guys are young people that are painting now, they don't understand all these different levels of writing. And that's what I feel like, you know, um well, they'll look at say someone that just writes, that just tags, or they just do throw-ups, and they're they're looking down on it. And I'm like, but there's people who really put a lot into it, who like develop their style of their throw-up. Like, there's some dope ass throw-ups out there. And there's I mean, I remember like I travel the world and seen graffiti. There, like when I went to Switzerland, I saw tags that were just unbelievable, just super styled, and they just stood out so well. I mean, they could stand next to a dope ass piece. That's that's how dope it is. I mean, I just went to Italy.
SPEAKER_01I did go to Italy.
SPEAKER_04Did Italy inspire you?
unknownI mean, I didn't know.
SPEAKER_01You know, I don't I didn't find inspiration there, but I'm sure I gave I'm sure I gave it. Nah. Um Mexico City is inspirational.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, okay. I well I mean I was part of the group that went down there and actually brought writing to Mexico City back in the 90s.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that that it was even the I I came back from Mexico City, and even the colors that I did when I came back were so much more different. Then I started seeing other bitches using them, and I'm like, mmm. I I brought the Mexico City inside.
SPEAKER_02But see, that's how it goes though. You know, like you can really have an impact on this culture. Yeah. If you really uh you know put your your mind to it. Um there's so much that you can do. And I mean, I I look at it, you know, I used to tell women that you know I would I would mentor. I'd be like, first thing you gotta do is not give a fuck about what nobody says about you. Dudes, women, you gotta just get up and get up hard. And and try to keep yourself like anonymous for your writing, keep your writing up, especially if you're gonna go hard because they're gonna come after you.
SPEAKER_01That someone on TikTok actually left a comment on my shit and they said, I hope you never get caught, cat. I was like, oh my god.
SPEAKER_04I mean, like, after all the said and done with graffiti, how do you want to be remembered? And what do you want to be remembered for? Besides, like, like, I know you do, I mean you're you're a you're a bomber. Bomb like crazy. But what do you want to be remembered as? And for and what for?
SPEAKER_01Um, well I think um in the process of everything. I think I've been doing it for a while, but I I really do want everyone to remember that they literally have been trying for years have been trying to get me to stop writing, fucking threatening me, writing on my shit, trying to bully me. I'm not bullyable. You're not gonna get me to stop writing. Um I just want everyone to understand that Kat does what Kat wants to do. And you're not gonna like nothing that anybody else does is gonna make me stop. Like, if I'm gonna stop, I'm gonna stop because of me. And just um I've never seen that. I'm not I don't do it for anyone else, really, other than the people that don't want to see it. Essentially, I'm doing it for me.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01Yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_04How far deep in love are you with this graffiti thing?
SPEAKER_01Honestly, I think it's kind of annoying how much I love it. I think my boyfriend is he's from MTA, but he's fucking sick of my shit. He's like, oh my god, you want to paint? Are you not tired? I'm like, no.
SPEAKER_02I don't know if it was a C or a K, so that's what I did, but why don't we shoot you up and do some sketches with cats?
SPEAKER_04Um, no, I like I like see the thing about when I see you in the streets, there's certain people that you can feel their their art and their their drive. And that's what I saw. That's what I see when I do see you up. I'm like, oh, this is a person that's hungry, that loves it, and um it's really it's really devoted and dedicated to this. And I hope you don't stop either, and I hope you keep going as long as you can. Um I like seeing you up and the the energy that you put into it, because like it was me and Tunji talking about it, it's like on a deeper level, on a um metaphysical level, it's kind of like magic. Um it's like putting in and putting in like energy who you are, you put into whatever you create, and people feel that and they respond to that. So when I saw that, I was like, okay, I see your style, your drive, your energy reminds me of myself when I was younger. Yeah, like I was just out there, and I'm still out there. The only thing that slowed me down about was raising kids. Yeah, but I already told my girl, like, look, man, kids get grown, I'm in those streets. I'm back in the streets. I'm not watching Netflix. I'm not I'm not I'm not going I'm not gonna be going to sleep earlier. I'm gonna be in those streets. And you are you with me or you not? That's it.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, and honestly, at this point too, like sometimes I feel like doing graffiti in Los Angeles gets kind of like like fuck, I don't wanna do this, like it's getting old, you know? But then there's a whole other world where I could go write on shit somewhere else. Like, that's a whole different ballgame. And y'all can't write on my shit in Italy. You guys can't go to Costa Rica and write on my SWATs, you know.
SPEAKER_04So, what what's your message for um calling for the next generation and the up-and-coming graffiti writers and artists? Um, there's a lot of them.
unknownSo what do you have to talk about?
SPEAKER_01I don't even know if I'm the right person to you are the right person.
SPEAKER_04You you can't.
SPEAKER_01I just specifically to girls that want to start writing, I and I've said this before. Um don't let anybody do your letters for you. If you're gonna if anybody's gonna do your letters or if anybody's gonna help you, at least let it be one of your home girls. Because that's helped me a lot. Cause you know, so many people that have Come in and out of my life, can say whatever they want, but they can't say that they gave me my letters, they can't say that they helped me paint, they can't say that they did my name for me, you know? And that's that's been something that I've carried with me for for years. Like you you guys can say whatever you want about me, but at least it's me doing it and it's not someone else having to do it for me.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. But what's wrong with someone um teaching you in that sense?
SPEAKER_01There's nothing wrong with being taught. I just think that when a man is able to, especially a man that you're like romantically involved with, when they're able to say, like, oh yeah, I gave her her letters, or oh yeah, I helped her with that. She is.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, like you're actually thinking that's the wrong person in to be.
SPEAKER_01Oh, absolutely, yeah. But at the time you don't, you know, at the time you don't know that. So in order to prevent something like that, you just don't allow it.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, but I think what happens, because I've I've dealt with this with you know females saying the same thing, and I just thought that's not your fault. Yeah, and you don't have to own that. It's it's everybody's gonna because people are gonna say what they're gonna say, yeah, irregardless of what you think. Because it's like it's like even if you, you know, like say I came to you and I said, cat teach me how to do throw-ups, and you teach me, and I get good, and then they're like say, Yeah, but cat taught you. I'm like, yeah, but I'm doing them. Yeah, you know, so and and I mean it no matter what you think, say, or do there's always gonna be a hater with a loud ass voice.
SPEAKER_04I mean, that's that's that's that's you know no matter what you do, somebody's gonna find something. Right, yeah.
SPEAKER_01But I just don't want anybody to be able to try to take something. They can. You know? They can. Yeah, I can see that, yeah.
SPEAKER_02You know, you're you, yeah, and you're here and you're you do the work. There's only one cat.
SPEAKER_01Exactly.
SPEAKER_03It's only one cat.
SPEAKER_01And another thing, just generally for anyone, um just be really careful who exactly you involve yourself with. Because there's all sorts of people. My homegirl Pinky said it the other day graffiti opens the doors for so many bad people because there's a sense of anonymity, and usually people that don't have the best intentions are want to be anonymous, you know? Like, so just be careful who you're around.
SPEAKER_02That's a that's a good person. Yeah, you're 100% right with that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I mean, just be careful who you're around, also, like it's in general.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And it's so important that like I never ever gave importance to being a winner until now, and it's so freeing. Like, maybe it's because I've never had I've never had a like a good crew like you know, I don't know, the crews I've been from are the it's just functional dysfunctional. Yeah. Dysfunct if that that's the word that I'm looking for, yes, dysfunctional.
SPEAKER_04So So how does how does one avoid a dysfunctional crew when you're brand new, you don't know crews like that?
SPEAKER_02So low. Exactly.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, at least for the beginning, like I you know, I was um there there's a young man that just started painting that I follow on Instagram, and he's like, he's like posting about like like are they he's he's a he's a young black man and he's posting like are they racist? Like, why does nobody want me to be part of their crew? And I told him like like yeah, some people might be racist towards you, but also there's an importance that comes with being a wonder when you first start, and you'll never be able to get that back. Like d take your time, get better, you know, get your name up. You don't have to answer to anyone, like this is like the perfect thing for you to do right now, and then later, then you'll figure it out. Because that's where I fucked up. I should have just been a winner from the beginning, you know.
SPEAKER_04Yeah, well, you don't you don't hear that because I would have been a winner from the beginning too. Yeah, you don't need it at that stage. But um I'm gonna wrap this up, uh, this interview. We can go longer, but I like to keep my interview short and sweet. Is there any shout-outs you want to give to anybody out there in the world? Kids, pros, pinky, uh yes, all of those my my baby.
SPEAKER_01I call her my little chicken, my little spicy chicken. Um, she's she is my driving force, you know. Everything I do is for my daughter. Even when I go painting, like I do that to you know get a sense of release and be able to go back home and be the best mom that I can be. Um Pros, he's the best, he's the best partner I've had. He's he's genuinely a good person. Um, and I think I deserve that after having to deal with so much bullshit.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And um Pinky, yes, I love Pinky. Pinky, I've known Pinky since I was 15.
SPEAKER_04Okay.
SPEAKER_01That's been my one of my longest friendships.
SPEAKER_04So I've heard a lot about Pinky. She's a lot of people have a lot of, they throw her a lot of shades.
SPEAKER_01They do.
SPEAKER_04Um that means she's good.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. Uh huh.
SPEAKER_04Someone threw some shade at her about her name. Let her know it'll be one pink that they didn't do their homework, and I'm like, no, she she did her homework.
SPEAKER_01She's doing her thing. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03You know, why? Hey, she's out there active.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, she's and she's she's a real one. She'll if if I need help and I need someone to get their ass beat and I can't put hands on them, Pinky will beat your ass.
SPEAKER_04I heard the stories.
SPEAKER_01Pinky.
SPEAKER_04I heard she's a very spicy Guatemala woman.
SPEAKER_01Yes, she is.
SPEAKER_04So, yeah, I met her once. Yeah, she's very, very blunt, very honest.
SPEAKER_01Yes, she is. She's a she's a great person. She's a great mother. She's a great friend. Okay. Um, I'm very, very blessed. Um, I don't have that many people in my life right now, but the people that I do have, I'm very, very happy with with my life with them in it.
SPEAKER_04So yeah. Well, thank you for letting us do this. Thank you. Um, you got anything else you want to say?
SPEAKER_02Keep bombing.
SPEAKER_04Keep bombing. Alright, the same. Don't stop.
SPEAKER_02Thank you.