TAKI 149
Started : 1973
Area : Manhattan
Writing Groups : SA , Evil inc.
Main lines : 1's , 3's , 7's.
I started in 1973 on 103rd street in Manhattan on the Broadway line . The first tags I remember seeing back then were STAY HIGH 149 all over the ones , JOE 136 , NEHI161 and MOSES147 , NEHI 161 I knew from high school and even way before that at the time I was writing SIR 140 that i got from the movie ( " To Sir with love " ) I would write that name up in the projects were I lived .
I found the name TAKI on the back of a Mad Magazine cover which had a picture of Mount Rushmore with graffitti all over it and in there was a " TAKI 149 " tag , I took the name and been writing the name ever since. There were two TAKI's , TAKI 183 who was the original TAKI and had quit writing by 1972, TAKI 106 who lived a few blocks away from me and some times we would fight over the name but he would later change his tag to FID 6 and got up with that more .
The first writer I would meet in those days was a guy who wrote LAZ who lived a few blocks away from me , We would tag around the streets and some times hit the stations but that was about it. I would meet B~one thru LAZ and at the time he was writing BRA 50 and change his name due to all the funny cracks we would say about the name . In this same year I would take my first trip to the train yard and that was one crazy night, which happen to be with B-ONE and MOSES147 in the one yard in the Bronx. The trains seemed so high for me but just right for MOSES and B-ONE that happen to be much taller then me and who could paint really fast, I could remember falling on my ass more then once.
MOSES 147 was a little older then us and lived on his own in a motel out here in Manhattan and would look for you only when he wanted to. I met MOSES thru B-ONE and the two where the true kings of the One line some thing I could never claim . You could not even Hot 110 them two because they were just up so much it was a waste of time. MOSES 147 was the first guy to invent clouds around his pieces . I would only write with MOSES only when he could not find B-ONE , which at that time he was going to a very good school and would not play hooky . He would pick me up and take me on some crazy paint routes all over the city where we would rack up 40 - 50 cans a day then afterwards plan out our colors then I would leave it all at ALI 105's ( From the soul artist's) apartment who was real cool about it . We would all take trips to all the layups on the ones and destroy every one of them then head to the 1 yard and kill that as well . We had at the time the master keys TA-457 which opened every transit lock in the city and would get us in and out of the yards and layups very quickly. I would focus mainly on the Broadway line and from time to time would hit the 3's , 7's , 2's and 5's because those train were easier to write on but MOSES And B-ONE would end up going all city.
thru the years I would meet many writer like CODE 163 who use to kill the three line as well as the ones. CLIFF 159 , FATCAT , and STEVE 161 who showed me how to run from the cops and was so fast while doing it. In early 1975 would be the last time I would write on trains due to keeping up with the buff , it was not worth it any more and I was not one to join these work shops . Me MOSES and B-ONE hated these work shops and felt Graffitti should be on trains not paper or canvases . In 1975 I would call it quits and go on to the Air force and rest is history. If any one should have pictures of my work please contact me at messages@subwayoutlaws.com
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