My Graffiti writing career started in the South Bronx, somewhere between 1971 and 1972. At that time, me and my first partner, SANTOS 141 aka RISK 1 aka CEE 56 were captivated by traveling by trains. We would travel all over the city by trains or buses. We would go to places like South Ferry, the Aquarium, and Museum of Natural History. As we traveled we started to notice that some people’s names popped up in a lot of the places we visited and also on some of the trains. Back in those days, we would write stuff like “ Eddie was Here ”. When we did this, we really didn’t see it as being part of a Graffiti movement. However at that point, it did become some what of a competition for me and my then friend and partner RISK 1. So we took to the streets with a regular crap marker. Buses became a target along with trucks, because it made our tags mobile and once the concept of a mobile tag took grasp, then what better a venue for a mobile tag than the trains.

As with a lot of writers of my time before the Pilots, Uni’s and Mini’s, we were creative so we used shoe dye, which had a dip stick with a felt tip, that wrote about an inch wide. However, it was pretty messy and would drip like crazy. Another invention was a bingo marker filled with supermarket pricing machine ink. This ink was purple and what ever it came in contact with, you can best believe it was permanent. Then came the innovative and modern tools of the trade, Pilots, Uni’s, spray paint, (Jiffoam Oven Cleaner, spray caps), buffalo markers used for our black books, opaque markers that were wonderful for the windows. The first name I wrote was “ABEE”. This name came about because of a deaf mute friend of mine. His handicap made it difficult for him to pronounce names or words properly. So the way he pronounced my name “Eddie” was “ABEE”. So began my writing career, at this point I was not aware of lay-ups or yards or any of the spots that were later used to effectively maximize the number of train cars you could put your tag on.

My way of tagging was bold and brazen because many times I would be putting up my tag in front of everyone on a crowed train, even during rush hour. I apparently got up enough that I was able to get my name in the first book ever published at the time on graffiti. The name of the book is “Faith of Graffiti”. My partner Santos 141 also made the listing. This was my first experience at having my efforts recognized. The experience was the spark and fuel for the passion that I developed for Graffiti. Even today at age 48 that passion is still very strong! I just recently acquired the book “Birth of Graffiti” and to my utter amazement, my partner Risk 1 – Santos 141 and I, Abee – ( Fame 1 TWB – Den 3YB ) tags appear on page 42, 43, 76 (of note on page 76) Santos 141 had tagged Wee 72 141. This just proved that I was right about “Faith of Graffiti” when our names appeared on the listing and not the photos which were unpublished. It also shows me that people have pictures of my stuff that I didn’t know existed. Other people did for me what I didn’t do for myself, I did not catalogue any of my works, I am immensely grateful to them. I also changed my name a few more times. Here’s a list of names I used; ABEE 72, CLOUD 9 - ONE, FAME 1 TWB, DEN.3YB, PRIMO SALSA!

 After a while of writing CLOUD 9 ONE, I came to the conclusion CLOUD 9 ONE was a bit more time consuming. So I had to brainstorm to come up with a shorter name. As a result of my brain storming, I came up with FAME – the factors that came into play to this decision was - it was an unique name, no one else was writing it at the time, easy to read and write, which played a big part.While I had enough talent to write it in many fancy styles, I wanted to be able to write it

about me and my love for dancing at the time, what an ego!!! Fame for me was the perfect name, I wrote stuff besides my name like “You can erase the name but the FAME still remains”, “Along came FAME”. The name DEN came from a thought I had about being as ferocious as a lion in his lair. The completion was strong, but I felt very at home on the insides, so when it came to the insides, it was this lion’s DEN…..

 The biggest names of my early years were all those we consider legends. I’ll try to give you all those I can remember, but I know I’ll be forgetting quite a few. Those that I’ve forgotten in no way takes away from their accomplishments. TAKI 183 - First marker hit I seen) , JOE 182, CAY 161, JUNIOR 161, BARBARA62, EVA 62, LEE 163, STAYHIGH149, SUPERKOOL223, SWEET DUKE 161, PHASE 2, AJ 161. This is a very short list and it does not accurately account for all

 those writers who had an impact on my writing. Truly there were so many names that inspired me and I will try to mention many of them that I felt had a flair and dominated at the time. STAYHIGH, SUPERKOOL 233 are standouts because although they did their out-sides, they used the insides as their base. Of course my good friends, FDT 56, CLYDE FUE,  TINE 1, EDDIE 80, PAX, LUIS 176,  MAX, LSD 3, HOY 56, YAZ 56, PAL 56, The 56 Boys, as we called them, TRACY 168, CHI-CHI 133, SONNY 107, PNUT, OZ 109, BLADE & COMET

 and so many others. Many of us went to the same school, Dewitt Clinton in the Bronx. I wish that I could tell you when my first experience writing on the trains began, but I have to be honest and say I can’t truly remember. I can tell you that if any train line, I believe, I wrote on first, I would have to say that it was the Number 6 because it was the home line. I can also say that it became a passion and an outlet of expression for me. The earliest Writers I went with and first partner was RISK 1 aka SANTOS 141 aka CEE 56. RISK and I started together early on. The names we were going by at that time were SANTOS 141 and ABEE 141 which made it to the listing in “Faith of Graffiti”. Then we went on to names like RISK - CEE 56, FAME 1 - DEN 3YB. RISK and I also teamed up with KROME 100 and GAME 5 ( KROME's brother) . I wrote with FDT 56, HOY 56, and CLYDE FUE not so much as partners but we were often going to yards and lay-ups. My final partner was PANCHO 76 and then AS 2. Pancho became my partner when I moved from the Bronx to Qns-Queens bridge.

 The buses in the 1970's were just as popular as the trains. My local bus line at the time, if I am not mistaken was BX3. I believe that a kid that wrote BE3 was King of that line. That was the first bus line I tagged on, from there I went to BX55 and others, but not for long because my passion was for the trains. FDT 56, HOY  56, CLYDE, LSD 3  were killing the  buses, they had lots of them through out the city. When it comes to writing crews, I’ll say 3YB and TWB (The Write Brothers) were the ones I pushed the most. SALSA and WANTED were also crews that I represented.  It’s funny about

how I started TWB with RISK. Back then we were up and coming writers, yet RISK and I didn’t belong to any of the groups and no one asked us to join. So I went to TAKE 5 and SANTANA 137 of the 6 line and asked if we could rep their crew. They looked at us like we were crazy. I think that they felt the way they did because they mostly painted the outsides. I loved bombing the insides, no one had more insides on the 6 line than me at the time. So I said to RISK let’s make our own crew, a two man crew. Then some other guys, friends of ours joined. Although they didn’t get-up as much.  It didn’t matter, I knew how I felt when I asked. I believe SET 149 also joined our crew. But I’ll always be a 3 YARD BOYS member.

I appreciated that CLIFF 159 ( aka PAZ 2 ) asked me to join his crew. I was honored that he recognized my prowess and abilities to dominating the insides. Racking up is not something I like to talk about. But I can say Strauss Stores, Martin Paints, Charet, Kresge, EJ Korvettes were all victims. Some as far away as Staten Island and New Jersey. There was a Woolworth on 138^th Street between St Ann’s and Brook Avenues in the Bronx that was a favorite. In the early years,

 I hit all lines although nothing like the (“6”), 5, 4, 3, 2, and 1. The IRTS were my base lines, especially the 6 line. The 4 yard at Tracy Towers was my favorite, because it was right across from DeWitt Clinton. I like the yard at New Lots and the 3 Yard at 148^th Street. I remember one day getting together with FDT 56, CLIFF 159, CLYDE - FUE, HOY 56, RISK 1, CASE 2 and maybe a few others. We got in by climbing a fence in a  park there. We were all doing our thing when all of a sudden

we are being chased all over the place. So we got on the top of train and started jumping from train to train until we reached the station. Then we got down on the tracks, hopped on the station and hauled ass in front of a whole lot of

sliding open and I am so surprised that I kept spraying and I realized that I am spray painting the pants leg of the cop that’s at the door. I dropped the can and started running. Now there’s chaos, everybody’s running around, so I ducked under a train and climb up into the wheel carriage of a train. I stayed put for about 20 minutes, which seemed like an eternity) I finally came out, looked around and broke out. I was covered in black soot and had to travel a long distance home on a bus looking like I came out of a coal mine, which was quite embarrassing. Next day I looked up the fellas, everybody seemed to have gotten away.

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INSIDE SUBWAY KILLERS OF THE 1970's

My family moved to Queens in Jan of 75. At first I didn’t like the idea because of my roots in the Bronx, girlfriend, friends, and school and of course my beloved IRT’s. I felt like I’ll have to start a new, so at first I was resistant and kept going back to the Bronx mainly because of my girlfriend who later came to live with me and that got me out of the Bronx. At this point, I was 16 years old and started a family so I started removing myself from tagging. Then I met PANCHO 76 and he kind of encouraged me into showing him the ropes on how I did things and I did. I, however warned him of the effort involved, so we started on lay-ups in Astoria or catching the trains at Ditmars Blvd  where they would stop before going back to the city. We both took over the insides of the Double R's in a short amount of time. The race for the insides with Dean BYB came about because he noticed I was getting up on the “RR” and all over the neighborhood. We had not met even though we both lived in Queens bridge Projects. He left me a message to meet him and I did, we talked and discussed the race and that’s how it got started, it was a friendly affair. So me and Pancho went against Dean and Gear who was partnered up with Dean at the time. Dean was a worthy opponent and gave me a ride for my money, but I prevailed. One thing for sure though he was a force to be reckoned with on the outsides. Very few, if any could come close to him on the number of pieces he had on the outsides. I truly didn’t have many writing partners. I wrote with

different people at different times. But I started with RISK 1 and we were partners for a couple of years. GAME 5, KROME 100, LP 136 aka TRIKE 1, FDT 56, CLYDE FUE, HOY 56, OZ 109, AS 2 were some of the guys that went out tagging once and a while. As I’ve said before, I met Pancho 76 in Queens, but he wasn’t  really a true writer yet. He was given an inside view to the game by me and he took it from there. We became very close friends back then and 30 something years later, we still remain close friends. When we first started I was skeptical about whether or not he would have the passion or commitment it took to become a top writer, but he proved to be worthy. So if I had to say who was a hard core writing partner, I would say Pancho76, He started with me and we both put own our markers together. I really don’t know much about Den of the POG crew  if anything. I believe someone may have mentioned seeing the tag, but I didn’t make much of it. I never met the person tagging DEN POG. The way I look at it is we all know the best from of flattery.

 '

.DEN IN SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER AND THE WARRIORS

Pancho and I were fortunate enough to get our tags in Saturday Night Fever and The Warriors. It’s funny because, I didn’t know I had made the film. I actually found out from other people. But once told I had to see the movie, which I did

 about 3 times in one day. Then about another six times during that week. I knew that the movie would become a classic because of the depiction of the disco era. It was the moment I dreamed of when I first grabbed a marker, being

immortalize. It was not expected but certainly appreciated. It was truly special because I had lot of friends calling me about it. Great boost for the ego. I had already semi-retired when the flick came out because of the birth of my son, Eddie

Jr, aka KEDS. Little did I know of the influence Saturday night Fever and The Warriors would have on my son, because he pick-up on this on his own. Are you’re kidding me, my granddaughter has also been smitten by the writer’s bug, she joins us at Old Timers events with her tag, ZULLY – BUG ONE. So as you can see even today I still receive great joy from all of this. The only thing about the film is that they have altered it from the original theatrical version and cut out a lot of the original scenes, unlike The Warriors that still viewed in its original format I wrote on a lot of lines, IRT's, IND’s and BMT’s, in my quest to get – up. I think it is easy to say I was KING of the insides on the 6 line with FAME 1 TWB and DEN. I could put up a strong argument for the 4 line. Definitely the “RR”, I got up pretty good on the N, M, J and others. Strange as it may seem I never bombed the number 7 line, because the 7 line was a home base line, I really didn’t care for it. I put tags on it but I had no passion for the line. I never went to that yard, although it would have been easy.

Back when I was writing there were many of fellas getting-up, competition was fierce on the insides of the IRT's and even the BMT's, plus I think it was the height of the game. I really hate doing this because I know I am going to miss a lot of names: STAY HIGH 149 aka VOICE OF THE GHETTO, LSD 3, FDT 56, CLYDE FUE, EDDIE 80, LAVA 1 & 2, HOY 56,  SUPER KOOL 223, AJ 161, SPIN, SUPER STRUT-TASS, T-REX 131,  AJ 161, YAZ 56, MAD HAT 1, BOMB 1, REBEL 3, AFX

 ROGER, PINTO, WASP 1, DON 1, SET 149, CURLY , CASPER 1, JESTER. DT 123, AS 2, TRACY 168, CHARLIE 158, TJ 159, VINNY, CA, KT 3, POT, CHI-CHI 133, P.NUT, DELTA 2000, EL MARKO 174, LA-ZAR, FLINT...,  IZ THE WIZ/ IKE, JESTER, PHASE 2, MICO and MITCH are names I remember having a strong present in the insides of the trains. Like I said there are many more that need to be mentioned here. There were so many crazy Graffiti cops that would chase you

to tell my story as best as my memory serves me. After all, we are talking about events that took place over 30 years ago. I would like to especially thank my son, KEDS for keeping the nostalgia alive and to commend him on his painting talents which surpasses any of those that I possessed. I would like thank my old friend FDT 56 for providing me with the top photograph on this page and helping to make this interview possible as well as EILEEN my wife with out her this story could not be told. Like to give a shout out to, RISK, HOY 56, CLYDE, FDT 56, CASE 2, PANCHO 76, TRACY 168, OZ 109, GAME 5, KROME 100, TRIKE 1 and AS 2. Rest in Peace to the fallowing writers, CLIFF 159 and DEAN. You will always be remembered by those who were truly involved in the writing game.

We would like to give a special thanks to Eileen and FDT 56, with out them this interview would not be possible Photo credits go to FDT 56, PAID 3, BOM 5, BLADE, LAVA, FLINT..., WADE, TRACY 168  and the team at Subway Outlaws.com.  Reproduction in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Copyright © Subway outlaws.com 2003. Should any one have photos of DEN's work, Please contact us at MESSAGE@SUBWAYOUTLAWS.COM