Area: Manhattan, N.Y.
Lines Hit : 1's 3's 4's, 5's,
Writing Groups: 3YB, SA
I started writing in the early 1970's, on 103rd
Street on the one ( train ) line, where I just tagged all around the
block. What really made me start writing is really funny; There was this guy,
around my neighborhood that we all hated, so we would tag up, on his front door and just vandalize his whole
building. My first tag was BRA50, but I didn’t like the sound of it, so I kept the B
and added a one at the end of it. I went with that idea, and that is how I
got B-One. The first group of writers I met in those years, were LAZ aka LTD aka OH, MOSES147 and TAKI149.
A few other writers that I went with, outside that group, were CLIFF159, COMET
and PATCH147. It was mainly MOSES147 that I would hit with. I started
mainly tagging on the one line, until me and MOSES took a trip uptown, where we
looked for some style.
Our early pieces had a wobbly style that we used, to get all over the one line. During those years, MOSES147 was my partner whom I spent many days with, in the one yard and lay-ups. At times, we would race each other for the line, which most people might not remember, and I did beat him for the line, several times. Later, I met up with CLIFF159 who I also wrote with. He took me out to Queen’s to hit the 7, E and F lines, then to Brooklyn to the 3 line and finally to the letter lines. The D yard, in the Bronx is another line we bombed. It was In the Bronx that we met up with COMET, went on to hit the 2 and 5 lines, and hit them pretty hard. Even though I hit other lines hard, I was still king of the one line. I was a member of a few groups in those years, like 3YB ( 3 Yard Boys ), WIN ( Writing is now )
FDT 56 and B~1, 1974
and SA ( Soul Artist ). There may have been a few other groups that I was a member in, but I don't remember their names ( off the top of my head ). I never had a war with anyone, but I still remember a fight between CLIFF and LAZ. It was when Laz and I were bombing the one yard, and were doing a top-to-bottom that, when we were finished, we realized that we went over half of CLIFF's piece. The next day, CLIFF showed up with a writer, by the name of FATCAT, and a few other of his boys. CLIFF grabbed LAZ, slapped him around a bit, and then moved on to another dude. The other dude was a little crazy, so he ended up popping CLIFF in the head, and then chased him down the block.
I did have a falling out with MOSES, which started over a girl ( GWEN99 ) that we were both seeing, at the same time. We were writing words and just dissing each other on the 1 line. Later we settled it, and I ended up marrying the girl ( GWEN99 ). From 1973-1974, and the beginning of 1975, I started numbering all my pieces. It was also, then that I did my last piece with CLIFF, and called it quits. I went on to college, but CLIFF kept going on; Now that guy was crazy! It was not until I started working with Don King, the boxing promoter, in the early 80’s did I ever meet a more devious person than he. CLIFF was a born criminal. He took me everywhere, to steal whatever we could find.
If we were not going to mom and pop stores in
Astoria, Queens to steal paint, then we would be doing warehouses. The guy was a
complete maniac! I remember this one really crazy chase that I had at the one
yard. MOSES147, TAKI149, LAZ and I were doing pieces,
when the door opened and the cops started racing out towards us. We ran between
the subway cars to the other side of the yard where there was a foot ball game
in progress; Near the field there was a metal shack from the elevated tracks,
that we all decided to jump into. When we did jump, “KABOOM”
the game stopped, everything went silent, and we all ran off the field like
champions.
As mentioned earlier, I went to
college and got my degree. Currently, I am a CPA (Certified Public
Accountant), have my own firm with 15 employees, and a great family. Peace to all the
former Subway Outlaws!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B~ONE 3YB