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New York, New York. Home of the
Rockefeller Center, Chrysler building, RCA, Empire State Building, Time Square,
Radio City Music Hall, Statue of Liberty and yes, one time home of the World
Trade Center. This is the Hollywood version of extraordinary art. |
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Unlike Graffiti, not all of New
York’s art is displayed in museums. In the early seventies, I wrote KING
TWO on walls and trains. back then, people didn’t understand what I as
a graffiti writer was trying to develop as an artist. Art work comes in
all different shapes and forms. Unfortunately, it takes a long period
of time before the mind starts to develop and appreciate the art form of
graffiti. Even the famous Picasso,
Davinci and Van Gogh struggled with their
art forms in the 1500s. Not that I consider myself as famous as a Picasso, but
as a very respected artist in my field. I remember the first time I was introduced to a can of spray
paint at 176 Walton avenue in the Bronx; it was at the school yard where I wrote
my first nickname, KOOL HODGEE. I wrote that name everywhere until my friend
CIT2 told me I should change it because it was too long to
write on
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the trains and I wouldn’t
be able to finish it on time. So I changed it to KING 2 shortly after. The
name KING came from the man I admired the most, Martin Luther King Jr.,
The 2 came from my friend CIT 2. The first piece I did on the trains was
in the early seventies and I was scared as hell. I was hanging out
with a couple of writers and we jumped on the tracks at Jerome Avenue
Station in the Bronx. I did a K-2 with my name tagged inside of it.
Usually you start off with your full name, but since it was my first time
I wanted to get the hell off the tracks. I quickly over came my fear. At
this point, I started getting my experience as a writer. I started to
develop a style of my own and quickly began hitting the train daily. As I
specialized my craft, I hung out more and more around the 4 yard, hitting
the 4 & 5's, becoming the king of those lines at one point. You know at |
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EARLY MASTER PIECE GENERATION
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first
I was trying to express myself
by writing on the trains, but trying to stay away from the bad elements,
like gangs and drugs. At that time it was the early 1970's when I
started writing. I was a young kid getting involved in a whole new
environment, this environment, which was, and still is illegal, had risks
involved when there’s danger there’s also tragedy. My best piece that I
liked to break out with was a stylish, devastating masterpiece " KING TWO
", with 3-D clouds and designs. When
you did a masterpiece on a train, added 3-D and a cloud, |
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with designs here and
there, and absolutely no drips you can’t imagine thefeeling! When you saw the people
on the station staring at your piece it made you feel that all the hard work was
worth it. This was more or less the time when I met other writers like Tracy
168, P nut 2, and Chi-Chi- 133 these guys were very cool. Not only did
we all write together but use to hang out and have fun. We would play
basketball, go swimming and also had a clubhouse with a stove and refrigerator
in which the guys used to rack up food from the supermarket, and CHI - CHI would
to cook it. We all started hitting the 2's, 4's, 5's, 6's,
double RR's, EE's, E's, F's, D's, CC's, K's and even the 7- lines.
We were just bombing shit!
Just for the record we were the first
writers to do a top to bottom whole car on the 7 lines. CHI CHI 133,TRACY
168, KING2. |
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CAINE 1
was not the first like he wrote about in the past.
LIL FLAME and I bombed the inside of the 4 line and we also did some
master pieces which occasionally led us to get chased by the transit
police. Those were the good old days. |
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The well known writers were always in Graffiti Crews like THE
EBONY DUKES, I was in the group WANTED by TRACY 168 and WILD STYLE
which belong to TRACY. I was a member of the IND’S led by PHASE 2. These crews
had nothing but the best
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writers, people you wanted to be associated with to
have some credibility as an artist. My influences were CIT 2, LIL CROSS 1, THE
KID, LOVE 1-173 and SLY 5 who later became PEL and DIME 2. These writers were
also neighborhood friends from the Bronx. My bombing partners were the best
writers back then TRACY 168, CHI – CHI 133, P-NUT 2, LIL FLAME / ROP 1, RIFF 170
/ WORM 161, CLIFF 159, SOLID 1, BOT 707, FRED 165, FDT 56, CLYDE, TON 5, TURK 62,
ZEST, PEL, CIT 2, ALL JIVE 161 / AJ 161, LAVA 1 & 2 / STRAIGHT MAN, COST 170, STAY
HIGH 149, SONNY 107, OZ 109, PIKE 180, LSD 3, CHICO 180, APOLLO 5, KOOL BREEZE,
STIM, TEE, JIVE 3,and MICO. These writers and I had a big impact in spreading
the culture of Graffiti. In the seventies,
the media and
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politicians
tried to outcast
us from society. We are beyond that now. We accomplished so much so much that
everybody profits from it. You have acknowledge that Graffiti has had
a big impact on the way companies advertise now, especially if they want to
relate to young audiences. Even Hip Hop community has Graffiti on their albums
covers, only it's called artwork. Writers who dedicated themselves to |
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the Graffiti movement and
passed on will be missed. These writers took their creativity to a higher level
of consciousness, they were responsible for spreading the culture of Graffiti.
Writers like EL MARKO 174, DICE 198, T-REX 131, RC 162, TOP CAT 126, STICK 1,
CLIFF 159, CAINE 1, STIM, SOLID, DIABLO, BILLY 167, SMILY 149 and COST 170 will
never be forgotten. Looking back today, I never understood the power of the
movement I helped create. The art of graffiti writing started as a movement of
expression and over the decades has become much more than that, a culture in its
own right. I am happy to be apart of the beginning, to be recognized with some
of the greatest as one of the pioneers of this culture. |
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" King two "
1970-75
Photo credits go to .. KING 2,
TRACY 168,
BLADE 1 and the team at Subway Outlaws. Reproduction
in whole or in part without permission is prohibited. Copyright ©
Subway outlaws.com 2003. Should any one have any photos of
KING TWO's earlier work, please contact us at
Message@Subwayoutlaws.com
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