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Hot 110

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Started ; 1970's

Area ; Hollis Queens N.Y

Alias ; LIN or ( LINWOOD ), QK, KWIK

Writing Groups ; RTW, TMB, 3YB, POG, TVS, TSS, TK

Main Lines ; E's, F's, EE's, GG's, N's, CC's, A's, HH, K's, RR's, 7's,

Lines Hit ; E's, F's, GG's, RR's, M's, LL's, J's, B's, D's, 1's, 2's, 3's, 4's, 5's, 6's, 7's

T------------HE ALL CITY SUBWAY LEGEND

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I started writing in the early part of the 70’s. I began tagging the E, F, GG, HH, J and K line with my friends Daniel Maxwell, ( SALWEEN-I ) and Craig Wynn, (COOL COUNT ) and Another friend, Harold Thorpe used to look out for me while motion tagging, but we were all big toys then. Before then I hit up my name on the streets of Hollis Queens next to gangs like the BLACK SPADES and the APACHES. I thought the gang style

Graffiti was terrifying, You know, destroying public property with spray paint, then walking around with your crews name sewed into the back of your jacket… that meant you were a baaad mutha! Hollis Queens back in those days was like a black version of “leave it to beaver”, the suburds. Lew Alcindor and James Brown lived out that way when I was little, later Run – Dmc made it out of Hollis but as for Graff, I was isolated. My partners lived in Jamaica and the subways were at least a mile and a half from home, so for a kid this made things difficult. I painted my first subway car in 1972 in the 75th Ave station on the E & F line in Queens. Before then I was waaaay too short and small to even think about going on the train tracks! Eventually I'd be apprehended twice that very station and nearly the same spot years later

on two separate occasions. Before then I had done some street tagging and motion bombing with Dri- Marks and Testors paint which I manipulated my dad into buying them, pretending I was going to spray paint my model boats and airplanes. I lived near the Queens/Nassau County border, so actually my first train was that of an LIRR train layed up in The Belmont Park yard. It’s a funny story how I found the name QUIK. I was detained and taken to a barred house of detention by an Officer Smitty a notorious bulldog- looking transit patrolman in 1973. He knew all about the writers, we were just kids and he was the big cat in the game. I would see Officer Smitty riding home from school, and I'd notice him always looking at my hands to see if they were covered in ink or paint. Smitty was keen, and knew our names. I can't remember the details, but when I changed my name to QUIK (to "fool" Smitty) in 1974 the writer SKATE was the

policeman's favorite bomber! I recall as early as 1972, STOP 700 and SPIN having done unfinished filled in (no outlines) Top to Bottoms on the 75th Ave walls! I thought that was radical, and later UNCLE JOHN 178 would repeat that feat on the 67th Ave. walls with 3 colors in a T-2-B version of a wild style.I would keep a note pad of names as I rode the trains to school in Manhattan, and when my lil'book was full....I was thinkin', "Damn, something going on here! And, I'm a part of it!"

EARLY INSPIRATIONS ...

The popular names could fill a book like Norman Mailers, but my favorites were SUPER STRUT, 7-UP, SPIN, STOP 700, DIZZY / WAIT 525, COOL COKE, PENTAGRAM, SHARK 77(whose style I imitated to do my first writing name, Star X), STAR 206, JAPAN 1, CAY 161, STAY HIGH 149, SJK 171, STAR III, SNAKE 1, FRANK 207, PIPER 1, JACE 2, CO~CO 144 all the 56 boys (ie. FDT 56, HOY 56, CLYDE...), THE BUTLER, THE UNDER TAKER, EL MARKO 174, Then by '74 when I was truly an enthusiastic toy names like PISTOL 1, FLINT 707, MINGO

1, GUMBE / TOKE / STUN 1, JINX 2, STAFF161, Savage, Killer, AJ 161, , MOSES 147, B-ONE, ZIBRA 139, HERB 99, A-TRAIN, JESTER, FLINT 707, TRACY 168, BLADE, COMET, CLYDE, FlINT..., TRUE2, CLIFF, TJ 159, EARL/SHASTA 62, PEACE 108, LSD 3/om, MOVIN 2, TEE, STIM, ALI, FUTURA 2000, SAL 161, DEFIE, AFX 2, AT, ODD, CADD/OO One, DANGER 59, COKE 67, PINTO / DP 2, UNCLE JOHN 178, WHY-DO, RHINO, All 1, LIL SOUL- EXP 159, ROGER, CHINO 174, IN,VINNY, CA / CAPTAIN AMERICA, KROME 100, TEAR 2, DOC-STAMM, QUANG, FINE 99, , P-NUT 2, KING 2, CHICAGO, RC, , DIABLO 1, , TEAM, LP, SHORTY 13, IZ THE WIZ, DUKE 9, DEO, MASTER 1, SLY

108, AZTEC, SON ONE & PRO… and so many others were rocking the subways with their art. Naturally IN and JESTER are my favorite writers...ever! Fuckin 'period! It’s only my opinion, but IN was the ultimate bomber. He did the first whole train, not CAINE 1 and crew or the Fab 5! I saw it, 1975!!! Jestser had a style and flair comparable to none, and he was an all city king blowing everyone away, even when VINNY and IZ

were at their best. COMET and BLADE were also historic, let's not overlook that! And, Mr. IZ THE WIZ bombed the most, fact. My favorite tags are by the artist’s WHY-DO?, SES, SHARK 77, FLIP, DIME 139, DEFIE, AT/WEO, JESTER, IN, CADD, DIZZY, SUPER STRUT, JACE 2, LIL SOUL 159, SE 3/ HAZE, LSD-OM, and VINNY........those guys had flair. I knew and wrote with so many writers at some point, except for MINGO 1. MINGO and GUMBE were the first ALL OUT KINGS after DIZZY's reign on the E&F line. Then STEVE 61 made his bid for king with a style ad flair unknown to Queens writers at that time. DUKE 9 and EX were the last true kings of the E, F, GG, and EE lines until I made my strong comeback beginning in 1978. In 1978 the only other writers of significance out in Queens were DEMO and VADE. The only real

singular competition I after 1979 was by Fred 14, FABULOUS TROY, FABULOUS SONO, L7, PEO , AT and DEMO. When BILROCK, HUGHIE, FUZZ ONE, and REVOLT hit the lines wih a new style and flair in 1979 had to step up my game! These guys bombed BIG, and with clarity. Although I was dominant, my cheesy throw up were thin and near invisible next to writers like those other guys.

THE ROLLING THUNDER WRITERS***********

I first painted with known writers such as COKE 67, TRUE 2, DANCE 2, UNCLE JOHN 178, TEAR 2 and JESUS 2. TRUE 2 was more of a mentor back in those days, as well as COKE 67. Later I painted with REPEL, another wise gentleman. I learned the smart approach to bombing with those guys, how to paint Top to bottoms without a platform, and the ways and operations of the transit yards. I have been to the Concourse ( 149^th street writers bench ) and naturally hung at at the 75th Ave. writers bench in Queens. I didn't get into writing to meet people, and had few select friends I could trust. The stories I can relate would take hours of tape and pages and pages of text. Perhaps one day I shall complete my autobiography. My life was a bit more broad than simply writing with Graff heads. I cannot remember my first time steeling paint, until

apprehension in '73 I would convince my Dad to buy Testors brand cans because I was busy "painting my boat, airplane, and tank models' as I mentioned before. Later, I would buy the lower quality Martin's Paint brand At 3 cans for $1.00. Thus, you can imagine the quality of the work I produced! I do recall meeting up a posse of writers like TRUE 2, SO-5, KEO, RHINO, LIL SOUL 159, SIN 158 to go gang bogarting at Martin's Paint on Jamaica Ave. Back then the premium paint cans in most stores were kept up high on the racks, or behind the cashier counters in smaller stores, so we short kids usually obtained the poorer paints. In 1975 I cycled all the way out into Nassau County to obtain paint. A nerdy looking 'light skinned black kid didn't seem to be a threat, I had a very good technique! Eventually until 1984 I went to the same four stores 3 or more times per week! Then, once I met IZ and SACH in 1981 we expanded our Nassau county territory a bit! I began driving in 1976, so I was always in range of paint, yards and lay-ups. All those guys who did claim they were king of this and that never had paint like we older suburban guys. Ya gotta have paint to be a King! Men such as VINNY, JESTER, IN, BLADE, COMET, IZ THE WIZ, FUZZ ONE, SACH, PJAY, SEEN, know the deal-io

when it comes to being a true king. I rarely speak on steeling paint, because I feel It perpetuate the cultural abhorrence of "thieving graffiti writing urchins". I could speak of positive things about the Graff culture, for example how it raised the Black and Hispanic American man to the level of being international artists! Or we could discuss the aspects of this world wide movement of so-called graffiti and the association with hip hop; this all was instigated with fantastic momentum from the Black and Hispanic communities of NYC. Racking......Oh boy, stimulating ...Not!...Once I jumped off the roof parking lot at a $#@%^&* store out in Long Island; blinding going off into space like a ski long jumper. I could've broke my legs and shattered my ankles for life. When dashing away down on the ground, I looked back at the guard up on the roof. His face was paralyzed with shock and amazement over my leap!

QUIK / Interview part.2