Sunday, August 30, 2009

Writing my Name in Graffiti on the Wall

I do a lot of my best work at night.
I'm a nocturnal type person.
This fits perfectly with writing graffiti.
I usually wait until 2 or 3am to venture out and do some writing.
This is the prime window of opportunity to bomb and not be seen by the public.
Writing graffiti is 75% stealth. Skill comes with time, like understanding.
However, not getting caught is the foundation.
I've never been caught vandalizing or writing graffiti.
Vandalizing is when a person destroys an area, be it a wall or building or monument or church or whatever, by writing all over it, usually writing spiteful remarks or some gang shit.
Graffiti is the art of writing your name in the most conspicuous location, or difficult location and not being seen or caught.
That is the allure of the culture of graffiti writing.
To go out and make a statement to the public, and them not knowing how or when or who made it happen.
Anyway, you get ready to hit the streets around 2am.
You throw on some bullshit gear, you don't mind getting fucked up, usually dark colors for better stealth.
I find that military fatigues are best suited, because of the pockets and rugged construction. However, a dark hoodie and jeans works just as good.
In some cases I've worn nice clothes so that I wouldn't be suspected of doing anything but going to work or a party or something not related to graffiti writing.
This is only if the location i'm bombing is not too fucked up.
I've walked through mud ponds and over trash heaps, and tunnels and bridges, and they are filthy.
Okay now you got the gear, now you gotta load the weapons and ammunition.
I prefer to carry as many cans on my person as possible, so that I wont have to lug around a bag.
I intend to use the entire can of paint so I will toss them as I go.
I keep a black can and a white ready in my front or inside pockets, and a krink type marker in my hand ready to tag at the first open moment.
Tagging is all about speed.
You don't want to get caught tagging ever. It's shameful to everyone.
So you're armed and ready, but if your doing a planned piece which requires more paint than you can carry, by all means take along a bag, but be sure to insulate the back so the cans aren't clanging around in the bag, as to give away your intentions.
I prefer to walk or ride a bike while on route.
By being on foot you have a better chance to doing good tags fast and discreetly, and can get tags more up, than if you were driving.
I would only drive to an area then, walk to the desired bombing locations.
In my opinion a bike is much more efficient, you can hit up a wall and be 5 blocks away before anyone noticed.
You can also get away faster and ditch the bike, if ever under chase from cops or thugs or dogs or concerned citizens.
So, were already to go do some damage or some art, whatever you prefer.
Good luck and happy hunting.

Friday, August 28, 2009

My Son the BBoy



Peace

Ah man, this evening, I took my son out to the Philly Gathering, a monthly Hip-Hop event featuring open ciphers of BBoying, Mcing, Djing and Graffiti.
The Gathering has been around for over 12 years, and I can attest to being a part of the original Gathering, back when I was doing my rhyme thing like that.
So anyway, this evening about 4 hours ago my son, my little me totally went IN, and got busy in the bboy cipher.
He was doing uprock and bottom rock, 6 stepping and side shuffling into crazy head spins and kartwheels, hand stand and all types of ill moves.
He had the crowd including the other bboys, cheering him on and roaring with amazement when he pulled off a new move are flip.
It just now, brought a tear to my eye just thinking about how he performed and executed him moves with confidence and swagger.
I practice bboying with him all the time and encourage him to do more difficult moves (under my supervision, of course).
He even has been to all of the bboy classes my program held. So I know he can rock like that.
however this cipher had many skilled bboy and my little man hopped right in and was not just a random kid jumping in having fun, but a dancer in the cipher, awaiting his next turn to do a even more spectacular move, which he did, until he ran out of moves.
So now I gotta teach him how to backspin and windmill, so by next break he can come back and do it again.
All I keep buggin off what my son said in the car, on the way home.
"Yo, dad I was killin em, right"
Word son, you definitely was.

Monday, August 3, 2009

Im not a blogger

Peace

Im not a blogger, at least I didn't think I was until I started typing this sentence, in which case makes me a blogger.
However, I am not a professional blogger, if there is such a thing.
I just need a medium to post and highlight signifigant shit I do and see.
I am a 5%er who lives and breathes hip-hop oxygen.
With that said, any further posts will be dealing with the above as I see it.

Peace

Dress Code

Sunday, January 4, 2009

The 5% BBoy Document


Peace
My name is not important.
What is important, is my two life long passions (after my son, of course);
The teachings of Allah, expressed through Supreme Mathematics, Supreme Alphabets, and 120 lessons.
And, Hip-Hop, expressed through MCing, DJing, BBoying, Graffiti Art, Beat Boxing, Beat Making, and all other forms of expression that have manifested from the culture of Hip-Hop.
Indeed I just called Hip-Hop a culture.
When I first got knowledge back in Born God, it was made very clear that the mixing and diluting of the 5% was directly related to the 5% influence on hip-hop.
At the time you had a million fake ass god body wanna bes running around talking about "Non cipher" this and "peace god" that, totally confusing the real from the fake, for the outside observer. So, to even speak of Hip-Hop being a culture was a violation, at least where I got knowledge.
A culture is the behaviors and beliefs characteristic of a particular social, ethnic, or age group.
Culture is your way of life.
My first and foremost way of life is mathematics, expressed through Islam, which is I Stimulate Life And Matter, I am the sole controller of my universe, I am the most high form of existence, thus I-God is made manifest through my ways and actions, which born my culture.
Through speaking Supreme Mathematics I am expressing my culture, by living a righteous and pure life I am expressing my culture, by gathering and organizing with those that are alike to me, I am expressing my culture, by writing this blog, wearing a flag or a crown, teaching 120, I am expressing my culture.
Culture is expression. Expression through language, art, music, philosophy, ideology, dress, demeanor, attitude and history.
These are key parts that make up one's culture.
So, is Hip-Hop a culture?
There is a distinct language, or dialect that hip-hoppers speak, which is a street slang.
There's definitely a style of dress that distinguishes hip-hoppers as such.
Graffiti is the art, and the music is obvious.
So what is the ideology of a hip-hopper?
Ideology is the body of doctrine, myth, belief, etc., that guides an individual, social movement, institution, class, or large group.
The Ideology of Hip-Hop has never been defined, but there are unwritten doctrines of behavior and thinking that most hip-hoppers adhere to.
Hip-Hop is born from the streets, blacks and browns, making something phenomenal out of nothing, or what appeared to be nothing.
The music is born from utilizing common turntables and hi-fi stereo equipment, which was state of the art at the time.
Graffiti is and has been a expression of rebellion and a means of rogue marketing of ideas and ideologies.
Breakdancing was born from street kids emulating kung fu moves and fancy disco moves, while rebelling against the downtown disco scene.
MCing is another manifestation of the oral tradition of original cultures.
From African Griots to blues, to the dozens, to the social commentary poetry over funk beat that Gil-Scot and the Last Poets and the Watts Poets Pioneered.
Spitting melodic flows is nothing new.
The common denominator among all the fundamental elements of Hip-Hop, is Rebellion.
Rebellion is resistance to or defiance of any authority, control, or tradition.
All of the elements of hip-hop came together at the end of the civil rights movement that had fizzled into the free spirited 70's. Where the boundaries of creativity, ingenuity and imagination were tested and often surpassed.
From this born a culture that has never existed before, and that has changed all cultures after it's inception and relentless infection of the whole world.
This is a culture that I have grown up with.
my culture is mathematics and mathematics being all things in existence, I can encompass the culture of hip-hop. However the mathematics allow me to elevate my understanding of this culture into the upper levels of culture such as philosophy, ideology, and cultural development.
Back in the day, we had a saying, that if you claimed to be hip-hop you had to do at least two if not three elements of the culture, and by do, it is meant that you are good at the arts you choose to rock.
I will be posting a series on my hip-hop story entitled:The 5%BBoy History in Brief"
(K.i.s.S.)

Peace