OLD NEW YORK 2015

     2015 Tryna hop back on that horse, with a new year should come some up grades in your life. Never sit stagnant. With that said, I know when I started this blog, I was a very angry person.

at the time I had a lot going on in my life. Life was full of painful moments, but with the right women in my life I was able to push forward and become a stronger man.

As you get older you should be growing as a person and minimizing the drama. Life is suppose to be easier as you get older, but it all depends on what you put into it.

     Its crazy to see my culture become so relevant in the millennium. I mean if you would've told me that this Polo culture & Graffiti would be as big as it is now I would have never believed it, just like if I wasn't there to see it for my self, my chilld... I wouldn't believe any of the stories I have to tell or the ones my friends have to tell. 

    As most know, I am from the UWS, but I have been in Brooklyn since 1993 so I claim BK all day Kidd. In the recent news, they were talking about the UWS. How mom and pop stores are disappearing because of high rents. They just can't compete with that corporate dollar. So ultimately these stores get ate up. So what has shaped the UWS much less New York are disappearing. Ultimately these stores are the essence of what New York is or rather was. It saddens me. Personally amongst others, they are erasing my past and childhood. I know I have it in my heart and the stories with pictures, but its not the same as going back to the old hood, going into stores and see people that have seen you grow up. Those are the people that are comprised as my family growing up.

     I see the similar things going on around me on a parallel level. For an outsider It can look foolish as hell even retarded and what Im talkn about is this Polo culture. But Its who some of are as people. It has put money on the table for a lot of us at times, allowed us to get fresh to death and show who we are as an individual and as a group. Its no different then the 80's. This is what was spawned from it and transformed with the time, but keeping that same essence of a true New York feel. Its amazing to see how this Lo Life culture has grown world wide and influence hip hop as well. Its great to see new people get on board who are genuine, thats what keeps the movement moving. 

     

     With the pro's comes the cons (and before I go further, Ima throw a quick side bar in here... In any culture or even in general, life & your job, people new to the game or to a position at work don't just show up and try to run things. You learn and build a place for your self along with a reputation & respect. You earn your way which is the honorable thing to do). But in real life you have groupies & frauds. So now that you can easily go out and buy what ever pieces to be a big time player in the game, you got frauds front'n like they been down for years with this new found respect falsely earned and some aren't even old enough to make that claim. That shit kills me. Growing up you had to earn respect & put that work in to be down in this culture. Shit if you was a fraud you found out real quick. You just got ya shit jacked. I can remember dudes get jacked for stupid shit like Jansport strings, now that Im older, what the fuck kind of shit was that. Ni99as got hurt behind that. Listen, like I said its great that you have new comers. It helps to preserve the culture and make it stronger and possibly open doors for some. But these new comers gotta play their part and the old timers need to put dudes in their lanes. At one point, not just anyone could throw claims with out putting in work. It just didn't happen that way and honestly I just don't see how it happens now. 

    Doesn't anyone have some sort of pride in them selves to just be them. Your a much better person that way. This day & age mother fuckas be living in a dream land believing their own lies & shit. Then you got your hand shakes from the fakes as my lady would say. Yo if I don't fuck with you, then that means I don't fuck with you. I can be in the same place at the same time & still be cool. Just you do you & ill do what I do, but fools be wanting to smile and take pictures with one another and call each other brother and sister. Then when your not there, they talking mad shit, throw subliminals on social media at one another. Just keep it real homie, you don't gotta like me and I don't gotta like you. Whats sad is that most of these type of people, if you took away their social status, they would have no life and be a nobody. Ill tell you this straight up, None of the social cirlces I run in define me as a person. I have defined my self by the trials & tribulations I have been through. Being true to who I am and putting in that work. I let my actions speak for it self. But what defines me most is the father I am to my children and the amount of growth in my life.

     When it comes to graffiti, the true essence is being lost. Growing up, we all learned from someone. The history, style and secrets were past along from some sort of mentor. Styles were past on along with knowledge to become a master of your craft. When it came to graffiti, notoriety was the end result of mastering your craft. First you had to learn how to make your own tools, where to get supplies from and how to execute all of these trades to only then go out and bomb. To get caps, you had to do a lot of walking, going to stores & pop tops. Paint, markers and stickers, racked. And now its all stripped away by companies taking that leg work out the game. O.G.'s still resort to the old methods,  but others can get what they need now at a store, fuck they even have spray paint thats made especially for graffiti. I mean for me, graffiti was all about the mission you go on and being able to execute a plan put together and the relationships that are built along the way.  These days you have people who just paint legal walls, the internet giving instant fame w/o put'n in work all tryna front. Its crazy, just like with all that Polo shit. Fools entering a culture under false pretenses and no work put into the game. Straight culture jacking. At least for my self, I feel blessed to have been apart of what I was, growing up. Shit was more stand up and honorable then the times today. With that said, Happy New Years. Make that new years resolution to keep it real to your self cause you frauds are not fooling anyone. 

     

Good Ol Fashion NYC Fun

Living in the New York we live in today, there are not many consistencies left from the New York I love. How ever there are a few things that are still consistent and graffiti would be one of those things. Graffiti to me is one way Old New Yorkers still exist, kinda like "if your going to move me out then im not going w out a fight" attitude and thats what I love about it. I can remember in 85 moving back to NYC from L.I. and man it was an eye opener & a half. It was a sensory overload with the music I was hearing and the graffiti I was seeing. I knew nothing about it, but I knew that this was what I wanted to be apart of.

Growing up on the UWS, the first writers I met was

Kel 1st & Mare 139. It was cool because at the time I had no clue who they were. I was 10 and I had know clue what I was about to get my self into. Then I met this crazy white boy who was about 15. He was trouble from the start, but he let me roll with em and thats all I cared about. Life was fucked up with a moms always fucked up on dope and so this became my escape. So I rolled with this kid Chooch 156. Through him I met most of the 156 crew and kicked it with a few of them. Omni 156 has always been one of my favorites of all time. By the way even a true writer is a fan of some before him. Any ways, graffiti is not the same to everyone who is involved. For me it was always about going on the mission, going places and seeing things that you are not normally privileged. Through the years I have seen a lot change. When I was growing up, Your graffiti career would end by the time you finished high school, Now graffiti has become a grown mans game. Its kind ill to see where are priorities lie at the age of 35 and some niggas that still kill it are older.

If you look at the writing on the wall, you will see EASY tags, Now thats a blast from the past. This man and his crew changed the whole street bombing game for ever. Now all of a sudden outta no where EASY has taken over one more time. Seeing them EASY tags really floats my boat for the simple fact that it takes me back to the 80's and man do I love that time frame.

Over all the whole graffiti game has changed in a lot of ways, but never the less its still here and it is not going anywhere anytime soon. People even come from out of town just to paint NYC. Graffiti is definitely a staple of New York and has played a major part in shaping Old New Yorkers lives in many ways. As for me it will always be apart of my life in some shape or form. Its an addiction that cant be shaken for some.

As much as I love this shit, there is a lot of shit that I do hate about it. The respect of things and the aspect of it all is not the same. I use to love to go racking for all my shit because thats what you had to do to get supplies. This means fat caps and all that and that was part of the whole fun of it. There was no ordering that shit online like you do now or special made paint just for graffiti. You had to be crafty son, it was a trade just like a shoe repairman or a locksmith and if you was gonna succeed in this game then you had to learn & be good at it. This was all the fun for me, every thing you did leading up to your actual mission. Although it has changed, I am very happy it is still here. Its the one thing you will never get ride of. Keep bomb'n then streets son!

That Old New York Shit

This one here is for the love of the Old New York & the ones that love this place as much me. There are a lot of things that are gone and a lot of shit that we as Old New Yorkers use to do that we just cant do anymore. As a kid, I always road in between cars with my Sony sports Walkman on blast pumping some Gbo The Pro mix tape or Doo Wop shit. From time to time you could catch me burning one down between cars with my people. I use to love & still do ride the back of the last car on the outside, but you just cant do that shit any more. Yo as kids, we use to do some dumb shit in the streets for fun and to just past the time. My man Marc & I got a hold of some epoxy shit and we was gluing the receivers to the pay phones down so we could watch people get jerked as they picked up the phone. Yo it was funny to us as kids, but what was more funnier then that was while we were in are process of gluing one phone on B'way and 74th it rang right after we hung it up. See now back in the days the pay phones use to ring back and the Bindi's in the news stand boxes use to use them shits as there personal phones. So as we were done doing are thing, the phone rang and the dude in the box came out to answer it. Now this is happening on a cool fall day so when the Bindi answered the phone, he must of not felt the glue on that shit. Plus he got a turban on with the chin strap and all that hair as well. While this is happening, my man and I are playing the corner like OH SHIT! Is this really going down? We stayed and watched. When he was done with the call, he was stuck to the phone and could not hang up. When we realized this we started to fuck with him by taking his candy like picking and choosing what we wanted. Mean while this dude is watching us as were taking his shit and we are laughing at him. Yo that was some crazy shit. Oh well! The stories go on & on. From Joy riding Yellow cabs uptown & back to cop trees and shit to throwing all kinds of shit off the roof or out the window of our buildings. My favorite shit was going to the Deuce to B'way Arcade to play video games and Play Land. Now that I think back, that was not the safest place for an 11 yr old to be at night. But when I was 11 I didnt have a care in the world and I went everywhere in NYC. You know whats crazy? Times now are more safe then the Old NYC days, but I think then it was safer for kids to be in the street then it is now. That shit bugs me out right there! As a kid we all hung out in the school yard. We spent our money on video games, nickle & dime candy and garbage pale kids. That was my shit, fuck'n Graffiti Pete son. One thing you couldnt do was ride your bike alone cause yo shit would get took. I know from all the bikes I got robbed for and all the dudes I robbed for there shit too. Times was rough then, but more comforting to me. Buying drugs out of abandoned buildings, shooting galleries, hookers on 11th & 12th ave and marching down avenues 10 to 15 deep just bombing the streets. Nigga's would be running like roaches to catch a spot on the gate just to cop a tag. Its all so crazy. If I wasnt there, I would think I was making it all up. True story. We really use to wild out in the streets as kids with pea shooters and wrist rockets braking shit and fucking people up as well. Yup, no bueno! But as kids we didnt have a care in the world. Yo how many of you made pea shooters out of ya moms hair rollers or cut up a quarter water? Dont lie! Or who knows about the Magic Dollar? We were crazy son like a 40 of Crazy Horse. Yeah meng! Those were the days. No doubt hopping the train was nothing to us, its how we got around or riding the back of the bus on the out side. As kids we lived a thrilling life with less consequences then kids now. With cell phones and cameras everywhere, you cant get away with shit anymore. Big bro be watching like a motha fucka! I miss seeing the girls jumping rope. What happen to that shit? I guess these young girls got too much titties & ass these days to jump rope. Anyways if you was there then you know what im talking about. Oh yeah, another thing I miss was if you was not from a hood, didnt know someone or had no biz there then you just didnt come around cause you got jacked or beat up. These days the hipsters walk by like they are taking a tour of the hood. SMFH! Well thats all for now my people! Stay up & stay strong.