Piece by Piece

One of your most personal

possessions is your signature.

It is the essence and the embodiment of who

we are.

This is San Francisco, northern

California.

Hometo some of the finest graffiti

artists the world has known.

A city famous for its beautiful

skyline,

steep hills, and diverse cultures.

Graffiti has played a major part in

this city for the last 20 years.

This isthe untold story of our

city's graffiti history,

told piece by piece.

And...

When we started out around '83,

there were so many cats doing

graff it was lovely.

Graffiti was rockin'. Frisco was

wrecked.

Ah man, San Francisco is a

playground for graffiti.

Every one I know who has come

always thought it was pretty

easy to get over.

It is a major small city, and it has a

ritch history.

This is where I crush.

You know, there were so many

crews,

so many writers, so many battles,

you know,

Iots of beef. I mean, nobody

wanted to stop!

Day and night, everyday, day and

night.

You gotta bomb.

If you've never painted, if you've

never ran from the cops,

you don't know what

the hell you're talking about.

Sitting and home and painting on

canvas is weak.

Just trying to put my name where

it needs to be.

Give me anything; I'll put my name

on it.

Mailbox, tunnel, truck,train; l

don't care!

The name of the game is to put

your name up!

When I go out and do graffiti,

I inherently feel asthough I am

destroying,

but I'm also giving something.

They still consider it vandalism.

If it is, it's creative.

Instead of focusing on the overall

look.

Does it look pretty, you know,

is it eye candy? Doesthe

character stand out?

Once they change the dynamic,

you know,

the next generation follows that,

because that's whatthey see.

Like, I mean, people say, "oh, we

hate the city," you know,

we don't hate the city, we love the

city! This is our city.

That's why we crush, 'cause it's

our city.

I think graffiti is part of the urban

life,

just like noise and buildings, and

smog, and people acceptthat...

It's against the law.

The police department has

dedicated officers

just to fighting graffiti.

If we catch you in San Francisco,

we'll slam ya'.

I put guys out undercover every

night.

If we catch ya', we'll slam ya'.

If I catch heat while I'm painting,

I'm not trying to hang out

and see how the cops are going to

treat me,

I'm doing whatever the f*** I can

to get away.

All your doing is changing the

color of the surface,

a millimeter thick!

But they're saying it's a $5000

damage,

Because the building's worth

$5000?

It only takes two seconds to brush

it over,

maybe $20 worth of paint.

I'm not saying it's right, I mean,

graffiti's not all good.

It'sthe good, the bad

and the ugly.

It's kinda interesting seeing the

different generations

throughout the '80s, 90's,

and now, the 2000s.

Its work given to the people who

are on the street, you know,

this is artwork for the people.

It's not that I can't stop, I don't

wanna stop.

I'm just gettin' started

myself!

Sh*t. I've been in some f***ing

good chases.

I've gotten away from most of

them;

I've gotten my ass kicked a few

times.

I got my nose broken;

I got my head split open.

I got, f***in', takento jail.

I always thought graffiti was dope.

I always wanted my first tattoo to

be a train car with graffiti.

And like, luckily enough I f***in'

didn't get that, because

the sh*t would have been wack,

you know

They told me, don'twrite graffiti.

They said, "don't f***in' write

graffiti, you're an idiot, you're just

going to get yourself in trouble

there's no point in doing it, don't

f***in' do it!"

and I just did it anyways, you

know?

Had everyone telling me I'm a f***ing

idiot, "why are you doing this?

What the f*** is your problem?" And I just

kept doing it, and doing it and doing it.

Nobody you know, no one knows you.

Except for, the few who know who you are.

It's like some super hero sh*t, you know? Like,

you just fly out and do your sh*t, come back,

Iike you're just a mild mannered

reporter.

I can't even drive a car. In the city,

my eyes are like the Terminators'.

Just like scanning, like,. Scanning like, every rooftop,

seeing every tag, seeing every

scribe. I just want to see everything.

Even if it's wack or not. "Ahh sh*t,

they got that, ah sh*t, they got that!"

You just look at your city like a grid,

like a map, and just look at everything

differently once you write graffiti.

This city has always been something for

graffiti. They've always had a little

heart for graffiti here. You know, San

Francisco's always been about it.

You meet people, old-ass people, who

are like, "Oh yeah, TWlST! Yeah, I love

TWlST is the greatest guy! You know,

like, he's the sh*t! We love his sh*t!"

"Oh the horses, those are so tight,"

you know, people have always had

Iove for graffiti in San Francisco.

Late nights, early mornings, trips to

go steal, trips to go paint.

Someone told me something when l

was a kid, and they said,

Being a graffiti writer is one ofthe most quintessential

things you can do growing up to have an identity."

I thought it was kinda silly when he said

it, but now when I look back in hindsight,

it definitely combines a lot of

different elements in life.

Balance is important, you

know.

I will never stop doing it, because that's just me,

you know? I'm a lifer, I'm gonna do that forever.

We both grew up in Southern

California, I'm not gonna say where.

Having a good graffiti partner...

you either have a good one, or you

don't have one at all.

I mean, you're better off painting by

yourself

if you can't trust the person your

with.

I really like having a good partner.

Having a good partner,

someone that's solid and steady, and

some one you don't have to worry about,

that's the best thing in the world.

I mean, graffiti is basically this:

It's 1. Creating some kind of letter

or message, right? So you gotta design.

2. Getting the supplies.

3. Getting the spot.

4. Getting to the spot.

5. Attempting it, pulling it off,

and then coming back and

documenting it. And that's it.

To get people to notice your sh*t, you just gotta

go up huge, right up in their face, humongous!

Like, "how the f*** did they do it?

What the f*** did they do that with?"

That's the approach I'm going for.

We got really good at doing pieces in

illegal spots. Like, full color, wild style

and most times, better than the

stuff you can see

on a legal wall that took four

hours.

It's vandalism. I like vandalism!

I'm a vandal!

I'm creeping past peoples' windows,

climbing their fire escapes.

Basically walking right past peoples' heads, almost,

to get to these spots. And nobody's saying sh*t!

Most writers are total f***in' wankers,they're

just punks, you know. That's how I started.

I just got sophisticated, or

changed, adapted,

because it's something l

like to do, it's good therapy for me.

It's my release in life; it's what l

like to do.

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