Recent Posters

I get asked to do Stencil posters from time to time, or I do them for fun. Here's a few recent ones.

This was for my friend's monthly party, The Boom Bap - 4 Year Anniversary with DJ Tony Touch. My friends kept a few (gave 1 to Tony Touch) and gave the rest away to party revelers. (12 total, 12x18 spray paint, latex paint on chip board)

The same night my friends were celebrating 4 years, my friend Sean was celebrating the Grand Opening of his food truck Wrapper's Delight. I'm painting the truck also. The red checkered pattern in posters is based off the design of the truck. (8 total, 12x18 spray paint, latex paint on chip board)

There is still much to be added to the truck design.

This poster was for Cypher Sunday. A monthly, graffiti mini-jam I helped organize in Nashville. Babe Ruth lead guitarist and producer Alan Shacklock came by to meet some local b-boys/fans and sign these prints for them. Their song "The Mexican" is one of the most notable breaks in hip-hop history. Below is a video from that day feat. "The Mexican". People did Mexican themed walls also.

This I did for Struggle aka Young Struggle, Young Strugg, Struggle Jennings. He's Waylon Jennings grandson and a rapper from Nashville (The Nations, West Side). He also got into some legal troubles right before he was on the cover of CONCRETE Magazine with Yelawolf. I was going to do posters, but then they needed a graphic for a t-shirt to raise some money for him. Here is a LINK to his really great VIDEO feat/ Waylon and Yealwolf.

This one is for Chancellor Warhol. He is also a rapper on the rise from Nashville. Later for the run of ten I added his name and "The Silver Factory" the name of his new album. I surprised him at his album listening party at The Ha Factory.

DJ Paul of Three-6-Mafia Interview

A few weeks back DJ Paul was in town for a show and to film a music video with Young Buck. I went out there with Joerilla, Capo and Mike Vulcan to do an interview with DJ Paul for CONCRETEtv.

Nashville Knights

This post is for JJ Trigg and my brother. The two were best friends at Glencliff High School in Nashville. JJ had an uncle that played hockey, so he and his brother Mike were into hockey (JJ still plays). He got my brother Kevin and me into hockey also. When I was 15, two wrestling promoters started the Nashville Knights minor league hockey team.

We loved to go the games. I have four programs from that first season alone. I know we went to many more games than that. (*side note - as a hip-hop fan I had an LA Kings Starter brand jacket, wish I still had it.) The games were at Municipal Auditorium. After every Knights' goal, two guys would get up and run with a banner the entire circle walkway that divided the upper and lower sections of seats. Kids would jump down and run behind them. The Knights would sell that place out on the regular during those first couple of years. There was a lot of excitement and energy in the crowds and fights on the ice.

Once the NHL awarded Nashville an expansion team (Predators) the Knights days were numbered. The Predators' assistant coach Peter Horachek was one the first Knights head coaches. The team relocated to Pensicola (1996) where they still play as the Ice Pilots.

The original owners were wrestling promoters – Ronald Welch aka Ron Fuller aka The Tennessee Stud and Knoxville native Bob Polk.

Nashville was still completing the Sportsplex when the program was printed. There was an old rink in the same parking lot, but the place was a dump. We skated in there a lot. The Sportsplex was a big step up, and we went there many a Friday/Saturday night when I was this age. Look at the bottom, Bill Boner was mayor!

Sunday I went and rocked a real quick piece in the alley at the homie Troy Duff's spot in East Nashville. I was nervous that if I made this post before I painted it, some kid may beat to the punch. Not with my source material you don't!

Don Trip - Type Treatment

Bummed that this didn't work with the design I did for CONCRETE Nashville. Maybe his camp will want to use it. If you don't know Don Trip ... you will soon. THIS VIDEO got him on.

If this was to be used, I would clean (vector shaping) a couple of spots up.

Charlie Hustle - Sports Illustrated

I was a huge baseball fan growing up. The 1994-95 MLB strike killed it for me. I never got back into baseball. When I was in middle school Pete Rose was one of my favorites, along with a new crop of players that would become the steroid era. I favored myself to be like him (not his bad lettuce and gambling ... his game play), always hustling out infield base hits. Anyways this is one of the Sports Illustrated copies I kept over the years from my dad's subscription.

Mack-TITS, Jeka, Rex2-TM - Seattle 2000

In March 2000, Jeka and I took a trip out to Seattle to visit our crew mate Joel Trussell (N-Sack). Joel was just getting his animation career started. Before we arrived, I hooked up (via snail mail) with Mack, a local writer who said he'd help us paint in Seattle. While there he took us to Redmond, Washington (home of Microsoft & Nintendo America) to paint a wall next to the public skatepark. The Jeka piece is so burning! It was one of the last ones he did. I remember Mack and me saying something like, 'Thanks for going so big Jeka.' Haha! Mack was real cool, but over the years we lost touch.

Shortly after our visit, Mack sent a package to Show & Prove Magazine. In the letter he tells how he just got put down with Bay Area graffiti crew T.I.T.S. Fast forward to today and Mack is better known by his real name Marek Grubel and is the owner of international street wear brand T.I.T.S. (Two In The Shirt). He has really blown that shit up!

Some of the original TITS crew members feel slighted, but I give Marek his props for what he has accomplished in the business realm. Many a great idea doesn't go anywhere. He made that company big with planning and execution.

While in Seattle we mostly hung out with Joel and Kelly. We did karaoke, went snowboarding, went to the top of the space needle, rode the monorail, went to the fish market and more. That trip was blast. The tiny picture (stuck to half a Rex2 pic) is from some photo booth. Notice the graffiti background we chose (Sup!). I had this combo-thing stuck to my old computer monitor for years. Good Times.

A Tribe Called Quest - Nashville 1996

Last night I went and checked out the new Michael Rapaport directed documentary about one of my all time favorite rap groups A Tribe Called Quest. The film Beats, Rhymes & Life: The Travels of ATCQ broke out the good stuff, especially the first 30-40 minutes. The animation by James Blagden (check this video he did) made it a trippy travel. It shows how ATCQ got together and how their rise was so quick and important to hip-hop. It really took me back to UT – November 9, 1993, THIS was on the same day!

Back in 1996 Tribe came thru Nashville (at now defunct Starwood Amphitheater) on the Smokin' Grooves Tour (with Ziggy Marley, The Fugees, Busta Rhymes). I got a press pass through Southern Fried Funk Magazine and got right up front to get some not-so-good pictures.

Here's a few of the better ones from that night. Sorry my camera kind of sucked, but the vibe and energy of the Tribe show still comes across (I think).

SUPPORT THE BELCOURT THEATER!

EGON2 (DJ Egon) - Graffiti

Another incredible person I've had the honor to know and call a friend is DJ Egon (longtime VP of Stones Throw Records). I first met him in the fall '95/spring '96 while he was a senior in high school. He had come to Nashville to visit Vanderbilt University. He was thinking of attending. Back then he used to do a lot of graffiti writing too. He was out walking around Nashville and stumbled upon Southern Fried Funk. He was really excited to know that Nashville had a graffiti scene, and he now had a connect.

Egon did decide to attend Vanderbilt (1996-2000). Besides the fact that a Vanderbilt education is top notch, I think two deciding factors were Vandy's radio station WRVU and the graffiti scene. While living Nashville, Egon did a lot. He had two weekly radio shows, a weekly club night, organized the annual WRVU fundraiser (all those posts are coming) and held down a full time class lode. The guy's work ethic is inspiring!

When he first got to Nashville, he was still real hyped on graffiti. I was his painting partner in Nashville. We hit freights together a couple of times. He even pushed TM before he quit painting. I remember when he decided to stop writing and focus solely on DJing. He told me something like, 'I don't think I can ever be as good as a Ces2 at painting, but I do think I could be as good as a Roc Raider at DJing. So I'm just going to be a DJ.' I always respected that.

Here's a few photos Egon traded me back then, and one of the freights he and I hit.

1996 - Connecticut, Trackside: MetroNorth Train Line

1996

1996 - painted in Rhode Island

1996 - Nashville, Live Action!

Rex2-tm, 1996 Nashville

Show & Prove Magazine

I guess now is a good time to talk about Show & Prove Magazine (I'll be referencing it and the period). It was a graffiti/b-boy magazine I published from 1999-2002. I printed and distributed (world-wide) 4 issues. There is also a lost issue that I hope to bring to this site in digital form. The magazine was well received in the graffiti community. As far as traveling and trading flicks (what's that?), Show & Prove opened a lot of doors and helped me meet and build relationships with some of the world's best writers. Mike Davis of Burlesque Design art directed Issue #3. Jeff Stamper did issues #1-2. I did issues #4 (lost issue) and #5. A lot of content on this blog will come from this period.

Mines & Dark - Reconnecting

Dark and Mines came down from Louisville and were the featured artists at Cypher Sunday (Aug 14). It was cool to see them again after all these years. I met them each under way different circumstances. How and when I met Dark is another story, for now I'm going to focus on Mines.

I first met Mines in 2002 in St. Louis. I had traveled there with Elk (El Kamino) in plans of painting at Paint Louis. Unfortunately the city had cancelled the event. We didn't know until we got there. We still wanted to paint, so someone (probably Mike 2600 aka Pharoe) guided us to a chill spot under a bridge.

While Elk and I were painting a group of guys came up to paint also. One of the guys was Mines. He was still living in St. Paul, Minnesota at the time. We all introduced ourselves and chatted throughout the time we painted. I was real excited also, because Stun, a legendary St. Louis writer who had been severely beaten and suffered permanent brain damage, was also there painting. It was his first time painting since the viscous attack (probably 12 months earlier). I exchanged info with Mines to trade flicks and shortly after a package came to the Show & Prove Magazine PO Box. Below is a few of the photos and the letter he sent.

He also dropped this little gem in the package.