Tor Interview @149st

TOR INTERVIEW

©2000, 2003 @149st Do not republish without permission.

What got you into writing?
I started writing in 1977. I started writing with this kid named SOKE from the South Side. He inspired me to write graffiti. He use to tag up for the SSB crew. Back in those days when I was watching those trains I was watching SMOKE aka YE and DEAN BYB. I use to watch coalminers, the trains with the straw seats and the big fans. These guys were tagging up on coalmines . It inspired me to tag up on trains. I said dam these guys even have their names on the fans. I found out you had to go to the yard for that.

What was your first yard and how did you go about that ?
My first piece was with NIF CW. May he rest in piece. I always have you in my heart NIF! NIF took me to the M Yard and that was my first yard and as far as me getting up. In that yard I had like forty cans that day so I took it to the point where I treated him, NUT, WAX36 and his brother EO to the yard. It was in the M Yard and that's where I met OE3 and PHANTOM 13. My first place was the M-yard.

Tell us about the J Yard.
The J Yard I came along thru the years because I met NA. "Cause he use to tag up in my neighborhood. The first time I went to the J Yard was with this kid named TYRONE TNS. He also use to tag up CON The Nasty Squad and that's where I met NA. NA was doing a whole car "NA TOP" ya know what i'm sayin'. I met MICKEY TO TOP in the yard. I met HURST and IK aka the HULK and that's the bottom line. I met those old school writers. I knew MICKEY TO TOP for the longest, so when he seen me in the yard he said "Who brung this young character to the yard? He's not even suppose to be here."

Tell us about the F line.
I give myself a lot of props as far as that was king of the F trains I use to love ding-dongs when the ding dongs came into play '76 '77 '78. Me UN, NA and SHEEK got together as a whole and we became TD4. We originally started from the J and M trains. We became our own crew and became one as far as TD4 (The Deadly Four), but we also had our logo crews Crazy Writers, The Union, and TD4 and we were from Brooklyn. Bed Sty and Williamsburg. So we came together and we use to go to Kew Gardens to Queens to hit these F trains. We ragged them man! It's hard to be a king of a ding-dong on the insides and the outsides and hold it down for two years. It's very hard when you have a buffer in the yard in Queens.

What was your favorite whole car on the BMTs?
I'm gona' be honest not because he's my man. It was UN ONE The Union and NASTY NA Crazy Writers, also DONDI. I gotta' give mad props to DONDI. HURST had fat cars SMAC and SARO had many whole cars. OE 3 came out with the Puerto Rican flag as the O and E and that whole car pulled out on the day of the P.R. day parade. The OE, VEST was a fly whole car and the UN ONE BEN was a nice looking whole car.

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