To a lot of graffiti writers, heavily populated urban spaces present a lot of challenges, especially to writers who are from smaller towns and rural areas. However, I've spent most of my life in areas like these and learned to do graffiti in one. So what do I see and think when I hit an urban location in search of spots and graff?
In my next IRL Graff video, I'll be taking you to downtown Asheville to check out such a location and share my thoughts on what I see.
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Just finished shooting another video in my IRL Graff series 🙌🏻 Just two videos into the series I've already gotten a lot of love from y'all, so I'm even more inspired to keep this series rolling and bring you some dope content. This one will be dropping this weekend, but thank you all for the love so far
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Asheville NC
I'm headed back into the streets for another IRL graff video, which will be out in a couple of days. Looking forward to seeing who's running where I go ✌🏻
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In 1997, the center of the graffiti universe to me was the Mission District. I went to school and spent a lot of time in the Mission, and on any given day, I could see legendary figures like Twist, Reminisce, Chief, Buter and KR up in this neighborhood, alongside contemporaries of mine who would become legends like CFOR and Kerbs. Multiple similarly legendary spots could be found there too and it was hard to find a single block in the neighborhood at that time that didn't have graff on it.
And for my first night time graff Mission, despite all the dangers it presented, I couldn't pick a better neighborhood to hit than the Mission. I'll be bringing you the story of this night time graff Mission ASAP, for free and in it's full form for the first time ever, so I hope you all enjoy it 🙏🏻
Credit for Pic:
ReppinDa415RIPAJ (Flickr)
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Asheville, North Carolina is not a big city, but that doesn't mean you don't see dope graffiti here, like these TRASER and TRIDE roller shots in the River Arts District. I hit the streets in this neighborhood today and in the next few days, I'll be dropping a video showing some of my favorite spots and pieces from this neighborhood, as well as some random thoughts of what I feel seeing what I see.
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Throws like this one, or just a bunch of handstyles in one location, are a lot easier to execute and get away with at night time. But as a kid in the late 90s, getting out of the house at night took extensive planning and luck. However, as soon as we were walking down Mission Street at around midnight, we knew it was all worth it.
I've previously done a video about the first time I was able to successfully get out for a night time session, but this video was only available as paid content and in retrospect, left a lot of the experience out. So this week, I'll be retelling this story in its expanded form and it'll be available for free here on YouTube, but in the meantime, be on the lookout for my next video about the interplay between graff and music in the 90s.
Credit for Pic:
ReppinDa415RIPAJ (Flickr)
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When I was a bus hopper in the late 90s, one of these was never far away and music was an integral part of the tagging experience. But what were we as bus hoppers listening to? What did other writers who didn't bus hop listen to? And how did I see the multiple different musical scenes in the Bay Area converge when it came to graff? In my next video, I'll be talking about all of the above, but in the meantime, let me know what you listen to out on a mission or when you're sketching something.
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Almost back in business! Got my new laptop on the way and I'm hoping to have my next full-length video out by the end of this week. Have some more videos planned after, and I'm aiming to make up for lost time, so if there is something you guys want me to speak on, drop it in a comment below 👇🏻
Credit for Pic:
Dagmar Onasis (Flickr)
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Yesterday, when I was finishing up my latest video, my laptop crashed, and I lost all progress. RIP to my laptop, it served me well since I started doing videos, but it could handle no more.
I'm in the process of copping a new laptop (it was time regardless), and I'll have a new video out as soon as it's here. In the meantime, I'll be hitting spots (like this one), taking pics and producing shorts as well.
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Lots of legends on one truck. San Francisco, early 90s
Credit: ArtCrimes
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As a graffiti writer in San Francisco during the 90s, I experienced a lot. I met a lot of good people, made some great memories and most important of all, I got up. These are my stories from the world of graff, past and present.
For Inquiries:
Braindrainconnor@gmail.com