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NIC 707 INTERVIEW ©2005 @149st Do not republish without permission. When did you start writing and what year did you start writing on trains? Officially, I started writing STINE 169 in 1970. I started bombing trains in 1972 with COM 161. What borough are you originally from? Bronx, New York! What inspired you to become involved in writing and who influenced your style? What inspired me was a writer named RUB 5. He had showed me the styles he had learned from TURK 62. At the time TRACY 168th was already doing big things and had also put me on to a lot of styles. It was the early stages of graffiti development and all types of new styles were rolling through every borough! Graffiti spread like a huge wild fire through out the city. I really cant say it was just one or two people who inspired me it was a bloodline of great writers all coming from the BRONX. I went to clinton high school and it was filled with crazy writers! I cant forget the time me and my boy KASE 2 were going to make a crew called swift. In order to get down you had to tag your name in 3 seconds or less. Graffiti was the thing to do in the 70s. Here are some other writers who influenced me directly or indirectly DOO2, PHASE 2, PNUT2, BUTCH 2, KING 2, BOT 707, RIFF 170, FUZZ ONE, BILLY 167. What was your stylistic specialty? Giving a lot of writers styles! Also I never ran the same outline twice. How did you get your name and number? I got my name NIC cause I smoked a lot of NICKEL BAGS. In the '70s everybody was smoked out. I got my number from BOT 707. He was nasty! Tell us about your writing partners. Well one of my first official partners was my boy KIT17 MGS. I met him on the rail. We really clicked. KIT 17 and me did some damage together along with my other boy MARK 198. Mark was one of the most feared writers at the time. He always had our back and was knocking out grown men at a young age! I teamed up with PADRE aka BOC he was my boy from Junior High School Tetard. PADRE was vicious in style and we shared a lot of ideas. Also I remember going over BILLY 167 house a lot working on the beginning stages of Graffiti Transformation styles. Billy 167 was doing shit that writers would burn with today back then! My favorite partner was my best friend NOC 167th. When Melvin aka NOC 167th was in the 9th grade we had art class together at Clinton High. Mr. Rifkin's class was graffiti 101. Melvin was not a writer then but he was drawing a lot of super heros. So one day in art class he said to me yo NIC I want to get down with graffiti. So automatically I went to work and gave him the name NOC because I was NIC. So NOC said with a very excited tone "Yeah NOC". I like that! So then I said pick 3 numbers. He said 167. And that was that NOC167 was his name from that point on! All I had to do next was give him all my old outlines to study because all he had to do was change the I to O. About a week later I took NOC167 on his first mission. We went to Mt. Eden Lay-up. I had racked up a nice bag of paint for him. There was about 10 cans of Rusto and Red Devils. I showed him the ropes and from there it was history. We were tight! I would go over his house every day after school to hang out. I remember walking in his house and he would always be breakin' on the living room floor while BAN2 and BEAR 167 were watching television. His dog KOOVA little york terrier was apart of the crew as well. Those were the days I really miss more then anything in the world. What lines have you hit? I hit the 1 line, 2 line, 4 line, 5 line, the INDS, the CC, 7 lines. What crews were you down with? First OTB (Out To Bomb), I am the founder and creator of the crew. I am also a member of TFP, MAFIA, FAL, MGS, MGA, TDS, TOP, WILD STYLE, WANTED, DMC, TUFF CITY STYLES. How was the Out To Bomb (OTB) crew founded?br> The crew was founded by me. I came up with the name OUT TO BOMB because thats what I was out to do! I was hanging out one day with KIT17 and FRITOS and thats when I decided to make it official. The idea was in my head for a while but it was not until the end of 1975 early 1976 that it all came out. We were at Bedford just hanging out and I said Im starting my own crew guys its called OTB. OUT TO BOMB!! So we went out that night and started smashing it! It was not long before I had kings in line to get down. We had all the style gods in our crew. There were members such as first division: FRITOS, KIT17, FUZZ ONE, NOC 167, BILLY 167, PNUT 2, TRACY 168, PADRE aka BOC, BAN2 aka DELI 167, PART, JEE2 aka JAMES TOP, KO aka DEAN, MARK 198th. It was a Legacy and power house! What made writing during the 1970s unique? Like I said before the 70s was the era when graffiti went through the biggest stages of transformation. It exploded all over the city like a wild fire! There was no control. There were pieces on garbage trucks! Trains were pulling up to every station full of life. Colors exploding with impact. Guys like PHASE2 were coming off!!! I think the first real ALL CITY KING was COMET! His name was there every single time a line passed!!! BOT 707, KING 2, PEL, aka DIME2, CHECKER 170 also were kings of there own right. When did you quit painting trains? It was about the time when MITCH 77 went all city 1977-78. How was OTB recruiting power handed down to the next generation? The OTB Legacy was handed down by me to my best friend NOC 167th for several reasons. NOC 167th was a dedicated and loyal member of the crew. He was also very organized and had the dopest styles! He was blessed with raw talent beyond your imagination. So I wanted to keep it in the family. There was another member of the crew with more passion to get up with it! He always said OTB Only The Best! So when I felt like I had made my mark and became less active on the subways I told NOC I wanted to pass the prez status to him. He was very happy and took the crew to another level in the gallery stages of graffiti history. There were rules that were passed down as well. You had to be established and able to burn and tag. Personality played a big role as well. OTB had become the icon crew for graffiti. When NOC started to slow down he passed prez. status to BAN2 aka DELI 167th. BAN2 crushed! He is another member of the crew to take it over the top! BAN2 was a great dude. He was very honest and sincere guy but don't get that twisted cause he was a tuff dude as well! He had a lot of qualities that he had picked up from NOC. Then BAN2 passed the torch to the OTB DON aka COPE2. He remains the president today doing a great job at preserving the crews history and values! COPE2 is one of the biggest things that happened to NYC graffiti in a long time. His name is a growing influence to thousands because of his determination and skills. BAN 2 could not of given the crew to a better guy! Today we are all working together as one to better the crew by having meetings and discussing family issues. We are also in the process of creating a official list of OTB members. As per COPE2 membership is closed for paramount purpose. I have faith that he will continue the OTB legacy with pride and dedication. Are there any writers you feel made significant contributions to writing that have been over looked by history? Yes, COMET should be praised! along with MITCH 77, PESO 131 and ZEST 1. Do you have any good raid stories? The one that comes to mind is the D yard raid. Hicki and Ski grabbed me when they jumped out of a train! That was the only time I I got busted. There were cops every where! It was crazy. KIT 17 was under a car and managed to escape with MARK 198. Are you currently involved in art in any capacity? Yes, probably more now then ever. My ace boy METRO ONE OTB has brought me back and I'm starting to get back on track doing more burners and canvas then ever. I really was never into canvas but I'm really motivated. I honestly owe a lot to him as one of my best friends and loyal members. We clicked and since then have been exploring new ways to advance in the art field. What are you up to these days? I'm preparing to launch a major canvas production so I'm currently building new ideas and styles. On my off time I'm with the love of my life Sue just doing the every day things. I would like to thank all OTB members for making it what its today. THE OTB LEGACY NIC707 aka BAR Back to NIC 707 main page
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