Sadeizm Interview @149st

SADEIZM INTERVIEW

© 2003 @149st Do not republish without permission.

Where and what year did you start writing on trains?
My first tags on the trains were all motion tags on my way to and from school in 1980. They were on the LL, N, GG, 6, 5, 4,and 2. The first time I bombed on a train was in the Esplanade lay-up with COSE, BEO and TRO

What inspired you to become involved in writing?
I used to hang out in my 'hood and see "Jug 2" bombs everywhere. Also there was these pieces by DAZE and CRASH down by the Betances houses that used to blow me away. I used to sit on the platforms as far back as late '78 and watch DONDI, DURO, ZEPHYR, SEEN T-KID, SKEME etc. pieces and think to myself those cats must be giants, I want to do that.

Did you have a mentor?
TRO, COSE, BEO and HYER taught me how to grind keys and how and when to hit the 6 tunnels. They showed me the hatches and the lay-ups uptown on the 6s. How to make markers from roll-ons and chalk erasers. G-MAN TR showed me a lot of different racks and how to shoplift with precision. RUSH MPC and BOE 174 showed me the Esplanade, Bronx Park East and Baychester lay-ups. SEEN UA and RAZ TAT took me to the ghost for the first time and showed me how to work that place. SHAME 125 took me under 125th Street to the tunnels for the first time. DIPS and RE took me to the Grant Street lay-ups for the first time. So you can say that those people were my direct mentors, but I consider any writer who ever caught my eye my mentor.

Who influenced your style?
I tried to emulate SEEN's blockbusters, DONDI's legibility, SHAME's characters, BIO and BG's colors.

How did you get your name?
I used to ride the train every morning with GEESKI TR and at the time I was writing SHADE SKI. GEESKI was the first one to suggest shortening the name by dropping the ski and the "H". COSE was writing on the Brook Street station wall one night after bombing and wrote SADEIZM with a "Z" tag for me. I just ran with it.

List all the other names under which you have painted?
BIG 163, FANE (who was my friend but didn't piece so, I would do them)

What borough are you originally from?
Boogie Down Southeast Bronx.

What lines have you hit?
2,4,5,6,CC, GG and anything that sat in the Ghost. (I didn't pay much attention to what I hit, I just bombed)

Who were your most successful partners?
First it was TRO. Then my cousin DUNE.

What crews have you written for?
TCM, TR, TDS and MW.

Give a history of TCM?
When I first hooked up with TRO we just bombed. One day TRO said that he came up with a crew name for us-The Crime Mates. We had a street crew we rolled with and that became our name. Basically there was TRO, HYER, DUNE, Me, WOLFIE, ROTO, BUMPY, EROLDIE, etc. We were catchin' vics most of the time. Only TRO, me and HYER were bombin'. Ultimately TRO started bombin' with TAT and dissed us so I stepped to him at our spot and took the crew. I became pres. and renamed it-Those Crazy Mother fuc*ers.

Name all the TCM crew members?
SADE, DUNE, FANE, BEBS, HYER and recently BOM 5.

Did you have any memorable conflicts with any other crews on the subway?
I was with SHAME, SERVE and a couple of other cats going down in the 125yh Street tunnels. We were up on the platform and in rolls DEZ TFA. I didn't have no beef with him but he started trippin' on saying that I wasn't the original SADE. By this time I had heard this quite a few times but by this point I had done so many cars and had been bombin' for five years that any fame attributed to this name was created by me. Till this day I have never seen any other SADE piece. Anyway he gets to beefin' so we start scrappin' right there in the station. He was getting the worse of it when they pulled us apart so he left pissed off. I pulled what I think was the hottest burner I ever did that night. Well later on he came down and did a blockbuster over the whole car. Needless to say days later he caught a bad one in the tunnels. I had respect for who he was and the role he played in the game but he came at me and forced my hand. Another time I was going to the ghost with Shame, Bio, BG, MACK, BRIM, RAZ and my partner DUNE. When we got in my man MACK who I was real cool with turns and said to me "take this stick, whatever happens I don't have nothing to do with it". That threw up the red flag. Dune and I separated and happened to find CEM pulling a car. He said, "you didn't ask permission to be here". I had a feeling that T-KID was somewhere around so we got out before we got jacked. We were outnumbered. After that a few days later BRIM asked me why I left? He set me up and he knew I knew. I didn't beat his ass cause he was a punk and I wasn't no bully. So then two of our cars pulled in the ghost get crossed out. T-KID and CEM did it. KENN told me he was there when it happened. Basically we decided that it was a lost cause, so we figured when on neutral ground if they beefed its on. That never happened. One night I was pullin' a car in the 125th Street tunnel and MACK and T-KID rolled up. MACK said what's up and introduced me and DUNE to T-KID. Nothing jumped off. Thank god, 'cause I was strapped still worrying about DEZ. It pisses me off to think that I looked up to DEZ, T-KID, CEM etc. and they tripped out like that.

Do you have any good raid stories?
Most raids I couldn't tell you if it was cops or another writer cause when sh*t got hot I got in the wind. One time me and Dune was in the Esplanade pulling silvers and I had laid down the outlines. Dune was filling in and I was on top of the trains hitting the beams at the top of the tunnel. I was standing over the gap between cars writing. I thought I heard a noise and looked down. I almost shit myself cause there was a DT tip toeing through from one car to the other. I must have moved cause the ball rattled in the can and the Cop behind him tried to jump up and grab me. I took off down the lay-up on top of the trains towards 180th. Dune was on the ground haulin' ass. When I got to the end I jumped. Young and dumb I'm lucky I didn't break a leg. Me and DUNE found a spot off a bridge where we jumped down 12 feet to grass and we walked home. Dune almost kicked my ass cause in all my panic I didn't tell him anything. I just started to run and he ran cause I did. Thankfully we never got caught.

Do you have any memories of the Ghost Yard?
For us the Ghost was pretty calm, we never got raided. We pulled out our best cars there. I used to love to walk around and see all the hot shit; SEEN, T-KID, BIO, BG, CEM, MACK, SHAME etc. was pullin'. It was like an art gallery during '84 and '85.

Who were the best writers of your era?
My opinion is limited by the fact that when I was bombing I didn't ride all the trains in the city. Some of the nicest cars of the early eighties were pulled by SEEN, T-KID, BIO, BG 183, CEMS, MACK, SHAME, RAZ, POEM, COPE 2 and REAS. I concentrated mostly on burners so I didn't look out for much else.

When did you quit painting trains?
My last car was 1985.

Any closing words?
Graffiti was the biggest part of my teenage years. I will never forget those times. People who missed the rackin', yards, lay-ups and the competition missed the best part of it. Everybody just emphasizes on the art but there is a story and adventure behind it all. This art is born out of a symptom of the ghetto life. Identity crisis' born of social conditions have created prolific painters in any of many graffiti eras. This is unique to "us". We gotta' keep the history alive so that we don't lose the basic essence. If not people will forget the past and the impactors in this game. It will mutate. It will no longer be our thing. It will have the history someone else gives it not what we know it to be. In the words of my man BOM 5 " I'm fiendin' to paint!" That desire to paint is not something you capture. It is something you emit!

Peace and much respect to all the true writers before and after me. - SADEIZM TCM

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