Wasp One Interview @149st

WASP ONE INTERVIEW

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

Conducted 9/27/00

When did you start writing on trains?
I started tagging in1971

Did you have a particular inspiration?
My early inspirations where JOE 182 and PAPO 184.

Who were the top writers during your early days?
During my days, there was a lot of famous writers. JUNIOR 161, CAY 161, RICAN 619, CLYDE, STITCH I, SJK 171, FRANK 207, SNAKE 1, STAY HIGH 149, SUPER KOOL 223, TRACY 168, LEE II, and a whole lot more.

What borough are you originally from?
I'm originally from Manhattan.

How did you get your name?
From a dictionary it's a insect that stings just like a bee.

Who were your most successful partners?
I had a whole a lot of partners among them WHIZ 3, LUIS 176, BLUEBEARD183, MITCH 77, SCHICK 1, OZ-109, KROME 100 etc.

What lines have you hit?
I have hit every line, been in every yard and probably in most of the tunnels and lay-ups in the MTA.

During your time you dominated the insides on the doorways in the subway cars. How and why did you start that?
I started hitting the insides in the lay-ups for the 4 train,176,183, Fordham, with KROME 100, LUIS 176, FDT 56, BLUEBEARD183, WHIZ 3, OZ 109, and everybody had their favorite spot no one had that long panel, so I claimed it since you could see from both ends and it was a nice size.

Do you have any interesting 149th Street Writer's Bench memories?
Once I was with TRACY 168 and KASE 2 on 149th St. Bench. TRACY had weed and was smoking. I saw the cops and told him. Tracy hid weed on KASE's missing arm. When the cops searched us they didn't want to touch KASE's missing arm.

Do you have any good raid stories?
Once in the 1 Yard 242nd Street with MAX 183 and some of his friends, WHIZ 3, hitting the insides. All the sudden the lights came on and I could see the cops coming. I ran and turned the lights off of the train. They would turn them on and I would turn them off. I ran back up the hill then down to Van Courtland Park where we were chased by a lot of cops. I ran and climbed a tree and hid for a long time. While I could see them looking for me and hear their walkie-talkies. That day only one of MAX 183's friends got caught and they let him go because he was a toy.

Tell us about your days bombing busses.
I also liked hitting the inside of buses, mostly in The Bronx on the West Farm yards, which is where SCHICK and I did the whole bus each one taking one side.

What year did the crew SALSA start?
I believe that it started around 1976. I don't remember anyone being the president, and the members where FDT-56, KROME 100,OZ 109, BLUEBREAD 183, LUIS 176, WHIZ 3, MITCH 77 and yours truly.

What were your art gallery experiences like?
As to the art gallery scene it was fun and frustrating. It was fun because you got mad pussy from the bitches going to the shows. It was frustrating because you saw these toys telling reporters stories about them tagging etc. (when they couldn't even rac) and these where stories they heard about guys like TRACY 168, LEE, BLADE, WASP 1 etc. and made believe it was them and would kiss ass to these gallery owners and do whatever the gallery owner told them. For example I once heard one of the Janis brothers, I believe Sidney Janis telling a so-called writer "That's not graffiti, graffiti is like this." like if he knew what graffiti was more then someone from the street, and the guy did what he told him. He wasn't a graffiti artist he was a commercial artist. It's sad the real writers weren't making any money and these toys where getting all this press and money in essence our sweat there glory.

How do you feel about newer generations of writers?
The new guys have it hard in New York on the trains unless they are scratching, but it will never end. Keep up the quest.

Any closing words?
Final words are "Real writers don't die they just fade away".

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