First tagger in LA?

[alexalonso]

Who is one of the first taggers in LA? I am not talkina about people who wrote and struck the walls becasue there was a guy named Chazz that was doing that in the 1960s and 70s but he was not a tagger, a writer or represented hip hop.

I am asking who was one of THE first writers in LA, what year was he all city and what was his name???????

And the answer is not CHAKA. He went all city in 1988 - 89 and this guy predates CHAKA by some years.

[GIBBY]

Who is one of the first taggers in LA? I am not talkina about people who wrote and struck the walls becasue there was a guy named Chazz that was doing that in the 1960s and 70s but he was not a tagger, a writer or represented hip hop.

I am asking who was one of THE first writers in LA, what year was he all city and what was his name???????

And the answer is not CHAKA. He went all city in 1988 - 89 and this guy predates CHAKA by some years.

In my humble opinion the first writers to truely bomb ALL CITY would have to be GIN and DUCE TNT...MINER,WISK, SER,PRIME,RISK WCA...TEMPT and SKEPT STN 213, TRIAX RTDK, SLEEZ LOD, ALSKI...There are a few others who were out in the mid 80s but nobody I can remember actually bobmbed from the EastSide to the West Side, South Side to the North Side of Los Angeles like these writers did, which includes bombing Heavens(Freeway Signs), The RTD Buses, Yards etc. If you traveled in LA back in the 80s you would definatley see these heads up back then. Paz. Alrato

[alexalonso]

Miner, Skept, and Risk all do go back, but this person predates them and those three guys would confirm it. This guy goes back to before MINER was MINER. He used to write DAVISM for a while and this guy predates that.

[GIBBY]

Miner, Skept, and Risk all do go back, but this person predates them and those three guys would confirm it. This guy goes back to before MINER was MINER. He used to write DAVISM for a while and this guy predates that.

QVo Alonso. I would have to disagree. All the people I had mentioned were seen up in all parts of the city, including the Eastside, where I'm from. The only DAVISM bombs I could remeber where at the panic zone or belmont. Ive know TEMPT and his brother since 1nd grade. We all went to elementary school together. Actualy TEMPT is the one who introduced us kids on the block to hip hop/grafitti. So I can say since the 2nd/3rd grade I was conscience of grafitti and what it represented. Whenever I traveled the city with my parents or friends, i would take note of the bombs/throwups/tags I would see. GIN and DUCE TNT...MINER,WISK, SER,PRIME,RISK WCA...TEMPT and SKEPT STN 213, TRIAX RTDK, SLEEZ LOD could be seen in all parts of the city. From ES to WS to NS to SS. DAVISM was not up in that manner. Atleast not from what my preteen mind could remember. Now DAVISM might have been up in certain parts of the city, but if your not up in the east side, YOU ARE NOT ALL CITY. It wasnt until it became MINER that the ES got bombe up. Anyways this is what I remeber growing up in the city of Los Angeles. Alrato. Paz ...Let me ask you this question for grafitti trivia, who was the first writter to bomb the Freeway signs aka "HEAVENS"?

[BIG DUSTY LOCO]

West up ya'll. I'd like to hear this answer. I remember all the writers GIBBY mentioned, those cats were up all city no doubt. I thought the answer would be MINER, he got up everywhere. We used to think that there were 4 or 5 MINER's in town, cause we'd see his tags all over, at least I thought it was inhumanly possible to get up like that without having a crew. We'd see tags up in Gibby's part of town, the westside, the valley, and the southside. But then again, I remember a lot of those other cats got up all city too. Wasn't SWAN UTI all city too? Who predated MINER,SKEPT, and RISK?

[GIBBY]

West up ya'll. I'd like to hear this answer. I remember all the writers GIBBY mentioned, those cats were up all city no doubt. I thought the answer would be MINER, he got up everywhere. We used to think that there were 4 or 5 MINER's in town, cause we'd see his tags all over, at least I thought it was inhumanly possible to get up like that without having a crew. We'd see tags up in Gibby's part of town, the westside, the valley, and the southside. But then again, I remember a lot of those other cats got up all city too. Wasn't SWAN UTI all city too? Who predated MINER,SKEPT, and RISK?

QVOLE BIG DUST. Yeah MINER and WISK were definatley up ALL CITY. Remember they used to do the "M" and "W" throw up letters and mark each one with a number. Thet are definatley Graff legends. SWAN UTI was up alot back them too as well as SKILL SNAP and SMURF UTI. This was in the late 80s to 90s though. I may be a little biased, but I think my homies DCLINE AND OILER took it to another level though in th 90s. Thats my opinion though.

[alexalonso]

Miner, Skept, and Risk all do go back, but this person predates them and those three guys would confirm it. This guy goes back to before MINER was MINER. He used to write DAVISM for a while and this guy predates that.

QVo Alonso. I would have to disagree. All the people I had mentioned were seen up in all parts of the city, including the Eastside, where I'm from. The only DAVISM bombs I could remeber where at the panic zone or belmont. Ive know TEMPT and his brother since 1nd grade. We all went to elementary school together. Actualy TEMPT is the one who introduced us kids on the block to hip hop/grafitti. So I can say since the 2nd/3rd grade I was conscience of grafitti and what it represented. Whenever I traveled the city with my parents or friends, i would take note of the bombs/throwups/tags I would see. GIN and DUCE TNT...MINER,WISK, SER,PRIME,RISK WCA...TEMPT and SKEPT STN 213, TRIAX RTDK, SLEEZ LOD could be seen in all parts of the city. From ES to WS to NS to SS. DAVISM was not up in that manner. Atleast not from what my preteen mind could remember. Now DAVISM might have been up in certain parts of the city, but if your not up in the east side, YOU ARE NOT ALL CITY. It wasnt until it became MINER that the ES got bombe up. Anyways this is what I remeber growing up in the city of Los Angeles. Alrato. Paz ...Let me ask you this question for grafitti trivia, who was the first writter to bomb the Freeway signs aka "HEAVENS"?

No Gibby, I am not saying Davism is the one. I am saying that MINER used to write DAVISM before he was MINER and the guy that I am referring to was writing before MINER was DAVISM, which predates every person you mentioned and MINER, RISK, SKEPT, and TRIAX would confim this. The name of the write is mentioned on some of the old school graffiti sites on LA and was mentioned in some indepenent documentary.

[BIG DUSTY LOCO]

Who is it Alonso? I thought those guys were the definite answers.

[thesoulsedge]

there was a tagger named "choke". is he the biggest ever in cali? is he the first? anybody know what happened to him. i just know he tagged about a million times. ????anybody with more info on "choke"????

[alexalonso]

I think you mean "CHAKA" and if so he was the most prolific tagger LA and Cali has probable every seen. At one point he had 10,000 tags up.

[Silencioso]

The question of who the first writer or writers in LA was, is a very touchy subject for me. My friends and I were among the first taggers in West LA. We got into it in late 83 after seeing the HipHop movie "Wild Style". We started a crew called The Bomb Squad/TBS. My tag was Sham 1500, later shortened to Sham 1. At that time there was another crew in our general area called Artists After Dark that included a tagger named Jinx that I think later became Diaz from OFA. Not sure about that. There were a couple of older punker guys named Cooz and Eaze that did a hip hop graffiti mural for an alternative clothing store called NaNas in Santa Monica. That was the first full piece in West LA and I'd venture to say anywhere in LA. The AAD crew did a few decent pieces in our area BUT the classic act of bombing was when my homeboys Blitz and Ice hit up Uni. It was towards the end of the school year and they Hit up "Blitz" and "Ice" on top of one of the classroom buildings. I have a picture of this piece and many other pieces and tags from this era. The following school year, Freeze and I hit up the area near the gym. This was back when only a few people were tagging. We were put on a local wanted list for this act vandal art. Later the cops recieved information on who some of the Bomb Squad member were and the picked up several of us and one guy's girlfriend. They mostly harrased Freeze cuz was the most prolific tagger of the crew. Out of respect for him we dropped the name Bomb Squad. The most succesful writer from TBS was Crazy J (later just Crazy). He did the mural for an MTV awards show years ago and hung out with Seen, a classic writer from New York.

I continued bombing until late 86. By that time the scene had exploded and alot of new crews had emerged like RTD, The Vicious Six -TV6, Weed Smokin' Art, Kill 2 Sexceed, Masters Of Bombing (later NSA), and of course West Coast Artists. WCA quickly established themselves as the dominant crew. The brought in people from other w/s crews like Sel from TV6.

The main thing to remember about L.A. tagging history is that it started in late 83/84 not 85. That's how you know if somebody really knows what they're talking about. 1984 was the year of breaking and rap movies like "Beat Street" and "Breakin'". That's what exposed people in L.A. to tagging. The first taggers had no idea what they were starting. We had know idea it would last this long. Because L.A. was already covered in gang graffitti, tagging seemed downright positive at first. The mainstream art world was interested in it. It was an exciting time. I'm glad I was there.

[alexalonso]

there were about 5 guys writing in late 1982 early 1983 that were strickly hip hop taggers. Of this group one of the guys stood out and was all city in 1984. He is mentioned on the internet on two sites that were interviews of old school writers.

When my scanner gets fixed I will try to put up some flicks of 1983 Los Angeles tags. Silencioso, if you were around from 83-86 my question to you is who was all city during those years? Ask some of your old partners. This guys name always comes up. He did not start writing after seeing a movie, but was actually writing before 1982, but that happens to be the year this person came to LA for the first time, then in 1984 was all city.

Come one now, where are the old school cats at.

[GIBBY]

there were about 5 guys writing in late 1982 early 1983 that were strickly hip hop taggers. Of this group one of the guys stood out and was all city in 1984. He is mentioned on the internet on two sites that were interviews of old school writers.

When my scanner gets fixed I will try to put up some flicks of 1983 Los Angeles tags. Silencioso, if you were around from 83-86 my question to you is who was all city during those years? Ask some of your old partners. This guys name always comes up. He did not start writing after seeing a movie, but was actually writing before 1982, but that happens to be the year this person came to LA for the first time, then in 1984 was all city.

Come one now, where are the old school cats at.

Alright alonso Ive consulted with a couple homies (OILER, DCLINE etc) and we have all come to the conclusion that it still is MINER who went "ALL CITY". The only head I could think of who coulda been up from out of town was "JAone". Unless you are talking about "125er"?

[GIBBY]

there were about 5 guys writing in late 1982 early 1983 that were strickly hip hop taggers. Of this group one of the guys stood out and was all city in 1984. He is mentioned on the internet on two sites that were interviews of old school writers.

When my scanner gets fixed I will try to put up some flicks of 1983 Los Angeles tags. Silencioso, if you were around from 83-86 my question to you is who was all city during those years? Ask some of your old partners. This guys name always comes up. He did not start writing after seeing a movie, but was actually writing before 1982, but that happens to be the year this person came to LA for the first time, then in 1984 was all city.

Come one now, where are the old school cats at.

Come to think about it, we wil probally have a different definition of what "ALL CITY" means.

[GIBBY]

there were about 5 guys writing in late 1982 early 1983 that were strickly hip hop taggers. Of this group one of the guys stood out and was all city in 1984. He is mentioned on the internet on two sites that were interviews of old school writers.

When my scanner gets fixed I will try to put up some flicks of 1983 Los Angeles tags. Silencioso, if you were around from 83-86 my question to you is who was all city during those years? Ask some of your old partners. This guys name always comes up. He did not start writing after seeing a movie, but was actually writing before 1982, but that happens to be the year this person came to LA for the first time, then in 1984 was all city.

Come one now, where are the old school cats at.

Alright alonso Ive consulted with a couple homies (OILER, DCLINE etc) and we have all come to the conclusion that it still is MINER who went "ALL CITY". The only head I could think of who coulda been up from out of town was "JAone". Unless you are talking about "125er"?

"METRO" maybe?

[GIBBY]

there were about 5 guys writing in late 1982 early 1983 that were strickly hip hop taggers. Of this group one of the guys stood out and was all city in 1984. He is mentioned on the internet on two sites that were interviews of old school writers.

When my scanner gets fixed I will try to put up some flicks of 1983 Los Angeles tags. Silencioso, if you were around from 83-86 my question to you is who was all city during those years? Ask some of your old partners. This guys name always comes up. He did not start writing after seeing a movie, but was actually writing before 1982, but that happens to be the year this person came to LA for the first time, then in 1984 was all city.

Come one now, where are the old school cats at.

Alright alonso Ive consulted with a couple homies (OILER, DCLINE etc) and we have all come to the conclusion that it still is MINER who went "ALL CITY". The only head I could think of who coulda been up from out of town was "JAone". Unless you are talking about "125er"?

"METRO" maybe?

Alright, Im gonna list some others who were writting back then, but in my opinion they were not "ALL CITY"......PEPE, D*ROCK, ZEST,RIVAL, NOW,ALSKI,DANTE,H8,BRISK,PJAY,NOONE,SHOGUN, EDIT etc etc etc. But like I said these heads were up back then, but were not all city

[alexalonso]

your last post listed the name of the person who was the first tagger, before MINER, beforeWISK, before RISK, before PJAY. Infact as I stated earlier this guy was writing before MINER, then MINER started writing under the name of DAVISM in about 1984. MINER's real name is David and he was writing DAVISM around 3rd street and Fairfax, Wilshire, Olympic, Labrea, etc.

Who was up from the Westside to the Eastide into South Central? None of the writers you named were. WHo was up in the Valley and on every RTD bus. Who was the first to take aerosol to the outside of an RTD bus and tag in a hip hop style? Before there was the movie Beat Street, before the RadioTron.

Well the guy was Alski and his first Los Angeles tag was ALSKI '82. There was no MINER, there was no RISK, Skept hit in 1986, all those West Coast Artists guys came after.

Some other names that were up in 1984 was Geo (i think he died, big Mexican cat), Jazz (never met him), MINER (often credited was being one of the first), News1 (from east coast), and Dae (from east coast).

[BIG DUSTY LOCO]

ALSKI? Would have never thought. He stopped writing in 86? I recall his tags, but they weren't nothing compared to 84,85,86 when cats were all just getting into the scene. Or maybe the explosion of writers "hid" his work? Only reason why I thought it was MINER was I literally would see his tags in every place I went to. Sitting down on the 217, I can look up and see his tag. Going to the Eastside to cruise, I'd see his tag on a carniceria. Going down the 405, 10, 101, 110, 170, 60, 5 freeways...even 710, 605...he was up. Incredible, he was like the Chaka of our time. He was on every yard, on every bus line, on freeways. Dude even got up in all the grimey hole in the wall places I'd eat at too.

What crew is ALSKI from?

[GIBBY]

your last post listed the name of the person who was the first tagger, before MINER, beforeWISK, before RISK, before PJAY. Infact as I stated earlier this guy was writing before MINER, then MINER started writing under the name of DAVISM in about 1984. MINER's real name is David and he was writing DAVISM around 3rd street and Fairfax, Wilshire, Olympic, Labrea, etc.

Who was up from the Westside to the Eastide into South Central? None of the writers you named were. WHo was up in the Valley and on every RTD bus. Who was the first to take aerosol to the outside of an RTD bus and tag in a hip hop style? Before there was the movie Beat Street, before the RadioTron.

Well the guy was Alski and his first Los Angeles tag was ALSKI '82. There was no MINER, there was no RISK, Skept hit in 1986, all those West Coast Artists guys came after.

Some other names that were up in 1984 was Geo (i think he died, big Mexican cat), Jazz (never met him), MINER (often credited was being one of the first), News1 (from east coast), and Dae (from east coast).

Alonso, take a look at my first post dated Friday Aug 22 and tell me who is the last person I named ???

[alexalonso]

i did not read that Aug 22, post that clearly, but I think Alski's last Los Angeles was 1986 as you stated, but if you ever get a chance to talk to MINER he could tell you about ALSKI.

MINER was up everywhere too. ALSKI was never part of an LA crew. He would write TAT, which was a crew in New York and there were about 5 guys under him in that crew. He also hung out with 2 other guys from NY called Soon and Legit.

When my scanner gets here I will post some old skool pics.

[BIG DUSTY LOCO]

Alonso, doesn't Gibby win the prize? OR was that for another question?

[GIBBY]

Alonso, doesn't Gibby win the prize? OR was that for another question?

Yes I do considering I posted ALSKI, IN MY FIRST POST, which Alonso missed

[CaptainSaveAHoe]

off topic, but the documentary "Style Wars" is out on DVD and includes present day interviews of many of the top writers back on the 70's (NYC)

[mangler_1960]

there were about 5 guys writing in late 1982 early 1983 that were strickly hip hop taggers. Of this group one of the guys stood out and was all city in 1984. He is mentioned on the internet on two sites that were interviews of old school writers.

When my scanner gets fixed I will try to put up some flicks of 1983 Los Angeles tags. Silencioso, if you were around from 83-86 my question to you is who was all city during those years? Ask some of your old partners. This guys name always comes up. He did not start writing after seeing a movie, but was actually writing before 1982, but that happens to be the year this person came to LA for the first time, then in 1984 was all city.

Come one now, where are the old school cats at.

....SOON FROM NYC

[SCREWLOOSE]

I remember FLIP and ILL that was in 1982-83 in inglewood and hyde park
area.

[Anonymous20]

I was reading this interview about early LA writers at of BLACK 5(ZECK) at:
http://losangelescrews0.tripod.com/black5.html

and saw the following:
-------------------------

(L.A. Crews)- who did u see up back in the oldschool days???.

(BLACK-5)- ALSKI was everywhere I looked with the white paint marker at one time, on the green light poles next to the walk button, and on bus benches.SOON & LEGIT. MINER had some of the first scribes on glass I’d seen and a lot of other landmark firsts. GIN, METRO, and RASE killed those Power signs. MANE, DEKO and RECON put in so much work with scribes at the back of the buses that they outlasted most, even after they’d long stopped..

[M3G4H4CK]

got a interview with chaz.. damn goood artist representin nuthin but art.. one uf frust taggers n bombers were Coco 144, Bama , Mico, Snake , Tracy, Riff , Pistol , Mr. lucky .

first one who used 3d efects wuz Flint 707

[CHICO-NEX]

Hey,what's up everybody?These are the tagger's that I know of,when i used to tag(NEX).NEX,PRICE(SIZE),ELER,TRIAX,DREW,SAME,SLEEZE,GEO,CHASE,PRIME,TOMCAT,MIKE,CHICAGO,WISK,MINER,GIN,METRO,RASE,ORION,ROB-ONE,SKATE,MAZE,HEX,KEX,SKEPT,CEPT,MEC,SER,CHAKA,GREEN,RISK,PJAY,BLIZZ,IMAGE,STEVER,DRIP,SMURF,2DEV,BUG29,KASS. NEX-OTR!

[alexalonso]

Here is a 1985 photo of an Alski throw-up in an old RTD bus alley one half block east of Wilton beteen 6th and 5th Streets. It used to be called the Alski Alley from about 1984 - 85. That alley today has a gate on both sides.




http://www.streetgangs.com/graffiti/hip ... i1985.html

[img]http://www.streetgangs.com/graffiti/hiphop/pics/alski_op.jpg[/img]

[se11]

when did tagging crews start coming around in LA?

[raztheory]

thats funny ,it seems a lot of taggers have the same names as some east coast cats,i wonder if they could possibly be the same people,or maybe just coincidence?

[Silencioso]

Alonzo, I notice in your tagging section you have Alski as the oldest writer in L.A. doing tags as far back as 83.

There were a couple people in my neighborhood doing tags in late 82. Hobo and Slash.