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FLINT... The man with a message
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1) Tell us about the
first time you started writing and what year that was
Since I was too young to enjoy the sixties the way they were
meant to be enjoyed, I had to find other things for myself to get into. My life
was strongly influenced by the early Marvel Comics especially "Dare Devil,
The Man without Fear." This individual had heighten senses so
he took a
secret Identity and I was impressed by the way he overcame obstacles even
thought he was blind! Then there was
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Sean Connery as James Bond, another fellow who did what he had to do in secret, after all he was a Secret Agent! Both of these guys had been around for a few years and by1969 I knew I wanted to be cool as them and get away with whatever I wanted even if nobody else knew! When left to my own devices I used to past time by drawing abstract designs and if I didn't have paper I would draw on the walls. If I happened to be in a subway station at the time then so be it! The longer the train took to come, the more I would draw... It was like therathy, I could daydream and improvise letting one shape interact with another and when the train came I would quickly sign it and be off... |
2) What were the earliest names you remember seeing around
that time.
I came to graffiti before I knew anything about graffiti! I carved my name in park benches when I went camping across this country and all I
saw was the usual JOE LOVES MARY and maybe someone scrawled KILROY WAS
HERE but back in Brooklyn things were different, how could one not be
aware of the EX VANDALS? The first thing you notice when you drive over
the Brooklyn Bridge is the sign "WELCOME TO BROOKLYN" and right above that it
says "the Ex VANDALS" They did their job so well!
I remember seeing TREE 127 and wondered who that was... especially since
he had a neat style like mine! MICO and I always have this little argument about all writers being
toys at first until they get up and develop their style because most
styles evolve into what they become famous for- so when I tell him I was
never a toy he gets kinda mad but my STYLE NEVER CHANGED!! I made it plain and easy to read on
purpose - REAL OLD SCHOOL TAGGING!
3) Who were the first group of writers that you would hit
up with.
Dino Nod, Scooter, Paranoid, Pistol 1, Killer , Savage and
Chopper 13
were all friends I hung out with, partied with, made music with and of
course wrote with and it wasn't always like lets go hit the layups, we just
tagged as a matter-of-fact where ever we were!
Then of course I met LSD3om, FDT 56, BAMA, STAY HIGH and the infamous TRACY 168!
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Early tags By .... FLINT ... TJ.159 , FDT.56 , DJ.159 , DIME.139 , FLIP.1 ssb.
<< FLINT ... deliver a message to the public. FLINT was the first and true Graffiti massager of the Graffiti generation in 1970's. |
4)You were the earliest group of writers to attend the high school of
art and design. Could you tell us about that.
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Imagine
going to a new school in 1972 where your legend
preceded you! All it took was a few days of tags from my marker to the
surfaces of those clean walls to find out who else went to that
school. Tags such as TRACY 168, SJK 171, PISTOL, EARL aka Shasta
62 aka Save the
children, STONEY, BOMB 1, STEVE 61, STOP 700, SUPERMUG and others started
turning up. Pretty soon the school looked like a who's who of the graffiti world!
The school newspaper even did a editorial pleading with us to stop and
mentioned all of our names! |
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5) Could name all of the train lines you hit in that earlier
era and can you tell us about some of your experiences doing it.
I tagged the D line the most cause that's the one I took the most.
In
the beginning I did it for the subway riders, to give them something to think
about during their ride to and from work. At that time my sayings
were philosophical musings and parables about life. It wasn't until
I
started meeting other writers that I stated promoting myself and writing for
them i.e. "FOR THOSE WHO DARE..." "BAD BUT NOT EVIL..." "FOR LADIES
ONLY..." It was great cause there was plenty of space on the walls and my
name was strategically placed and thus had the impact of an Madison Ave advertisement. This was before the big Aerosol Art
explosion and just before Masterpieces and top to bottoms were invented
by my friends... I sort of developed eyes in the back of my head and my
ears were very open to the sounds footsteps in the darkness or trains
coming in my direction...
FLINT & TRACY 168
Strike a pose,, for more on FLINT check out his work @ www.flintfotos.com
6) You were always know for a
catch phrase at the end of your name like
FOR LADIES ONLY or FOR THOSE WHO DARE, could you tell us how that came about.
While it's nice to throw up a tag, fast and easy and move on to
the next one and another writer CAN learn a lot by admiring such a tag
such as who that writer looked up to and if he had a Brooklyn crown or
Broadway style etc. I wanted to leave different clues. I was
talking
about my outlook on life and my belief the lone individual can go against
about my outlook on life and my belief the lone individual can go against
all odds to be true to himself...Have to thank Dino Nod "For Ladies Only.." He gave it to me and told
me
it would go good with my name, I knew right away it came from a
Steppen wolf album- but I claimed it for myself in a different medium and
it worked just fine! Recently Stan 153 and I were tagging black
books
and he said Flint. From before CDs and I wrote that a little. And so
it goes... (which was another of my sayings) The last show I put in
many new sayings such as Flint. Older, wiser, richer...
and Flint. Bigger, bolder, sexier...
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7) You where an early member of
the famous writing group THE REBELS ,
could you tell how that came about and your experiences with them.
My partner @ the time was LSD 3/ om and we wanted to form a crew -
so we did! Chad
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remembered
that the most influential crew of all time "the BEATLES" were once known
as the Rebels! Since I always saw myself as a poetic rebel I quickly
agreed that should be our name. We recruited many top writers including Zephyr
who when he did the art for a cover on NEW
YORKER magazine put THE REBELS tag there!
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8) Would you have any chase stories for us.
FOR GET ABOUT IT!! I was picked up
and questioned in a holding room on the EL
the cop got called out when they were bringing up some more writers,
I cooly picked up an apple on the desk, looked around and took a bite!
The door was unlocked so I breezed by everyone, made my way back
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on to the tracks and CLIMBED DOWN THE EL! Another time time when I realized they were closing in, I flung the paint and markers and told them I was just a photographer trying to photograph the activity on the tracks. They wanted the film but the real pictures were already in my socks! Chopper 13 and I used to rack up in all the stores on Flatbush AVe Kinda nuts, come out of the book stores with 20, 30 paperbacks, come out of Comic stores with tons of old and new Marvels, I'm sure you get the idea. We were in Macy's and we left with the usual assortment of watches, wallets, lighters, glasses etc. out on the street we meet up with MICO who had no idea we just left the |
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store and Chopper starts whipping the ground with his new belt. We got picked up by undercover officers looking for gang members on a tip that there was to be a
gang fight! We had to go to court and MICO was the only smart one with a lawyer, the case got adjourned until some future date, I understood nothing about the way things worked, every experience with the court system has been very negative and it seems like I could only lose! When we showed up the next time, MICO was not there but somehow his name "hyme Jimaize"
became my alias and his record was mixed with
mine!! This has dogged me thru out my life, such as the time I took the
Police Exam and passed with flying colors but I was unacceptable because
of certain things that MICO had done!! I tried to explain that I was not MICO ( I only got arrested with him) to anyone that would listen
but...
9)
Where was the last time you went hitting and why did you stop.
What made you think I
quit?!!? STAYHIGH
149,
DEAD LEG 167,
DANGER 59 and myself were asked to paint the
interior of the EAST COAST TERMINAL SKATEBOARD PARK upstate this
year. We call ourselves the OLD SKOOL KINGZ and then we were called to do a
private house on the Jersey Shore with
ROGER and
TERO. 3YB. Last month we
did a court yard with
TRACY 168 and of course we left the usual path of
destruction on our way home. Last week we hit the Phun Factory with
Ink 76, Sonic, Fargo and Dial 167... So you see it goes on. CoCO, Bama and
I
were just talking about doing a wall in the Bronx just to blow minds but
first I'm getting them down to my house to paint my staircase!
10) Would you have any closing
words.
Sure, " DON'T LET YOUR KIDS GROW UP TO BE OUTLAWS "...
FLINT ...
FOR
MORE ON FLINT... & THE REST OF THE OLD SCHOOL KINGZ >.
© All photos are property of FLINT and can not be
reprinted with out the permission of Flintfotos.com. For more on FLINT
check out his web site ...
