1)  Where did you start?  Who would you say introduced you to this art form?

During the summer of 1978, I started writing in Queens, New York not too far from the A- line.  I was very young, playing wiffle ball with my friends, when I noticed this older white guy.  He was very popular with everyone and I just didn't understand why.  Eventually, I found out he was a Graffiti writer.  At some point, he sort of took me under his wing and encouraged me to start tagging up around my neighborhood.  Slowly, I found out how popular this new  hobby of his was, that his tag was VINNY, and that his name was every where! He gave me the name CAB 1, which I really did not do much with.  It wasn't until I moved to East New York, Brooklyn that a new chapter of my life opened up my writing career.  The most popular place to hang-out and meet other writers in this particular part of Brooklyn, in the late 1970's and early 80's, was Franklin Kay Lanes.  That is where I met SAIN TOP.
 

2) Would you tell us about your first experiences hitting the Subways?

The person who influenced me to hit trains, was SAIN TOP.  He took me to the J- yard, which was a little risky at that time.  I suppose that's how I thought of the name RIST.  Years later, when I visited that yard with BABY168, SCAN and PEO, we went through a major fiasco.

3) What line did you focus on the most during those years?

The A- line;  I hit that line with the GLEN MORE crew whose members were, CHOLO ROCK, MURDER 1 and PIMP ( who were brothers ), DANNY 13,  VOLI, JF 2, JP 1 and SCHICK 2.  This crew was tiring up the A's

in the early 80's, especially CHOLO ROCK, who had nice hand style ( in those days ), and lots of insides running on the A's and CC's.  It's sad that, eight years later, he got killed over some bullshit drug deal.... "I miss him!"  During that same year in the early 80's, I tagged with THE BUS CREW, who were also up on the A and CC  lines. THE BUS CREW was formed by

  JOE 61, in the early 1980's and had writer such as JS, PLUS aka PL, COLSTER and AERO.  JS is a very over looked writer that BOMBED the shit-out of that line, and does not get much credit.  It is true however, that the A line is IZ THE WIZ's kingdom.  When he slacked off every now and then, there were writers that crept up on his crown ( or even take his place ), for a short time.  I loved to go bombing with JS and THE BUS CREW.  We all would go hit the CC lay up's hard,  and then take a trip over to the A yard and bomb that place, in one night.

4) What where all the Subway lines you hit over the years?

Over the years, I hit the A, CC, J, E and F, RR, M, 2 and 3 lines.  Every so often, I hooked up with CHEEBA, who lived in the pink house not to far from where I was living ( at the time ),  and we would both go hitting.  CHEEBA was a one time king of the insides on the RR's and got up a bit on other lines as well.  In 1983, RON 1 became my partner.  He, SECOND and I would bomb the numbers, at New Lots Avenue, quite a bit.

5) What year, do you feel was your best year as a writer?

I would have to say 1983 was my best year as a writer.  That was when I hooked up with RON 1 TVS who
 

eventually became my true writing partner.  I knew RON for a long time before that,  from hanging out together, rapping to girls and that kind of shit.It wasn't until we began taking trips to Staten Island that we met up with the original TVS  ( THE VAMP SQUAD ) crew.  That meeting took our relationship, as writers to a  more serious level.  The TVS crew were stuck up kids at the time; Dudes like RIN TD, BASIC 5, REDDI RED and SAINT 5 to name some, were on the wild side.  They would throw us down with THE VAMP SQUAD, which inspired us both to start hitting New Lots Avenue real heavy. RON 1 was a dude that was killing the 2's and 5's for a time and is rarely mentioned. He was king for a time of the insides of the 2's with SECOND / SEC. RON bombed hard and deserves his respect.

6) Who were some of the writers during those years that you went hitting with?

SAIN. TOP, BABY 168, PEO, SCAN, CRIME 79, CHEEBA, RON 1, SECOND, G-WIZ ( who later got deported to Ecuador )  BAD BID, ROLLY ( who also got deported to his country, Dominican Republic ), PG.3 aka PGISM, BASE.NSA, KC.TBC, SR 1, DURO. CIA, FLIN.TOP, BO of the DRUG crew, JS and the BUS CREW, DANNY 13, CHOLO ROCK and the whole GLEN MORE crew, were all writers that I hit with.  There were so many guys...  I was cool with most of the dudes outside of my borough like, a few of the B-boys, from the Bronx, and FROSTY FREEZE and MR FREEZE from Manhattan.  In the early 80's, there was this big beef with Brooklyn writers and Bronx writers.  It was regarding who was the best, which sort of separated many dudes from connecting.  I personally never paid attention to all that bull shit and just hung out in different parts of the city.  Recently, I was at a show with CRIME 79 when FROSTY FREEZE, as well as a few other Bronx dudes that were with him, rolled up on me, reminiscing about the times back in the days.  When I was done conferencing CRIME was amazed that I knew all those guys.

7) Would you have any raid stories you could tell us about?

 I can remember one night RON 1, ARC, SEE X-MEN and I were getting high and decided to hit New Lots Avenue.  We all started hitting between the subway cars, until I saw two men walking towards us.  The first person I told, was RON and his response was, "let them come so we can rob them!"  We all began to walk toward

 to bomb the hell out of the insides.  SCAN and BABY 168 would jump into the tracks to do the outsides, while

 PEO and myself would continue to hit the insides. A few minutes later we heard a horn blowing, started to panic and started running to the front only to discover it was BABY 168 blowing the horn.  PEO told me later on that BABY168 would do that at times after bombing the yard, to show he was king or he just controlled that yard ( or lay-up ).  Shortly after, we were raided by work bums and DT's ( detectives ). The workers would start blowing the horns and the DT's would blow there whistles and together they pulled out a train to try to block us in.  I remember racing out of the hole we came in through, with the cop's on our tails.  In the end, we all broke up; BABY and PEO went in one direction, while me and SCAN went in another direction.  Luckily, SCAN  had a relative in the area where we were able to hide out until the smoke cleared.

8) Can you tell us all the writing groups you have written for?

TVS, TOP, BUS, CIA, TBC, TGC, TPA,  NSA, TD, RTW ... There where so many!

9) Did you have any writing wars with others?

I had very few writing wars, most of the wars I had was because of RON 1.  He loved robbing people or would  start trouble for no reason at all.  This caused a problem for me, because we were partners, and they would start crossing me out over some shit, he did.  I can recall almost going head-to-head with some of my old homeboys over some shit he did.  There was once a little beef I had when I was hitting with  THE BUS CREW;  There were two guys, DILLINGER and DIN that went over our pieces and crossed out all my shit, for no reason at all.  When RON1 and I took a trip to their neighborhood, we didn't catch up with them.

10) When was the last time you hit the Subways?  Why did you quit?

I started to slow down once RON stopped.  He started getting heavy into the street game and I began getting into the entertainment business, but never lost the fever for writing.  I made a come-back in 1986, with this guy who was writing AD ( an up and coming writer at that time ).  He was also the boyfriend of Spinderella, from the group

11) Any closing words?

I was not the most prolific writer in history, but I went out there and did my share.  I would like to dedicate this interview to my POP's - "I love and miss you!"  To my home boys who have passed on, CHOLO ROCK, PG 3 / PGISM / DEAK and a real sweetheart Anna aka LADY CHIC -  "May they all Rest In Peace."