New Page 0


	Contact Us

Tags

Throw-Ups

Events

Gear

Links

Hot 110

~ Hand Style ~

What is in a name? Everything! How a name is written however, is even more important. Hand writing is the first step in becoming a Graffiti writer. Writers put in much time and pride into there tags. Writers developed there tag, to stand out from others due to the competition. In time, a writers tag became a label of who they were, and who they are today.

..................................................

..TAG MASTERS.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

The early 70's was the beginning of hand writing flair for many New York writer.

The 3rd Avenue Elevated line. Early single hits by EDDIE 181, TURBAN 1 and BARBARA 62. COMET 1: In the early 1970's writing your name on a wall or a train was not referred as tagging. We called it hitting . Tagging is a term that came later .

LAVA 1- 2 ( STRAIGHT MAN / SM 1 )

LAVA started writing in East Harlem New York City, originally under the name STRAIGHT MAN or SM 1 for short. LAVA would reach the peak of his writing years partnering with such great as PHASE 2, STAFF 161 and TRACY 168. Note his clean approach to tagging and his use of STAY HIGH's the Smoker.

" IN ALL AREA'S OF WRITING YOU HAD TO HAVE STYLE."

________________________________________________________________

. Early hand stylist, LEE 163, JUNIOR 161, TOP CAT 126, FRANK 207, SJK 171 and Bronx writer COOL JEFF. Many of the earlier writers hand writing style carried over to their piecing style. TOP CAT 126 brought the original gangster style from Philly to N.Y.C where they renamed it "BROADWAY ELEGANT."

" HAND STYLE ... IS EVERY THING! "

SPEAR / DS 3 : Hand style in Graff is a lost art. When I first started there was such originality in the way guy hit up there names. APP-SUPER-HOG, DINO -NOD , SCOOTER, LA SABRE 1, CONEGO 1, SPIN 1, NOL and FLINT 707, those were some of the early names in Brooklyn I recall seeing that had a nice flair in there hand writing.

My all time favorite tag styles were, JESTER, SCOOTER, REBEL, LSD 3, EARL, ROGER, PHASE 2, AJ 161, SPIN 1, STAY HIGH 149 / VOICE OF THE GHETTO , FLINT 707, WIZZ 1 and DEAN. There are more but I can't remember all of them right now. I look at these guys doing it now and it's a sad site, just a big mess. Now a days all these new writers only know how to scribble and take no pride in writing there name. Tagging is a lost art - (REST IN PEACE.)

ALE 1 : The best hand writing style of the 1970's, would have to be STAY HIGH 149. His insides and out side train signatures were always consistent. His use of multiple colors ink in his uni-wide and mini-wide markers was pioneering for his time.

COMMUNICATION THROUGH OUT THE STREETS OF NEW YORK CITY

_____________________________________________________________

. STAN 153 : TAKI was all over the city. You would see his hits in the insides of the trains on the train stations, Buildings, Lamp posts.. you name it. I think TAKI was one of the first and earliest writer to have his name appear on television.

TAKI 183, PLAYBOY 103 and NAZI. Very rare photo of a TAKI 183 hit on J train, early 1970's. SJK 171 : TAKI was not the first guy to write. People have been tagging up the walls sense the early 60's through out my neighborhood as well as all over the upper west side. TAKI was very smart, being he was a massager he chose to write in places not only writers would see his name but places the every day person would notice .

MANHATTAN'S EARLY HAND WRITING STYLES

JULIO 204

. SJK 171 : The First writer to use a number besides his name. JULIO did hit trains and buses in Manhattan.

MANHATTAN WRITERS WERE THE FIRST. THE REST FOLLOWED.

RIFF 170 / WORM 161 : The guys from Manhattan were the first writers to start the single hit (tags) craze. Once the Bronx picked up on it, we gave a different spin to it by doing master pieces. Through out that whole time we never referred to ourselves as Graffiti writers. We called our selves writers because that what we did and did it with style. The word Graffiti is a negative term and doesn't describe how much skill it takes to paint your name in colorful elaborate letters. We have change main steam culture, which as writers do get any credit for. You can now see it in the media and in advertising. More importantly in the way we use to write and in the styles of lettering we painted on the side of a subway car. To this day we don't get the respect we deserve because media sees our art as Graffiti! - That word needs to come to an end.

STITCH 1, ACE 137 and CO-CO 144

Early Subway writers from Manhattan display a very neat writing style. The three were known as New York top elite writers of the early 1970's.

THE ORIGINAL WRITERS, BY- SJK 171

CAY 161, JR 2, HENRY 161, STITCH 1, FRANK 207, TONY 184, NONI 161, BABY FACE 86, NICK 171, RICAN 619, JOE 182, $-1, BARBARA 62, EVA 62, JULIO 204, SNAKE 1, MIKE 171, FREDDIE 173, JEC *, JOE 136, LEE 163, TAKI 184, AGREE 170, TOM 177, TUROK 161, LOUIE 170, CANO 1, LEE 2, JUNIOR 161, JOE 145, JOCKEY 1, HITLER 1&2 , PAPO 184.

EARLY BROADWAY WRITERS HAD A FLAIR.

.TRACY 168 : TAN 144 was the man back in the day and was a little before CO-CO 144, the two were partners on the Broadway number 1 line. TAN 144 is so over looked and forgotten in history. He had a simple hand writing but had it had style. Not many people knew that I spent allot of time on Broadway. I use to stay with my Puerto Rican grandfather who lived not very far from the 136th street and 137th street boys. There was allot happing in that part of the city and I was in the heart of it. I recall visiting my grandparents holding my grand fathers hand at a bus stop when the news hit the streets that MALCOLM X was assassinated and how nervous my grandparents were for me and was there going to be a riot in the streets. I can recall riding the bus and looking out the window and seeing the original LATIN KINGS hanging out. There is so much history to be told that it would take up three books. - Wild Style

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

We would like to thank the all the writers on this page for sharing a little of his history with us. Subway Outlaws would like to thank KR ONE for his support over the years. Photo credits go to ( STAY HIGH 149 ( VOICE OF THE GHETTO ) LAVA 1& 2 ( STRAIGHT MAN ), SJK 171, IZ THE WIZ, KR ONE, TRACY 168 , FLINT... FOR THOSE WHO DARE , plus the team at Subway Outlaws.com. " CHECK IT OUT! " Just off the presses. Click here. For any question or should you like to provide photos. Please contact us at MESSAGE@SUBWAYOUTLAWS.COM

NEXT PAGE. TAG MASTERS#1