Useless Bantering
11/11/97

"Dek, you take the top of the stairs and Basic, you take the bottom stairs." Safety attacks the wall with full frenzy. He unleashes the magic behind the ultra-fat pilot marker with quarter inch tip. The nauseating fumes fill the air. He blows up the spot, leaving the phat tag. He destroys all toys by crossing them out. They swap. Basic takes the wall. Safety and Dek keep a stead lookout, making sure that those boys in blue don't show up. Dek's turn. He throws up a quick tag. They finish the deed and move on to the next hallway. Amongst the hit list, fire alarm bells, air condition vents, walls and any other empty space that calls to be decorated. With in minutes hundreds of dollars of property destroyed; within minutes a youth gains props with his peers.

F.O.N. is the crew. They are not a big crew but they get their job done. Giving props to their crew. Throwing up tags for taggers not on the trip.

Heroes in the field, our heroes of the street: Cope (Da king!), Tracy 168, Chad (H.R.), Phame (H.R.), Med, Lee, Lady Pink, Sak, Vent and the countless others.

Safety makes a second trip for the evening. He picks up his boys, Daz and Fiez. Again they get open the ultra fat black. Vandalism at it's best. Walls screaming for colors. Three angry kids with pockets full of markers. They release all their pent up anger , with total disregard for all authority. It feels so good to destroy. Mad props! Mass destruction, run and attack the next stairwell. Tag up the elevators. Hitting spots that baffle people. Peoples' mouths drop as they stare at intricate wall scrawlings. Complex, colorful designs, full of secret codes and crew names.

It all disappeared in a way of color. Others moved in, labels were torn down, walls painted over, $1000 rewards offered, wanna-bees moved in and fronted on what wasn't theirs. What's left? The picture above and memories...

Note:
This column is about grafitti at it's best... 1