Wednesday 12 August 2009

Problems With Graffiti

Dudes have really lost touch with what it means to be a writer, now its as easy as pickin a semi decent name, pickin a cop out style like dirty euro, doing some sloppy pieces in the middle of no-where, and posting them on sites like 12oz,bebo and flickr, and many more popping up.. like its a new raise to fame, like its hardcore, no one knows its in the middle of no-where, but if you post 20 similar pics, your apparently going hard.. up all over nanna’s shed in stilorgan, thats what we’re aimin for these days, like its a daily ritual, you check these web pages to see who’s “up”, thats in quote’s cus the word has lost all meaning, whoever’s rockin the most post’s of they’re backers and they’re tag’s on the back of bus seats, that deserves props.. i must say, im impressed. Im not dropping names, but if i was to skim through the last few pages of twelve ounce, i can guarantee that if i went to Dublin the streets wouldnt profess these dudes, that they’re E-fame doesn’t reflect they’re actual fame,if thats what you wanna call it.
Alot of the new heads have no idea what its about, its a popularity contest now, and not in the original sense, its personal now, and not in the way it should be.. everyone know’s who’s who, im suprised people don’t know cisto’s ATM number, people seem to know where heads live, and say it all over the net, like its “the new goss” , whats that saying about graff like?..is it really just a faces game now?will magazines like WANTED and CANT STOP FANATICS, just become our version of OK and HELLO magazine?
And the phrase “going hard” is just thrown around so loose these days, no idea what going hard is, going hard is painting non stop, day n night, no compromising, its as simple as that, just NON FUCKIN STOP, just whackin up throw ups, tags, pieces, writing with anything you can..cus thats what this is, we’re WRITERS, we WRITE.. we don’t talk, we’re not speakers, so it should be mouth shut, it should be anonymous, let your letters talk for you, and if you don’t have the physical presence, go home.. you either write or you don’t, simple as.. you shouldn have to prove SHIT by posting away non stop, don’t try prove shit to anyone, your either up or your not, the standard for whats up is VERY,VERY,VERY low these days.. no one is being realistic, we’re a scene of bystanders, we just stepped back and watched grift take over, just like “wow, grift did this, grift did that” but how many of ye were up there with him? We just all stepped back n watched, now he’s gone we look like fools, grift is the definition of irish graffiti, and THAT is just embarrassing, grift isn’t great (be realistic) yeah he can get up, but is he any better at it than oclock,banos,inxs,jammer?? No, he’s not, and everyone seems to think “those grifts are burners”.. burnin what exactly? Sayin that alone is embarrassing.. disagree?then you must have low exectations for what you can achieve.
Everyone is seekin some recognition of what they’re doing too.. graff was never about that, back in the 80’s in NY you were lucky to ever meet another writer, YOU were your only critic, there were no sites telling you what was good, if your “going hard” or not.. you knew yourself what you were doing, you knew that you were going out painting, non stop, writing your name, just simply writing, not talking, doing.. and you were “impressing” yourself, you wernt impressing a blog of writers.. you wernt doing spots JUST so you can go home that evening and post it on 12oz, you were doing it for YOUR reasons..
This is graffiti, its about a name, its about your letters, its about how you place your spots, its about going out and actually painting, while your sitting here reading this, why arnt you out painting? Your not answering to me, your answering to yourself, cus your doing graff for yourself...arnt you? So give yourself a GOOD reason why your not out painting.. something better to do? Then maybe graff aint your game.. thats the fine line between a real writer and a wannabe, you cant be aimin somewhere in the middle, you wannabe be THE BEST if your a real writer, and you don’t let shit come in your way, you just go out n do it, and if your aimin somewhere in between, if you just paint on the weekends, if you cant see yourself interrailing across Europe with a camera and a travellers check for paint in three years time, your not a writer.. you are, a wannabe.. so save yourself some money.. but if you are a writer, you’ll be able to list some current injuries from painting, from riskin shit recently, going that bit further, you’ll be savin up for your chromes n pink dots, not for your 94 and alien skinnies, you’ll be sketching, not lookin at sketches on the paper chase thread, you’ll be checkin how much longer till the stretch in the day kicks in, you’ll be keeping up on transport 21, you’ll be making sure YOUR getting shit on lock, not marvelling about when grift did.

Say what you want, you know im speaking the truth, YOU know where you fall in, you know if your a writer or not,you know Ireland would have a proper fuckin scene if you fall into my definition of a writer,cus its the real definition,care less.

One love, irie I
jah bless

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