Piece by Piece

One of your most personal

possessions is your signature.

It is the essence and the embodiment of who

we are.

This is San Francisco, northern

California.

Hometo some of the finest graffiti

artists the world has known.

A city famous for its beautiful

skyline,

steep hills, and diverse cultures.

Graffiti has played a major part in

this city for the last 20 years.

This isthe untold story of our

city's graffiti history,

told piece by piece.

And...

When we started out around '83,

there were so many cats doing

graff it was lovely.

Graffiti was rockin'. Frisco was

wrecked.

Ah man, San Francisco is a

playground for graffiti.

Every one I know who has come

always thought it was pretty

easy to get over.

It is a major small city, and it has a

ritch history.

This is where I crush.

You know, there were so many

crews,

so many writers, so many battles,

you know,

Iots of beef. I mean, nobody

wanted to stop!

Day and night, everyday, day and

night.

You gotta bomb.

If you've never painted, if you've

never ran from the cops,

you don't know what

the hell you're talking about.

Sitting and home and painting on

canvas is weak.

Just trying to put my name where

it needs to be.

Give me anything; I'll put my name

on it.

Mailbox, tunnel, truck,train; l

don't care!

The name of the game is to put

your name up!

When I go out and do graffiti,

I inherently feel asthough I am

destroying,

but I'm also giving something.

They still consider it vandalism.

If it is, it's creative.

Instead of focusing on the overall

look.

Does it look pretty, you know,

is it eye candy? Doesthe

character stand out?

Once they change the dynamic,

you know,

the next generation follows that,

because that's whatthey see.

Like, I mean, people say, "oh, we

hate the city," you know,

we don't hate the city, we love the

city! This is our city.

That's why we crush, 'cause it's

our city.

I think graffiti is part of the urban

life,

just like noise and buildings, and

smog, and people acceptthat...

It's against the law.

The police department has

dedicated officers

just to fighting graffiti.

If we catch you in San Francisco,

we'll slam ya'.

I put guys out undercover every

night.

If we catch ya', we'll slam ya'.

If I catch heat while I'm painting,

I'm not trying to hang out

and see how the cops are going to

treat me,

I'm doing whatever the f*ck I can

to get away.

All your doing is changing the

color of the surface,

a millimeter thick!

But they're saying it's a $5000

damage,

Because the building's worth

$5000?

It only takes two seconds to brush

it over,

maybe $20 worth of paint.

I'm not saying it's right, I mean,

graffiti's not all good.

It'sthe good, the bad

and the ugly.

It's kinda interesting seeing the

different generations

throughout the '80s, 90's,

and now, the 2000s.

Its work given to the people who

are on the street, you know,

this is artwork for the people.

It's not that I can't stop, I don't

wanna stop.

I'm just gettin' started

myself!

Shit. I've been in some fucking

good chases.

I've gotten away from most of

them;

I've gotten my ass kicked a few

times.

I got my nose broken;

I got my head split open.

I got, fuckin', takento jail.

I always thought graffiti was dope.

I always wanted my first tattoo to

be a train car with graffiti.

And like, luckily enough I fuckin'

didn't get that, because

the shit would have been wack,

you know

They told me, don'twrite graffiti.

They said, "don't fuckin' write

graffiti, you're an idiot, you're just

going to get yourself in trouble

there's no point in doing it, don't

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