THE GRAFFITI BATTLE CROWN
TIJUANA, MEXICO
OCT.12-20 1996
THE Graffiti
Battle Crown was an event that took place towards the end of 1996 in Tijuana,
Mexico and brought together many graffiti writers and enthusiasts from
around the country. Before I get into the actual happenings, I would like
to give a quick synopsis of how this event came to be. The event was organized
and spearheaded by two writers, myself (Man One) from L.A. and Fuska from
the host city of Tijuana. The idea flourished when I was invited in 1995
to be a judge for a Graffiti mural competition in TJ. Fuska wanted me to
bring other writers from L.A. to teach the young writers in TJ about styles
and painting techniques. The idea was pitched to several government agencies
including the Department of Culture. Everyone was really excited about
making this happen. The idea had now grown from a weekend seminar to a
week long festival of full-blown Graffiti productions throughout the city.
This event was not at all an easy task to coordinate.
We wanted it to be open to any writer, from any crew, from any city. This
event was to bring writers together in unity for a common cause and not
about who's old school or who's dope and who's not. Ideally we wanted to
provide everything for the writers: lodging, airfare, paint, food, etc.
I quickly learned what a huge task this was going to be. The Mexican government
really saw the positive effort this was going to be, but had very little
money to offer. They provided the walls (which originally were staked out
all over the city). They provided the lodging at "CREA" (equivalent to
our YMCA clubs) which was really dope because it gave us a summer camp
atmosphere. They also produced the flyers for the event in both English
and Spanish.
As for our American brothers, everyone was down
for the event but not down enough to put money where their mouth was. I
have to put it down for TRIBAL GEAR; they were the only ones who kicked
in when the going got tough for us. ICU Art also donated time and effort
to design the flyer and help with promotion of the event, as did Art Crimes.
All other companies that were contacted or knew about the event and didn't
donate, check yourself. If you are directly (or indirectly) profiting from
this art movement and not willing to give some of it back, then you are
just exploiting kids and the whole scene. You should be boycotted and publicly
dissed for doing so. You know who you are!
The biggest set back we experienced was from a group
we were working with, who was donating all the paint. The deal was that
the artists come up with a theme for each mural or piece and provide a
sketch for each idea (along with a paint list of colors). The over all
themes had to do with Mexican/American border issues and culture. Just
getting graff artists to submit an idea was difficult enough, but most
came through with some dope images. Everything was starting to come together
until our paint sponsor flipped out on the sketches. They wanted us to
go back to the artists and ask for revisions with specific requests on
what the murals and pieces should say. I had to hold Fuska back from wanting
to break these fools off on the spot. There was no way we were going to
compromise the art just to get some cans of paint; I didn't care if they
were donating $10,000 worth of Krylon.
Personally I felt horrible about all this, but I
knew quitting was not an option. So I got on the horn and personally contacted
every writer to tell them that the event was going to be postponed for
one month. All this took place just two days before the event was originally
scheduled to happen. So you could imagine all the heat I received, but
in the end it was the right thing to do. Due to the circumstances we were
forced to quickly restructure the event. We couldn't guarantee any paint
so we asked writers to bring their own supply. We were also lucky to find
a central wall, about 400 feet long, that belonged to the Gas Company in
TJ. All that stuff about themes and issues was thrown out and anyone who
wanted to show up and just rock was welcomed.
So day one finally arrived. We were a bit nervous
as to who was actually going to show up, if anyone at all, but regardless
we were there and we were going to rock some shit. Me, Vyal, and Sacred
were there representing the COI's. Asyl'm and Swank were there Seeking
Heaven. Before we could even start, the Mexican police and the Feds showed
up to give us a warm "gatfilled" welcome. We had to humbly explain that
we were a bunch of American graffiti artists whose artwork was not well
respected in our own country. Therefore, we had immigrated to Mexico for
a weeklong graffiti tour. They looked over our permission slips, put their
guns away, and rode off.
Before long, Ses Won and Drew from Arizona had shown
up. Kids from the bay area (like Cyme, Sar, and RVS) were spotted walking
aimlessly in the foreign country. Big ballers Crayone, Neon, and Phresh
were discovered shooting hoops all over the place. Well you get the picture.
As the week went on writers continued to show up by the carfull. UTI represented
by the pack. Skill, Snap, Deal, Pistol, Swan, and Nuke all got up lovely
with some phat burners. Nuke got political, as always, and rocked some
dope "chupa patria" production for the kids. Pashe and Quake (Lords) showed
up for several days and rocked a UFO filled production right next to San
Diego's Zane and Persue.
I want to thank everyone who participated on any
level of this event for making it as successful as it turned out especially
the writers: ASYL'M sh, SWANK sh, VYAL coi, SACRED coi, NUKE uti, SWAN
uti, SKILL uti, PISTOL uti, DEAL uti, SNAP uti, ZANE, PERSUE sba, CRAYONE,
NEON ba, PHRESH, PASHE lords, QUAKE lords, CYME htk, SAR htk, RVS htk,
JAIT dsc, TABOO dsc, EKSILE dsc, SES WON, DREW, FUSKA, EASE and anyone
I may have forgotten.
I hope more events like this continue to happen,
because it really brings people together and allows ideas, theories, and
history to be verbally passed down. I will never forget the conversations,
the sketch sessions, the b-ballin', and most importantly the brotherhood
we experienced. I'll let you enjoy the flicks, but rest assured that just
like my boy Neon said it was one of the dopest graff trips I've ever been
on.
Peace out! MAN ONE COI L.A.