Tonight I kill myself – Fade / New York Graffiti

May 21, 2013

Walk the streets of New York City at night and you can see how dark and sullen it is. The evenings are sultry and the streets cool to a calming New York quiet. The quiet that has sirens blaring in the distance, in response to the cries of the cities unfortunate inhabitants.

Then, all Fades. The Fade that engulfs the ones that sleep.

One that creeps the walls along the inner city dwellings and leaves marks and messages to the one’s that will soon awake from their sleep. Creeping along the highways and the corner bodega’s cold steely corrugated gates.

The Fade AA Mobb is always creepin’.

Fade’s first memory of graffiti goes back to the times of his good friend ODIN, a friend that recently passed in 2011.

One day, when the two of them were kicking it, Odin came up with the idea of, “we can put words on things”.

“We took knives, carved a tree and then we got all the paint we could………we were so young trying to get off the streets, paint walls and stay away from society……. it was natural.”
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As Fade remembers, his name came about from a practical joke. This reflects on some on some of the humor that he incorporates into his tagging.

“When I was younger, I gave a few kids a haircut… a special haircut. I carved some dicks in the back of there head as a joke. They didn’t know. The sides looked good, and I kept the laughter in. The next day in school it was very funny.” The kids got a Fade they would never forget.”Until this day they are still pissed”.

Many slogans are incorporated with the tags of the native New Yorker. Sometimes it can be poetic, and sometimes it’s the same humor as mentioned earlier. It is explained as, “I was putting up slogans, since ‘96. Back then it was basically just bubbles, pieces and tags in New York. I did this cause I wanted to. I just found it funny. Jokes, life, etc. People like to read walls, so why not tell them to smoke coke with their mom?”

Fade has engulfed all surfaces from train stations, freights, tunnels, yards, trucks, signs, houses, and on the surfaces of women’s breasts. “Can’t leave out the cops”.

“I like to do illegal graffiti; technically it’s Graff by definition. I just focus on what I do. I can’t focus on other people in the Graff game. Graff has this problem where there are tons of weirdos. One’s that hate on names. Writers you will probably never meet or would not even want to meet. Writers care about other writers. It’s funny because it’s all fiction. I take a shit on a wall and call it art. Just having fun because life can be hard. Paint is not an unjust. Everything Fades fucker! Fade is dead. Fade is life. Fade is not!”

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When asked who some of his influences are he states,”Garbage pail Kids, shit, piss, Mutz, Pepe, Tyke, Teck, Stay High 149, Oro,Tres, Teo, Vers. My friends man! I don’t really see the rest. Most have stopped. I just look for my boys. I like seeing things bombed so, get up whoever you are. Get up!”

“Losers are people who say they write and don’t. Doctors who say the can heal and don’t. Keep your word, do what you do. We all Fade.”

As Fade continues on with the pattern of sharing his art, the sun rises to share a new day, and the night begins to Fade. A new day with fresh tags, and fresh thoughts for the homeless, and the for the working man alike. Advice from the Fade.

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“Don’t do GRAFFITI to PROVE something. Do it because you believe in freedom. This world is a jail created by man. Break every wall you can. Stand up for yourself and fight what is unjust. Live Now.”