A few days ago I had an incredible conversation with the “First Lady of Graffiti” Lady Pink. In this episode we talk about her early days of painting trains with elite graffiti writers, proving herself, playing the construction game and mentoring young artists.

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Stay Up to Date with Lady Pink

Instagram

Official Website

Lady Pink was born in Ecuador, raised in NYC and currently resides in the countryside north of the city. In 1979 she started writing graffiti and soon was well known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture. Pink painted subway trains from the years 1979-1985. In 1982 she had a starring role the motion picture “Wild Style”. That role and her other significant contributions to graffiti have made her a cult figure in the hip-hop subculture.

Show Notes

• Finding what you love to do
• Painting the Subway Trains
• Do what you do best
• The Early Days
• Started in 1979

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Well Defined Sub-Cultured
• Learned about Tagging, Train Yards and Lifting Paint
• Jumped Out the Window with a Bag of Paint
• Carrying a Big Knife
• The Driving Force
• Have Adventures
• Oh To Be A Rebel
• Glory, Props & Fame
• Breaking the Law
• Prove Your Worth

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Hundreds of Young Outlaws 
• Standing Her Ground
• The Best of the Best
• Lee Quiñones
• Dondi White
• Crash
• Daze
• Blade
• Futura 2000
• Zephyr
• Revolt 
• Traveling the World and Selling Artwork
• New York City was in Ashes
• First Tag

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Proofreading and Spell Checking
• Working with a Team 
• Can’t Come off Looking Foolish
• Quick Story from filming Wild Style
• Had to be Seen in Public Painting her own Work
• People are going to talk…
• Wanted to be an Architect
• Up on a Cherry Picker
• The Beautiful Brick Women 
• Earth, Wind & Fire
• Life Upstate 
• Police Raids
• NYPD Vandal Squad
• SWAT Team
• Stacey Richmond 
• Rob, Pillage and Rape

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Hundreds and Hundreds of Cans of Spray Paint
• Inspiring the Creative Community
• Being Apart of the Fabric of Someone’s Life
• Working with the Kids
• Frank Sinatra School of the Arts
• High School of Art and Design 
• Astoria, Queens
• Tony Bennett 
• Dr. Jane Khan

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Hand Down the Craft and Skills
• Failure is Not an Option
• Budding Feminist
• Bringing More Women into the Craft

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Doing Public Art 
• Working on the Rachael Ray Show
• This is America
• Playing the Game

Artwork by Lady Pink

• Sane & Smith
• Smoke a Big Spliffy and Channel a Dead Artist
• Welling Court Mural Project 

Artwork by Lady Pink

Ten days into the new year and we’ve decided drop a new episode for you, beautiful people. Today’s guest on the show is John “Crash” Matos.  Do you live in this world? Do you have sight? Yes? Then I would bet a decent amount of paper that you’ve seen this man’s work.

In this episode Crash and Amon talk about early anime, comics, Style Wars, the adventures of painting trains, shenanigans with Keith Haring, various types of spray paint, spray paints caps and our responsibly to telling the history of graffiti correctly.

Let the record show that is conversation wouldn’t have happened without the help of our good friends at the JoAnne Artman Gallery. We are sincerely grateful for their help but we also highly recommend you visit their gallery out in Chelsea. Whenever we art walk, we always stop in to see what’s up. Location: 511A West 22nd St., New York, NY 10011

Stay Up to Date with John “Crash” Matos

1. Official Website
2. Instagram

Show Notes

1. JoAnn Artman Gallery
2. “ConcreteJungle.”by John “CRASH” Matos
3. TUMI collaborate with Graffiti Artist John “CRASH” Matos on limited-edition travel collection in 2011
4. Tumi Tag Bag with graffiti artist John “Crash” Matos
5. Boogie Down at the Bronx Zoo (YouTube)
6. BEHIND BOOGIE DOWN LEGENDARY ARTISTS X THE BRONX ZOO
7. Grandmaster Caz
8. Grandmaster Melle Mel
9. Scorpio of the Furious Five YouTube
10. The Bronx
11. Don’t sleep on the Bonx here are few notable movies filmed in the Bronx: The Warriors, The Godfather, Green Book, Rubble Kings
12. There was no Hip Hop
13. 100 Greatest Hip-Hop Songs of All Time – Rolling Stone
14. We listened to everything
15. Salsa
16. Led Zeppelin
17. Led Zeppelin YouTube
18. Thelonious Monk
19. The demons and obsessions of jazz genius Thelonious Monk by Candace Allen Nov. 6, 2017 The Guardian
20. Here’s a great documentary on Thelonious Monk: Thelonious Monk: Straight, No Chaser
21. Thelonious Monk – Monk’s Dream (Full Album) YouTube
22. Earth, Wind & Fire
23. Earth, Wind & Fire – September (Official Music Video) YouTube
24. Disco
25. Boogie Nights by Lisa Robinson, February 2010 Vanity Fair
26. Disco Greatest Hits of 1970s – Greatest Oldies Disco 70s – Best Disco Songs
27. “Music and Graffiti go hand in hand.” Amon Focus
28. History of Anime
29. Speed Racer
30. Speed Racer Full Episodes – Speed Racer Cartoon Full Episodes HD – Speed Racer 3 HoursYouTube
31. Kimba the White Lion
32. Kimba The White Lion YouTube
33. Gigantor
34. Gigantor YouTube
35. Marvel Comics
36. Captain America
37. Humans
38. Spider-Man (created by Stan Lee and Steve Ditko)
39. Another quick recommendation, watch the Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse! (So good)
40. Fantastic Four
41. Avengers: Infinity War
42. Marvel Studios’ Avengers: Infinity War – Official Trailer YouTube
43. Multiverse
44. The Eye in CRASH’s work.
45. Robert Williams (artist)
46. More information on CRASH
47. Tips From a Maestro of the Spray Can By Jan Ellen Spiegel February 19, 2010 The New York Times
48. “I zone in.” John “CRASH” Matos
49. Aeroplane 1 John Matos aka Crash
50. Pop Art movement
51. Music is instrumental
52. Steel Canvases
53. Art with That Football? Dolphins’ Stadium Vibrant with Color by Curt Anderson, Associated Press
54. Hard Rock Stadium Unveils New Murals
55. Ferrari F430 Gets the Art Car Treatment by John “Crash” Matos
56. “… we paint what poets speak.” John “CRASH” Matos Quote
57. John “Crash” Matos « Guitars | Robert Kantor Guitars
58. Custom motorcycle designed by legendary Bronx graffiti artist John ‘Crash’ Matos
59. “To be played not displayed.” John “CRASH” Matos Quote
60. Crashocaster
61. John Mayer with EC Telecaster
62. I.O.U. $5
63. John Ahearn (artist)
64. The Mudd Club and “Beyond Words”
65. The Mudd Club
66. Keith Haring
67. 35 Years After Fashion Moda, a Bronx Gallery Revisits the Landmark Space by Tiernan MorganAugust 6, 2015
68. Don’t Forget Fashion 时装 Moda МОДА Emily Colucci July 22, 2011
69. Jane Dickson (artist)
70. Charlie Ahearn (artist)
71. Wild Style (movie)
72. Wild Style – Trailer YouTube
73. Fab 5 Freddy
74. Julia Gruen
75. Graffiti Artist Success for America
76. The 5 and the 2 train
77. The 6 trains
78. Hunts Point, Bronx
79. Broadway Line
80. We had keys.
81. Almost electrocuted and almost hit.
82. “The paint changed the game.” John “CRASH” Matos Quote
83. Rust-Oleum
84. Krylon
85. Red Devil, Inc.
86. F. W. Woolworth Company
87. Martin Paint
88. Floral paint
89. Lee Quiñones
90. Montana
91. Molotow Belton Spray Paint
92. Marabu Buntlack Spray Paints
93. Fat cap- go fast line is sharper and thinner
94. Skinny cap
95. Niagra Cap
96. There is more to this…
97. Dondi (Artist)
98. Chris Daze Ellis
99. Futura (artist)
100. Lady Pink (artist)
101. Zephyr (artist)
102. HAZE aka SE3 (artist)
103. TAKI 183 talks the History of Graffiti Culture, Classic Cars and the Future of Street Art
104. Cornbread (artist)
105. Roy Lichtenstein (artist)
106. Andy Warhol (artist)
107. The more you see my name, the more fame I have.
108. Style Wars (movie/documentary)
109. Style Wars (1983) (whole movie)
110. Free base
111. New Jack City (movie)
112. Last train in 1981
113. Cey Adams (artist) Cey Adams talks Def Jam, Logos, Album Covers, Giving Back, Paintings and Murals
114. Wynwood Walls
115. Bushwick Collective
116. The Lesson is Responsibility
117. Telling the Truth
118. Street Art is Bubble
119. KAWS – it appears you owe CRASH a drawing.

 

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A post shared by John Matos (@crashone) on May 26, 2012 at 3:58pm PDT

We’re back in Brooklyn, DUMBO to be exact and this time we are kicking it with Vikki Tobak. Vikki is a journalist, producer and the author of Contact High: A Visual History of Hip-Hop. In this episode we talk about growing up in Detroit, her photography moment, working with Gang Starr, working at Paper Magazine, interviewing Diddy when he was on the come up and her journey to Contact High.

About Vikki

1. Purchase Contact High: A Visual
   History of Hip-Hop
2. Twitter
3. Instagram

VIKKI TOBAK is a journalist whose writing has appeared in The Fader, Complex, Mass Appeal, Paper, i-D, the Detroit News, Vibe, and many others. She is a former producer and columnist for CBS MarketWatch, CNN, Bloomberg News, TechTV, and other leading media organizations. Vikki is also the founding curator of FotoDC’s film program and served as the art commissioner/curator for the Palo Alto Public Art Commission in Silicon Valley. She has lectured about music photography at American University, VOLTA New York, Photoville, the Library of Congress, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit.

~~~

(excerpted from Vikki Tobak’s introduction)

Photographs, like music, are imprinted onto our collective consciousness. Both define our individual and cultural identities and help shape how we view the world and ourselves. In the case of hip-hop, a medium that encompasses so many transformative moments from politics to race to style, both the visuals and the music become a part of us. It’s not just that one powerful song that has a way of getting under your skin, it’s also the visuals that equally captivate, and stick with us for years to come. It’s the union of hip-hop visuals and music that we honor in this book.

Contact High spotlights the photographers who have played critical roles in bringing these visuals onto a global stage. By tracing a timeline of almost forty plus years of hip-hop culture through contact sheets, one gets a rare glimpse into the creative process. Organized chronologically, Contact High stands as a visual archive of hip-hop-an intimate look at the making of the imagery that shaped the sound.

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Show Notes

• Medium
• “It is a photography book but it is a storytelling book.” Vikki Tobak Quote
• Kazakhstan
• Stevie Wonder
• Stevie Wonder – For Once In My Life
• Aretha Franklin (RIP…we miss you)
• Aretha Franklin – I say a little prayer – YouTube
• Hitsville U.S.A.
• Motown
• House Music
• Detroit House Artists
• Sister Sledge
• Sister Sledge – We Are Family – YouTube
• Marvin Gaye
• Marvin Gaye – What’s Going On – YouTube
• Public Enemy
• Chuck D Interview With Vikki Tobak
• Pentax K1000
• Nell’s (Club)
• Paper Magazine
• Chi-Ali (Rapper)
• Clark Kent
• Stretch Armstrong
• Just be curious…
• Kim Hastreiter (Paper Magazine Co-Founder)
• David Hershkovits (Paper Magazine Co-Founder)
• Underground culture
• HipHop culture
• Uptown
• Sean Puffy Combs
• Biggie Smalls
• The Notorious B.I.G. – “Hypnotize” – YouTube
• Mary J. Blige
• Mary J. Blige – Family Affair – YouTube
• Jodeci
• Jodeci – Come & Talk To Me- YouTube
• “Life is not a game.”
• Neale Easterby
• Patrick Moxey
• Payback time: Patrick Moxey and Neale Easterby on Payday Records’ global relaunch Article by Andre Paine
• Payday Records
• Patrick Moxey Relaunches Classic Hip-Hop Label Payday Records: Exclusive Article by Dan Rys
• Gang Starr
• Gang Starr – Moment Of Truth
• Guru (RIP)
• Gang Starr – Manifest – YouTube
• Jeru The Damaja
• Gang Starr – I’m The Man (Feat. Jeru The Damaja) YouTube
• Group Home
• Group Home – Livin‘ Proof – YouTube
• Public Relations- You protect your artist and have their backs
• Director of Publicity and PR
• Jamil Diaz
• Xavier De Nauw Photographer
• Danny Hastings Photographer
• Five-Percenter
• Part of the ether
• Knowledge, wonderful, mathematics & alphabet
• There will be no google
• Ernie Paniccioli Photographer
• Public Enemy
• The importance of 7
• Hard to Earn
• You get that decisive moment
• Telling it like it is and being direct
• The right hand person and their importance
• Playing mental chess
• CNN, CBS, and Bloomberg
• Creating, collaborating, and believing in something
• Having good instincts
• Vikki Toback on Mass Appeal
• Navigating around the media training
• Keep scrolling for more show notes…

~~~

 

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A post shared by Vikki Tobak (@vikki_tobak) on Oct 15, 2018 at 9:06am PDT

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Salt-N-Pepa // Photography by Janette Beckman

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Show Notes Continued…

• One Love One Photo: Photographer Esther Anderson Early Bob Marley Photos
• How you treat the archives?
• What are the iconic images?
• Who are the photographers?
• Janette Beckman on photographing styles upon styles of early A Tribe Called Quest
• Gordon Parks
• Jamel Shabazz shares his Journey to Documentary Photography– New York Said Episode
• The book is going to be produced as an exhibition in April 2019
• Annenberg Space for Photography – CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop is an inside look at the work of hip-hop photographers, as told through their most intimate diaries: their unedited contact sheets.
• Hotboxing
• To tell a story and present it well
• Photoville
• Celebrity culture
• So this book is about the photographers
• Questlove
• Swizz beats
• Blue Note Covers
• Undon
• Things Fall Apart
• Jenni Zellner
• Nas
• Nas and Tupac Photo
• Lisa Leone
• Illmatic
• Robert Whitman talks photographing Prince Pre-Fame and the Common Humanity
• Keepers Of The Underground: The Hiphop Archive At Harvard
• Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture Highlights Hip-Hop Archives
• Cornell Hip Hop Collection
• Google Cultural Institute
• A Great Day in Hip Hop
• Nov. 7th 2018 Event A Great Day In Hip Hop: A Visual History 20 Years Later by SchomburgCenter for Research in Black Culture
• Have a conversation with the people you are photographing…a tip from Jamel Shabazz
• Integrity of the culture
• FotoDC
• Barron Claiborne Cinematographer
• THE DAY BIGGIE SMALLS WAS CROWNED “KING OF NEW YORK”
• Belly
• Malik Sayeed
• Andrew Das Senu
• Juice Film
• Adger Cowens
• Bradford Young
• Ava Marie DuVernay
• Haile Gerima
• Howard University
• Queens in the house
• Live Squad
• Stretch (rapper)
• Live Squad – Heartless | Official Video
• Stay with what you love and give it power

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We would love to hear your thoughts on the episode. Leave a comment on the Apple Podcast app and don’t forget to rate the show.

This episode is sponsored by Gorilla Coffee.