"SOLO138 TBB" by COPE2.. custom art, and a fresh subway map for a wall at the place to be... thank you my brother!!!... a real honor to have!!!
taken from www.cope2.net/about
I was born in the South Bronx. The home, the motherland, the Mecca of hip hop. I started writing graffiti back in 78-79. Influenced by my cousin Chris. He tagged Chico. He wasn’t a huge writer, just a local. I remember him always having a huge marker called a Pilot. He always had it in his draw. At times I would take it when he wasn’t home, go under the stairs or the rooftop of my grandmothers building and just tag my nickname (Nano). Then in 79-80 my cousin took me on the subways . . .
The 4 train was in my neighborhood. I remember taking the back car from Mosholou Parkway to the last stop (Woodlawn Rd). As soon as the doors would close he would make sure the last car was empty and just start tagging all over the train. On the ceilings, the doors even the subway maps. I remember seeing other tags on the insides. Writers like Ban2, 2Rape, Ojab, Die, Lie, Duro, Dondi, Duel, Base2, Zephyr, Fuzz one, just to name a few.
My mother and I traveled quite a bit on the subways and I was always looking at the outsides, seeing huge names really blew my head. The writers I remember were Fritos, Mark198, Dr. Pepper, Killer56, Comet, Blade, Popeye, Tracy168, Deli167 (who was Ban2), Lee, Seen, Pjay,P-nut2, Medisco92 and my idol Mitch77. That’s what really inspired me to get deeper into graffiti
I lived on Dekalb ave. and the kids on my block were all writing. There was Kop, 2Bang, Sofe, Piz, 2Sweet, 2Go & Rop. Then you had TSR (The Squad Rockers) down the block, Soe, 3D, Al, Duel, Harm187 & Coe. I always had drama with these punks. They always tried to jump me. Until I beat down Duel and Coe. You also had The MG Boys, Jem, Jay, Mark198, Dee3, Russ75, Mite, Rust, Cuda & Kit17. These guys always had huge pieces in all the school yard walls. One piece I loved was this fat P-nut2 in JHS 80 . . .
P-nut2 had fame on the Welcome Back Kotter show, so that inspired me but Mitch77’s Tue burners and straight letters on the 4 line really inspired me. Man his style was ill. The best at the time. The first time I went to the writers bench at 149st Grand Concourse, I met Bear167, Gman, Smiley149, Ban2, Tye, Lane, Post, Or2, Rex167, Lie and many other writers. It was crazy seeing all these whole cars roll by. With burners by Dez, Shy147, Skeme, Kel1st, Cos207, Case2 & Tkid. I mean whole car burners after whole car burners. That was also deeply inspirational. I’m thank GOD for blessing me. To live it believe me it was a blessing.
While going to the 4 yard I met a lot of writers. I met Trap and Rip7. Later Rip7 taught me how to break dance and Trap and I became pretty tight. By then I was also writing Cope2. It was a name that my best friend gave me. He used to write Kope and The 2 I got from Ban2, cause he was the king of the insides.
I remember several writers writing “King”. I wondered why, so I asked Trap why so many writers wrote “King”. Trap told me that it meant that you claimed this line like a King. That meant you had the most tags on the insides or throw-ups, burners and blockbusters on the outsides. So I said Hmmm, that’s a challenge . . .
I early 82 I started my own crew KD (Kids Destroy). The crew was Kope who later became AM1, Spel, Reo, Milt, Skeet R.I.P., Kie R.I.P. (GOD bless their souls and thanx you both for the memories, good and bad, they will be cherished till my last breathe, see you at the crossroads) and Ston3.
We started to rock the 4 line. My man AM1 quit after getting busted on the Kingsbridge lay-ups one afternoon, Sofe and I got away. Kie and Ston3, kinda got into chilling and smoking blunts. Me, Spel and Reo started rocking a lot of silver whole cars and burners on the 2’s and 5’s. Ston3 and I kinged the insides of the D’s in 82, then moved on to the 1’s
At one point we killed all city rack spots, hardware stores & Martin Paint stores in Yonkers & White Plains. It was paradise. I loved it. But Spel and Reo kinda died out and I moved on to destroy the lines. During that time, I had a couple of partners… Trace2 & Keep, then I met Cone, Ley, Race5, Melo (TNF crew The Nations Freshest). Cone, Ley and I did a couple of cars, but by late 82’ early 83’, I was King of the 4 line. I mean I destroyed it. Writers like Mitch77, Ban2, and Blade also killed it . . .
I remember Blade living on my block. I always saw him cleaning his car, coolin with Maze and Dolores. Man, Blade put the smack down on the 4 line, with blockbusters.
Spin TFS also King’d the 4 line. I loved his simple styles with the white highlights.
But Delta2 and Sharp murdered the 4 line. They made me step up my game. The insides were getting killed by Sash, Des & Pate and that was after Rex167, Cep and Trap Kinged the insides. You also had Duel, Warring with Ban2. It was ill. I then went on to other lines.
As I moved on to the 2’s and the 5’s, which were getting painted white at the time. It began a new era for me. Cone TNF & I started to destroy the line. Cone worked in a Bodega up near the Bronx Park East station. Cap MPC and the MPC crew would go into the bodega to buy 12 packs of beer. When Cap met Cone, he asked Cone if he could meet me. It was an honor to know that Cap wanted to meet me. I had heard many stories about Cap… How he chased my boy Swan3 with a machete and that Cap would go to the yards with a pump shot gun and just seeing how he destroyed the subways going over everybody. It was kinda ill. I told Cone, "cool I’ll meet him. " . . .
As I met Cap, I also met Rook, Caban, Pove, Dose, Flint, Rock161 and Doc. It was phat meeting these guys. Cap and I kinda clicked. He would talk about some of the bombs he did. It was just ill coolin with Cap. Then one day he gave me a throw-up outline and I just rocked it. (This is the throw-up I use today) Watching him have wars with writers like Quik, Sach, Duro, Dondi and Min RTW was ill. (I loved Min RTW’s NE throw-ups. That kid is the real “True legend”) . . .
I then got down with MPC, that’s when things shit got crazy for me. As soon as I started hooking up MPC, I got dogged by Duro, Plus, Min, Roni, Second, Kilo and a bunch of other writers. This was going on as I was having a war with Neo, Nog, Rec127, Ghost and the RIS crew. I was loving it, till that day I was bombing the 4 line lay-ups and I ran into Swan3, Booze, Rac7 and Tkid. Tkid pulled out a bat and swung that shit at my head. Quick and Tkid told me to stay out of the Ghost yard with that MPC shit. They also said to tell Cap the same. So I did…
Then there was a showdown at Fashion Moda in the Bronx. Cap stepped to Tkid on the Ghost yard issue. Then shit got crazy. Cap and Tkid got into a big fight. Some people say Cap won, some say Tkid won. Who knows and who cares. Tkid gets props for being the only writer to fight Cap. I kept bombing, but I was getting a lot of my shit dissed because of MPC. So I stopped repping the crew. It was nothing personal toward Cap, I just had to look out for myself. I guess Cap took it the wrong way and got pissed, cause before you knew it the whole MPC crew was going over me. . . .
By that time Cone and the TNF crew had quit. So Pove and I started killing shit. He didn’t get involved with all the drama, cause he was down with MPC. Plus he was busy repping his crew GU (Graffiti Unlimited). Pove was a cool cat. He had the 2’s and the 5’s locked down. Seen and Blade were also killing the white trains. They were the first to smack them with huge flat black, fat cap tags on all the panels. This was in late '82 early '83.
Towards late '84 early '85 writers like Dero, Wane, Sento, Key, MK, Wips, Wen, Cav, Jase & Poem were killing the lines with silver and colored whole cars, while I was killing it with throw-ups. You also had TAT’s cru. They had been rockin whole cars out there since 83’. Tkid, Bio, Mack, Cem2, Kenn, Raz, Shame125 & Brim were pulling off some of the fattest whole cars at the time. Right around that time I met a dude that wrote Quick. Not the original RTW Quik, but a guy I met through Pove & Sept. Quick and I became tight and became partners. People were buggin how I was writing with this other Quick. But he was a real nigga and that’s all the matters to me. We also both had drama with Med and Fayde. He was bombing highways, so I got into bombing highways. Then I showed him how to hit the subways and we rocked the 2’s and the 5’s, they were good times I had with Quick . . .
You know come to think of it I had drama with everyone back then. I remember these two crazy mother fuckers from Hunt’s Point called 3Cee & Drift TSU. Them niggas hated me. I also had all the new MPC writers Elf, Ed, Echo, Not & Mazz going over me.
It was wild but I was still on top.
I remember Trim KD. That was a wild nigga, crazy and he was hilarious. I had new niggas down with KD at the time. Saze, Alroc, Part5, Vine R.I.P., Rea, Just (the real Just) and 100’s of other writers.
All this looking back reminds me of my nigga Nic NST R.I.P., we used to puff blunts till our heads popped. We did acid, dust, cocaine. I did it all boyee. 81’-85’ were the golden years. The Fun House & Roxy’s it was banging.
Then in 1985 Pjay was released from prison. He and SeenUA went on a rampage, smacking the 6 line, then the 2’s and the 5’s, they even smashed the 1 line. They were just going over all my shit. So that started some real shit. I had always respected those guys. Then they started a crazy war. It was fun. The only thing was by that time the train era was dying. Sho, Dome and DC3 TDC crew were rocking the 2’s and the 5’s towards the end. The silver bullets were coming in and all the old trains were on the way out. The CC’s, J’s and M’s were the last trains left. Saze, Even, Med KBK and I started to smash what was left. At the time the real Kez, Raze, and Seze were killing it while having a war with JA. And other writers like the Dole, Suey Rab and Den CAC crew, Chino BYI, Ghost, Trim TNC and Tekay were hitting the last of the graffiti trains.
By '88 the subway graffiti era was dead and 100’s of writers that had been writing since day 1 kinda quit and just disappeared. Some got into positive things, some got into drug selling and some got into using drugs, some went to prison and some passed away… I went through my own dramas in life, but I always kept on writing . . .
Then writers like Lilman, Moster, Arise, Crises, Bio & Lase were smacking gates. But it was Eaze, Joz & Josh5 who really took it to another level. These guys hit every single gate through out the city. Joz and Eazy were the original street bombing kings. So I got into bombing the streets. I then became tight with writers like Pjay, Med, Rob and many, many more…
I have bombed and had war with the best… Cap, Pjay, Seen, Joz, Bom5, Easy, Delta2, Trap, Ja, Json, Pove, Dero, Ghost, Ivory, Flite and many more . . .
In the late 80’s and early 90’s I got into painting permission walls. A lot of writers were getting into permission walls. Getting into productions was kinda cool, you know getting older and maintaining a family, doing legal walls was a lot less stressful. But I still did illegal shit here and there. I mean subways are in my blood, I was hitting them from time to time.
In 1993 Per FX and I went all city with throw-ups. I had been rocking the city with tags. Then I started rocking pieces on walls with my man Jez
Threw the 90’s I painted some of the best productions in New York, with the best crews… TATs, UW, COD & FC which has been around since 82 and which I am honored to represent today. Some of the FC members like West, Psycho & Dash are the realest people I have ever met. I have also painted with the FX crew, one of the best in the late 90’s . . .
Through my life as a graffiti artist I’ve had some of the best partners… Spel, Cone, Delta2, Pove, Quik KD, Saze, Jez, Nic NST, Trim KD, Trap, Dero, Pjay, Ovie, Quest KD, Need, Per, Tkid, Muse, Ivory (who is a real nigga) & Key just to name a few.
I have also influenced 100’s of writers, even my younger brothers Deso wrote Skep for many years but really never got into graffiti. He’s more into the rap element of the hip hop scene. My younger brother Jee had more love for graff. He even has his own crew which he started with his partner Spek. Spek idolized me very much. So I took him under me wing and showed him how to become a God Of Destruction in the same way Cap & Pjay showed me. But in this hateful, disgusting, evil world we live in, Speks life was cut short. I’ve lost a lot of friends and family through the years but losing a person like Spek was and still is a very deep scar in my heart.
I will cherish every second and moment I ever had with him. He will always be missed and he will always be in our hearts. GOD bless your soul Tim, I love you little brother... Rest in peace.
COPE2
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