TUFF CITY TALKS |

Nevermind the Yankees. MED and CES are the real Bronx Bombers. Graffiti Kings.

“Hood legends, Always on our grind. Tattooin, Paintin, Airbrushin, Writin, Rhymin, Producin, Filmin, Editin, Droppin all kind of creative bombs. 5000 sq ft of realness based in the heart of the Boogie Down Bronx”.

MED and CES represent Tuff City Styles, their tattoo studio and creative shop.

In the mid 90’s, little did I know. Graffiti was very important to me, but I was a young toy. I was working hard on my lettering structure, but it wasn’t sharp. CES and his crew were already all-world kings at the time. They had a video out, books published about their work, and the culture magazines repping their shit hard. Their ability to paint HUGE, beautiful thematic murals complemented the fact of how hard and crisp they bombed (clean trains, street levels, etc.)

And they had already been doing it for 10+ years.

Many old school writers have taught me: There has been nothing new in Graffiti since PART1 TDS wrapped it up in the late 70’s. But graffiti celebrity is a twisted concept, yet real to the younger aficionados.

In 1998 or 1999, they’ve visited our city. They came to paint at the annual Under Pressure event. Being able to view the process to their piece was a big thing for me. So despite the heavy rain, I sat there like the nerd I’ve always been, looking at CES paint his letters. It was a negative color scheme: Navy blue & black fill, with an orange outline/3d. “A Krylon popsicle-orange outline?!” It made no sense to me as he pulled out the spray can. For some reason, many paint companies at the time were making very weak yellows, oranges and purples. They were watery. They wouldn’t cover shit.

I thought it was illegal to outline your piece with such a color. Could a style master make such a mistake?

Obviously, I was stupid. Before painting the orange outline and 3D, he put a full layer of thick white paint. And then he slapped on the orange, giving it that extra POP. Magic covering power. The icon was a also a craftsman. I have used and shared that trick over and over.

Last week, CES and MED visited Montreal again. They were invited by ZECK JKR 156 and among other things, painted a dope wall on Mont-Royal with STACK JKR, DFEK & ETHER TFB.

They have been generous and followed through on this interview opportunity. I believe there is a lot to be learned from artists have been leaders of their game… for 3 decades.

Shani Dissizit sent us some very nice photos of the wall and action.

WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE A GRAFFITI KING AND TO HOLD THAT TITLE FOR 20+ YEARS?

MED – Its certainly not easy to be considered a king in the graff world, back in the days you had to be “all city” you had to be up in all the boros of NYC, highways, walls, every train line, throwups, tags and color pieces. That made you a king and an all around writer. Nowadays the graff world has gone global so its kind of different, local just doesnt cut it anymore and instead of “all city” its like “all global”. It takes a lot of effort to make that happen, you really got to put in work. To keep your name out there after 25 years you have to be extremely persistent, and you have to keep up with style and constantly re-invent yourself. Most importantly you have to love what you are doing, then the time just passes by before your eyes and 25 years seem like just yesterday.

WHAT IS IT LIKE IN THE BRONX IN THE YEAR 2010?

CES – Life in the Bronx is more focused for me in 2010. Working, mantaining, painting. You can never be bored here, there is always something going on 24/7. Tattoo or graph has opened up to me a lifestyle that i feel one with.

MED – Graff is very different in 2010, the trains are clean and stay that way (most of the time!) the highways get buffed right away, and the legal ramifications have gotten almost out of control. People are going to prison for graff nowadays, getting outrageous fines and are constantly targeted by the vandal squad. They keep files on writers as if they were mafia members. Graff is a very different game in 2010 than it was in the 80’s and 90’s.

Hip Hop in general is very different today, everything is more commercial, it seems as if the fun has been taken out.

WHAT WAS IT LIKE IN THE BRONX IN THE MID 90′S?

MED – Graff in the 80’s and 90’s was like living in a different city, the trains were bombed, inside and out, pieces, throwups, wholecars, burners covered every surface of every train on every line. All the highways were destroyed, and all of it stayed unless you had beef or war and then you were challenged to keep up with your enemy so your shit wouldnt disappear. It took having to go out every night just to keep up, you had to really live for graff. Every layup or yard you would go to would usually have writers in em and you never knew what would go down. at that time hip hop as a whole was more fun and done without the thought of money, it was done for the love ( and maybe the fame ) and thats what writing was all about “the fame”.

CES – Mid 90’s BX was more for me about gettin ill. Bombing with burners, gettin up and gettin high. It was a time in my life that i can not deny. I’ve grown from it.
It was in the 90’s that i made a name for myself first here in New York and then worldwide. There wasn’t much I wouldn’t do back then. So I’m glad to have lived it and came away with it a more humble person. I lost friends which was hard but gained alot at the same time.

WHERE DID YOU GROW UP AS A KID, DOING WHAT?

MED – I grew up in Co-Op city in the Bronx, walking distance to Baychester and Dyre ave. layups. I did my first train when i was 14, Baychester layup was in walking distance and totally unprotected. Everyone knew where the layup was and how easy it was to hit it.and it seemed like everyone was a writer to some extent or another.

WHAT ARE YOUR GOALS IN LIFE AND ART AND WORK?

CES – My goals are simple. To be happy. To be better than i was everytime. Keep pushing myself to grow as an artist as well as a man.

MED – My life, my art and my work have all blended together into my lifestyle in general, but my life is all about my family and my friends ( those who I am around every day ) my art, most of which is done for fun and work which is a mix of tattooing, painting, designing new products for Tuff City Styles and trying to run the biz all of which are pretty enjoyable with some periods of insanity.

If you love what you do you never work a day in your life as they say.

WHAT ARE YOU PROMOTING?
CES AND MED -We are promoting TuffCityStyles our lifestyle and what we represent, and have represented for many, many years. Graff. Our store was built for writers by writers and our back yard train and walls are a place that people from all over the world come to paint and represent for themselves and their countries. We are about to launch our new website (should be live by August1st) and online store where people can support and buy some Tuff City Styles stuff. We just finished our first DVD “Tuff City The Archive 1″ which comes with our free bonus 15 track graff album which features tracks by Tuffcitys own Night, KRSone, Kool Sphere, The Lordz and more.

We just finished producing a set of limited edition clear blunt wraps packs and box set featuring art by Ces,Med,Yes2,Cope2,T-kid,Serve,Part and Kaves. We just finished a limited edition set of 5 prints of trains entitled “Serves Subway Series” and we finalizing a childrens coloring and activity book based on the elements of hip-hop. We were just featured in the book “Graffiti Tattoo” which was put together by Ket and published by On The Run. Our online store will feature these items as well as a large selection of t-shirts, posters, prints, fine art originals and more. We promote Graffiti, We represent the Bronx and We are Tuff City Styles.