Anomie: Can you give us an idea of the climate of graffiti back when you started in the early 70s?
Duro: Wow! I started writing or better yet, I learned about writing back in 1971. My brother Skibo introduced me to the game. My knowledge of writing was very limited; I only know what I saw in my school, and in the streets of the Bushwick section of Brooklyn. My first encounter with writers was in my 6th grade class. One day I saw this kid tagging on the school tables, his writing name was Trouble, later he changes his name to Ouch, from the SSB crew. I love this writing because to me it was some kind of secret society, where only a few knew about it, I use writing to hide my pain of being tormented, it also give me a sense of identity, one that I could choose but I could still remain unknown. I also used writing to create a character, which could become anything that wanted to be where nobody would pick on me.
You were writing back in the very early 70s, do you remember whom else you saw up at the time, how competitive was it?
From 1971 to about 1975, I only knew about my friends in school that were tagging with me, but on the trains, I use to see a lot of the TOP crew, like IN TOP, MICKEY 729 AKA TOTOP, and HURST AKA OITOP. I had just moved to the East New York section of Brooklyn, where I met CRAZY DIKE, SID THE KID, and their cousin Crazy Ik. I learned from them, back then they were kings of all the lines. They took me to do my first piece and they also took me to hit the insides of trains. I wasn’t the kind of writer that looked up to anybody but the TOP crew, I guess I’m still this way, even when I was taking pictures, I would only take photos of my crew. TOP and CIA is who I am!
You are well known for your famous whole car among other things, can you tell us a little about that?
What is so amazing to me about this whole car, was that not only was it difficult for me to paint my piece, with the ladder I was using, The fact is that I only had 11 cans of spray paint, it usually takes 20 to 25 cans to execute a top to bottom whole car. My intentions were not to make a window down CIA piece, in the corner end of the train, but the CIA was supposed to be a top to bottom CIA as well. This piece was the same whole car, which they featured in the same TV special that I would be giving a few months later.
Were you able to pull off the mission and get home safe?
It would be safe to say that I was able to survive that night. I went home all banged up. When I got home, my mom had to rub my legs, with rubbing alcohol, and massage my legs for a few days. As soon as I got well enough to get out of bed, I was planning my next mission. A couple days has passed, after painting this whole car. Aeron came by my house, because he had heard from Dondi that we had painted some whole cars a few nights before. He had some ink, so again I was off to hit the train.
Can you tell us a few stories about back in the 80s, about what some people might not know?
I would like to clear up a few Myths about this whole car, and other pieces I had done on the trains, first thing is that Dondi gave me idea’s, on a few different occasions on wild style lettering, and Kel also guided me as well, just like I painted most of the background, in a lot of our productions. Kel was good in painting designs, for the pieces. However, all my straight letter pieces I have done myself, on this car Dondi did not do the outline for me. However, I will tell you if he was alive today, and he would give me a wild style outline to do, you can bet your life I will not hesitate to do it, end of story. The man was, and continues to be a genius in this art form. Another myth is that Dondi put people in CIA; the truth is that I was the one that put people in the CIA. Dondi only put a few people in CIA, and I can count all of them in one hand. Therefore, if you hang with Dondi and he never put you in CIA then you were not down. Read this next line carefully. The difference between me and anybody else is that I am CIA TOP, and I will always give my life to the course. If you put up CIA in the scrap yard, it does not count! Moreover, if you were hanging out with Dondi, and you never put up CIA, when he was alive, then you are not down. Today if anyone asks me, if they can represent the CIA crew, I have no problem with it, because the way that I see it is that they are honoring Dondi, enough said. I was the one who put my life on the line back then, and I am still the one who would give my life if I have too again. If you were not involved in our day in and day out operations, back in the days, then guess what, you are still not involved today. Hail to “KING DONDISM” CIATOP. “MASTER CYLINDER” One more thing CIA is really the second generation, of the TOP crew. “THE TOP CIA CREW” CAUSE I AM”. Was, and always will be.
A few months later, Dondi told me that a reporter wanted him to do a TV interview about graffiti, Dondi had turned them down, and he asks me if I would do it, I told him sure but I was going to wear a mask to cover my face. The day of the shoot, we arrive to meet the reporter at a train station. As I was speaking to the reporter, I notice that right across the platform, there were two undercover cops, I thought great, this situation was not good, so I put on my mask. As the interview began, by luck the next train that pulled into the station, had a Duro (T2B) whole car, It was amazing to me, it was like if they were doing a movie, and they had set up the scene, just to catch that one shot.
When the next train had arrived at the station, I told the reporter, that I was going to take the next train off the station, because the cops got me nervous, to tell you the truth I was scared. I was so nervous I took out a cigarette, and without realizing it, I lit it up, the reporter asks me, if I thought that if what I was doing was a crime. My response to him was no, I told him that we were not criminals, we were artist, and we didn’t go around mugging people, snatching chains, and people’s pocketbooks, and for sure we did not beat up old ladies.
That same week, CBS channel 2 News aired a news segment call News Breakers Territory. When I watch the TV show, I said to myself this is perfect, it coincided with the interview I had just given them. I became the first writer in history, to be interview for a TV special. The next night I went bombing with Kist, which is the day when I first started writing News Breaker, to me everything had come full circle, and the News Breaker was born. About 2 months later they showed the segment on TV, they made it look like I was a criminal. Everybody I knew, had seen me, on the TV special, I had fame but only in the eyes of my peers, to my family, and their friends, I was a big embarrassment. I was proud but at the same time, I had conflicting feelings. Being famous had its own difficulties, every time I came home; my parents greeted me at the door. Telling me that a whole bunch of bums, that is how they call them, was hanging out in front of the house all day waiting for me to come outside. My parents did not understand that all they wanted was for me to sign their black books; they told me I was embarrassing them, with the people on my block. I heard this every day; they would ask me what I was getting out of painting the trains. They told me that I should get a job, and stop wasting my life.
Sounds like you got a lot of fame and fast, how did you handle that?
This fame was becoming another form of torture for me, but then again I love writing. Moreover, I loved the fact that I was a ghetto superstar. Nevertheless, I was feeling once again like I was a loser. Somehow, I was not good enough as a person in their eyes. I started feeling that I was alone again. This time my family started criticizing me. Nevertheless, the fame was what I had dreamt about many years ago. I learn to come home late at nights, and I left my house real early in the morning, to avoid writers from seeing me coming out of my house. Notice the poster below, on the panel in the train, it shows the ad for the channel 2 News Breakers Territory TV ad.
Check out Duro’s book “Cause I Am,” coming mid-2012
