April 24, 2024 • 31 mins
Imagine the pulsating energy of city streets transformed into an artist's canvas, the spray can his brush, and anonymity his shield. That's the world renowned graffiti artist Stem introduces us to as he peels back the veil on the golden age of street culture. With a nod to the past, we traverse the evolution of graffiti from clandestine scribbles to the bold murals that now color urban landscapes worldwide. Stem's narrative not only celebrates the influential figures who shaped his artistry but also sparks a wave of nostalgia for the classic arcade games and the echoes of breakdancing battles that defined a generation.
Step into a realm where the underground meets the mainstream, where the anonymity once crucial for a graffiti artist becomes a choice rather than a necessity. We delve into the heart of graffiti subculture, unpacking the essence of camaraderie and rivalry that fuels the fire of this vibrant community. Stem shares tales of crews like YNN and the delicate dance between legality and creative expression. Join us as we reconnect with childhood through the flickering screens of Atari and Nintendo, and find out how these experiences left an indelible mark on the artists and the art they create.
Finally, we shift gears, venturing into the sentimental world of comic book collecting, where the worth of a collection transcends monetary value. Stem recounts the near loss of his precious compilation, a close call that many avid collectors can empathize with. As we close this chapter, we reveal how you can follow Stem's continuing legacy and why his story resonates so deeply with fans of art, culture, and the tales that bind us. Tune in for an episode that's as much about the vibrant strokes of graffiti as it is about the personal histories we all strive to safeguard.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the your Opinion Doesn't Matter podcast.
My name is Lamont, the host.
I'm here with a special guest,special guest, mr Incognito.
You know, I couldn't say hisreal name, I couldn't get the
guy to budge, to take thepoosh-ice-ty off my guy for over
(00:22):
35, 40 years, my guy's stem.
What's the word's the wordbetween what's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Man chilling, chilling yeah, man, yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So tell me, so tell me about your, your travels man
being.
I know you, you know you cameup with me and the homies.
Yeah, you know, I'm saying youwas around during the time, like
when um graffiti was at hisheight yes karate was at his
height, yeah break dancing wasat his height.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, we lived through, we lived through.
We was there when that shit wasin the beginning and I just
held on to that shit, yeah andthen okay.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So now let me tell you about my guest.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
See before he was teenagers before he's teenager.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
His name is stem.
He's a.
He's a well-known graffitiartist throughout the um, you
know the tri-state.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Probably even further now, right, more than that man
I'm like, I'm known in.
I mean, when I sell my artworkI sold to people in Russia,
france, germany, spainThankfully not because of the
internet, probably because ofthe graffiti magazines I've done
in the past.
Then later on I did somegraffiti videos and then later
(01:29):
on, when I got towards theinternet, a lot of new kids that
never heard of me they got tohear about me.
But through the OGs they knowabout me because it's like the
graffiti community is small.
When you do something or evenif somebody dies, like it
spreads.
You know, spreads quick.
People spread word of mouthnumber one and number two when
(01:49):
you're really good.
That's when stuff about youbegin to spread.
Right and that's slowly how youbecome, like you know, legendary
for what you do and stuff likethat.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Right, right, right, right right.
I remember I guess your passionstarted when we was in, like I
think it was 235.
Yeah, I remember we was inclass 235, enix.
You used to do, you used to dolittle drawings, you and this
other guy, another guy namedMark Clark.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, mark Clark Stuart yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all
was doing that's when I used todraw from Marvel Universe, I
used to draw that, I used todraw that.
I used to draw like.
I used to draw a lot of carstoo.
I remember I used to draw theA-Team.
I used to draw like the Bionicman, like the Dukes of Hazzard,
(02:35):
before the flag became taboo.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Right, right Before the Confederate flag.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I used to draw cars always jumping in the air,
because that was the thing backthen.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
For some reason, Getting the used to draw cars
always jumping in the air,because that was the thing back
then, for some reason, gettingthe cars that just jumped in the
air or catching them like that.
So so tell me some um.
So, as we fast forward now, youbeing a?
Um, a well-known artist, Iremember, I remember, um a
couple years back, like probablylike 10 years ago, I go into a
gym to go play ball um, me andmy homies gonna play ball, big,
big gym, and in the back I seeyou.
(03:06):
I see you doing the artwork,but you didn't have that on.
Tell me, tell people about themystique with you and your um,
the mask and everything like, iflike, say who would be the
person who'd be pursuing you foryour, um, your dangerous deeds,
which is graffiti?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
well, well, first of all, it's like.
The thing with the mask is isthat I do a lot of illegal stuff
.
I hit a lot of trains, federalthings you know what I'm saying
and sometimes it's not just themask for that.
Sometimes you have jealouspeople and haters.
They might be like oh, that'sthis dude or whatever.
(03:43):
Let me send this over here,because it's like ain't nothing
more, ain't nothing worse than agraffiti writer that's not
talented as you, that you don'tdeal with, that hates on you the
most and that will do certainthings to you, just so people
could know who you are.
Oh right, it's more.
It's more than just cops Mostgraffiti writers, sometimes some
(04:06):
of them.
They're just like females.
They love talking, gossiping.
They always talk about 6ix9inedoes this, but they gossip more
than anybody else.
They have private rooms wherethey talk shit about people and
these are the people that reallydon't really go as hard as
people like me and other writersout there.
That's really going hard.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Right right, Because I've been at this for like damn
near, like probably 40 yearshard straight, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Who was the first ones I saw around the way?
It was Hash Trim.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Trim and Port the whole TNC.
That's how I got into that shitwatching.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
What TNC stand for Well before it was.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Taxi, Niggas Kazells and after that Taking Niggas
Clout, the new crew, yeah, and Ithink it was Trim.
Trim was the prez and Hash restin peace.
He was the vice prez.
And I remember I used to chillby Hash House, which is over
(05:07):
there by Church Avenue, and Iremember I used to chill with
his brother and Hash came outone night and this was like, I
think, 9.30 in the night.
He came out with a can, lookedaround and called a throw-up and
did that shit less than threeseconds.
When I seen that shit I waslike, oh shit, I said this right
(05:29):
here I can't wait to get tothis level, bro.
And I wasn't really at thatlevel, I was still like
neighborhood.
As I got a little bit older, Istarted getting out of the
neighborhood and I started goingto other different
neighborhoods over and overagain.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So the places that you what you hit, buildings
trains Right I mean, I saw yourwork for us trains.
Let the people know the placesthat you actually, they can
actually see your artwork.
I will be putting it up as well, but different locations.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, it's like different locations, it's just
like it's mostly abandonedplaces, scrap yards, train yards
I can't really disclose becauseI have everybody and their moms
going over there, freights andyeah, and anytime I have a can
(06:16):
on me, wherever I'm at, I'llcatch a tag.
I don't really bomb hard like Iused to.
I might like in past years tocome I might come back, but I
mostly focus on peace and mostlybecause I'm like I like I get
to display more talent intodrawing something and drawing
(06:37):
like backgrounds and stuff likethat, because I'm not a graffiti
writer where I just throw myname up.
It's like I do wholebackgrounds, feed it right away.
I just throw my name up.
It's like I do wholebackgrounds and then if I'm not
doing backgrounds or letters,people could contact me.
I do portraits like somebodypassed away.
People call me.
I do their face up on the walllike I'm professional at this I
(06:57):
just don't do that.
I go, I do comic books, I doeverything bro everything right
right right.
Graph was just a way for me tonot just show people in school
or people in high school thatI'm dope.
Graph was a way for me to showpeople in each borough until it
became showing half of the worldthat I'm dope and what I do.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So question, question , your skills as far as drawing
a lot of people who's likedrawers that I know.
They are good with their hands.
They can actually do tattoosRight.
Have you ever got into that?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Nah, my boy Echo, Echo, he's also YNN, my boy Echo
YNN, nwc, dbc, he does tattoos.
He always tried to get me intoit but it's like my lifestyle be
so busy I could never get achance to do it.
You think you could?
Yeah, because I think basicallyto me.
(07:54):
I watch a lot of tattoo videos.
It's like tracing, yeah, and Idon't trace.
I know how to draw Like I'm areal artist.
Most tattoo artists, some ofthem, don't even know how to
draw.
They just trace like I'm a realartist.
Most tattoo artists, some ofthem, don't even know how to
draw it.
It is trace, that's all.
That's all you're doing, right?
So if I know how to draw andI'm tracing something, my skills
(08:15):
provided with whatever I'mtracing up, my skills plus what
I'm tracing will probably makeit look more than what it is,
you know okay that's that arm, Iknow I just have to have a
steady hand, cuz the needlemoves a lot and it's like, oh
yeah, that's something that'ssomething.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I just have to have a steady hand, because the needle
moves a lot and it's likepoking and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
That's something I would try to get to do also,
because it's like I've doneacrylic, I do airbrush,
watercolors, gouache, I did alltypes of medias, a little bit of
oil, I mean that's like thenext step.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So what do you see yourself like?
What is the goal?
What is your plan?
Like, I mean, like you've beendoing it for so long.
Well, my plan is just aquestion before you answer.
Are there at a time whenthere's people who's usually
like incognito, like you?
I know a lot of those guys.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Do they ever come out years later and say hey, this
was me, yeah, years later, asthey get old, they come out,
then they come out.
Then the cops throw the cuffson them.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Nah, it depends, man.
They have to have a reason.
Either they stop writing orthey're good now and they're
making money now so they couldcome out.
They don't really care andthey're not really about the
street graffiti, life like that,no more.
So they're just out there.
You understand?
Right, right, right.
So it's like I haven't got towhere I need to get to yet.
So until then, this is still meand this is what I got to do,
(09:30):
you know what I'm saying, but Idon't want to be working at a
job and somebody be like.
I just seen your video, man.
You see your lock over there.
You should try cleaning it outYou're fired, Right right.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
So yeah, you mentioned your crew was YNN
Right?
What does that stand for?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
YNN it stands for your Neighborhood's Next.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Your Neighborhood's Next Right.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And I made that crew Years ago.
Years ago, matter of fact, Imade it with Beams.
Years ago.
Years ago, matter of fact, Imade it with Beams Beams.
You probably know.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Beams, beams Low, my guy.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, and I'm also Low Life 2.
And you know, I know yourcousin, of course, prance big up
to Prance, yeah, beams.
I used to bond with Beams likeearly 80s.
Before he wrote Beams he usedto write Eclipse, oh word, yeah,
and wrote beams.
He used to write eclipse, ohyeah.
(10:20):
And we used to.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
We used to catch tags on key food when it was where
right it was.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we used to pack bags in there and
then we used to catch tags likearound mad early we was um, I
didn't know he was a graffitiartist.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I knew I used to see beams around the way yeah the
name but I didn't know he was onit like that.
He knew how to.
He knew how to um.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, because you do major, major stuff well, you
don't do the stuff I do.
He's more like a bomber and hebombs with dink.
Okay, right, so his beam isbeams dink and I met, I met um
dink through beams and I used tosee dink a lot of times when I
used to be at, uh, winthropjunior high school, but I never
knew it was him and that's alsoanother legend.
Dink been like bombing forever,you know, um, we also got some
(10:59):
shit on rite aid right now ifyou pass by there and you check
inside of the parking lot, um,but yeah, um y'all still team up
and team up.
No, not really because it's likeI kind of like.
Like I said, I bombed once inthe blue moon, but let's keep in
contact with Dink from here andthere.
I can say that Beams was myfirst bombing partner in that
(11:24):
neighborhood, in Church Avenue,and all of that was inspired by
TNC.
It was Trini Trim, benna, benjiPaulistic.
Yeah, I was inspired by thatPorter.
You remember Porter Right?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
there from 42nd Street.
Yeah, my guy, my guy.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, all of them Shit, that shit was way before
Cab, that shit was way beforeeverything bro.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, damn, damn, we go back.
That was the beginning, damn,when Angie was open yeah.
Angie, she's still therestruggling.
That was um.
That was like the the theuntapped time of of history.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Graffiti, hip-hop, um break dancing yeah, that was
like everything was, everythingwas in sync, because that's what
it was in school like when weused to go to school.
Everybody was popping,breakdancing Right.
The only thing we knew aboutwas it was Run DMC Sparky D
versus the Playgirls.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Roxanne Shantay.
Roxanne Shantay, roxanne.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Shantay, utfo, utfo.
But I'm remembering when theyused to have parties around the
way.
I'd never seen you there.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You used to have parties around the way I never
seen you there.
You used to come with us, nah,because I was always on my
graffiti shit late night thetime y'all was going out to go
to these parties.
Either me and Beam would bebombing or I'd be bombing by
myself At 15?
, 15, 16?
.
Yeah, because I started bombing, I started writing graffiti,
like around when I was 12 yearsold, like like around 12, 11.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Cause?
Yeah, that's probably aroundthe time when you was partying
Right Also Friday.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Saturday night we'd be partying, yeah, and I'd be
doing my graffiti stuff andafter I'm done I'd go in the
house because I was.
My mom was strict, so I waskind of barred.
You know that.
Oh, okay, I used to sneak outto get out.
Sometimes I'd in the house.
(13:21):
Um, I used to borrow games fromuh clinton, um, jermaine's
brother, jermaine.
I used to borrow games from himbecause him used to get a game
in one day, turn the shit overin one day, yeah.
And I used to be like yo, letme borrow that game, I'll let
you hold this.
And it was yeah, it's aroundthat time oh, okay, okay and we
was in the house a lot back thentoo, because that's when
Nintendo came out.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Atari, Sega, but you was rocking what you had.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I had me.
I had an Atari.
I remember my father bought memy first Atari, I think in 1980,
82.
I can't remember, but he boughtit from Sears, okay, and it was
$100.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That's when, $100 was a lot of money.
Oh yeah, that is a lot, sodefinitely a lot, yeah he bought
that shit for me and brought itto me.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I thought I was the illest gift in the world I was
like yo, no graphics is betterthan this.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Right, right and there was how many bits was that
?
That's not 64.
One of them was a commodore 64,I think 8.
8-bit.
I had Atari.
I had Atari 2.
What was the top game?
If you remember Atari, what wasyour top game?
What was the top game back then?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
The top game was when it first came out.
I think it was Pac-Man andSpace Invaders, nah, and Mission
Control or something.
How about Maze, craze, maze?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Craze, okay, maze Craze, maze Craze, okay, maze
Craze.
Pac-man, pac-man, pac-man.
Didn't really come out forAtari right away, like that, but
when?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I don't know, but when I got my Atari it came as a
gift set.
It came with Pac-Man and Combat.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Oh, Combat was the journey.
Yeah, Combat was definitely thejourney.
I know those times was crazyand the thing about it it's like
the graphics was so elementarybut we didn't know.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Because we never knew technology was going to go that
far.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Right, right, because being a kid and actually
hooking up something to your TVand your TV looks different,
that was crazy to me Becauseactually, what we did, how we
came up, everybody in ourhousehold probably well,
everybody in our householdprobably well in my household
started with a black and whiteTV.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and then color, and then this, and then that.
The first TV I had was a blackand white Zenith.
Yeah, I don't know if youremember Zenith.
Yeah, I do, of course.
Right, I had a Zenith and thefirst thing I used to see was
Mission Impossible and I used towatch it so much.
I used to try to guess whatcolors they're really wearing,
(15:42):
right, and everything was blackand white.
And then later on, when thecolor tv came out, I remember it
was like 232 dollars, which wasa lot of money back then yeah,
color tv came out.
Then we was all watching that.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
yeah, we was antenna broke.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I remember the antenna had broke one day.
I forgot it was me or my fatherbroke it.
And then my father was like, sointelligent he saw the antenna
was broken, he took the top offof the antenna Not to say he the
first one that created it andput foil on top.
Nah, he went in a closet, got ahanger and bent it and put the
(16:18):
hanger inside of it and thesetwo things when you move it.
The tv started showing good,nice.
My father was a carpenter, hewas a mason, he was good with
his hands.
Nice, nice.
That's why I think my skillcame from, because he was an
artist as well right, that'swhat's up, that's what's up,
that's what's up.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
yeah, I mean, um, back then was everything was new
, everything was new, everythingwas new.
We came into a time and thenfashion everything was new Son.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
If it wasn't for the Japanese, we'd probably be still
playing Atari For real.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Would you do a like say they say hey, stem, I need
you to come by and do like adisplay.
Would you do it Like a gallery?
I mean yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
If I'm getting paid, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
If I'm getting paid, I'm going to do it.
So why the mystique?
Suppose the law is going to beafter you.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Nah, it wouldn't be like that because you mean you
wouldn't show?
Yeah, because this is mostlynot for the law, this is mostly
just for the ops or just jealouspeople, you understand?
Oh, okay, that's what it is.
But I've done not galleries.
But I have my stuff ingalleries where I show up, and
sometimes I don't show upbecause sometimes how I look at
it is I'm not like othergraffiti artists that always
(17:32):
want to show their face or beknown to be popular.
I don't care about you knowingwho I am, I just want you to
know that my shit is dope, yeah,and I'm a melanated person that
gets busy.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Nice, nice, nice, that's it.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
That's all you need to know.
It's not about me.
It's about what I do, what youlike from me and what I could
sell you.
That's actually worth something.
So later on, if you come intobad times, you could resell that
shit.
You understand, and I work sohard in the graph game.
Whatever I'm doing and whateveryou have for me, it will be
worth something, because it'ssomething from somebody who
(18:08):
takes his word serious.
Nice, nice, nice nice, nice.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So now that's, that's dope man, you got a, you got
history on a voa.
Like you have a, you have likea trail of work.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I'm proud of you, man .
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Thank you, thank you for doing your thing.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I'll be seeing.
Oh, that's them.
I'm proud of you, man, thankyou.
You've been doing your thing.
You've been doing your thing.
I've been seeing.
Oh, that's Stem.
I've been seeing him.
I forgot where I was at onetime and I seen your name.
I said, oh shit, that's him onthe train that's going by.
Yeah, he bombs.
If you see S-T-E-M on the train, that's Anyway.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Anyway, this is him right here.
This is Infamous Stem.
So let's get into something.
What's going on today currently?
Let's just talk about somecurrent things.
Like you know, like your boyPuffy, he's not your mans, but
what you think is going on withhim?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
With him.
I don't know, man.
I think just a lot of peopleare just trying to get a lot of
money out of him now.
Yeah, yeah, because they knowthat his ex he got like what?
Three million just to like bequiet, right.
Then all of a sudden people waslike, yeah, he touched me in
kindergarten, he did this.
You know what I'm saying, right?
So it was like to be honestwith you.
We all did bad stuff back inthe days.
Facts If we was to all becomemillionaires, mad people would
(19:21):
be coming at us, mad peoplewould be coming at us.
So Mad people are coming at us.
So it's like he's just goingthrough all of that shit right
now Because you know, yeah, heprobably did do some bad stuff,
but he's not the only one that'sdoing that.
There's other people doing stufflike him, or probably even
worse, but guess what?
They're not in the limelightlike him.
So nobody's not fucking withhim.
He's in the limelight, and theonly thing that I don't like his
(19:45):
own people is trying to destroyhim right, and these videos and
all that, 50s definitely yeahbecause I'm saying like yo, how
y'all going hard and this dudelike that, and I'm like where
was the videos when epstein wasout there?
you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, I do him like that.
Why are going hard on him likethat?
Let the lord take care of thatshit.
If he did do that, youunderstand, yeah, but it's like
(20:06):
I agree yeah, because I'm likethe way 50 is going at him.
You think these niggas havebeef for eternity, right?
But when they've seen eachother, they'll be like yo what
up?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
yeah shit weird bro, the whole, that whole industry
is weird.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
The whole industry, it is man, because a lot of
weird stuff happens in that,because I guess when people get
into a different society or whenthey make mad money, it's like
all of a sudden they got so muchmoney, it's like they become
interested in doing weird shit.
Now they do yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Wrestling alligators naked.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Now having sex with females is played out now.
So you want to do weird shitnow or you want to like you're
going to a secret society clubwhere you got to get blood at
the door and shit and giveeverybody a phone, Like what is
that?
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Right?
Is that how it is with?
When y'all go into a crew ofgraffiti people, y'all be having
like some little secret shit.
Do you know?
Do you know a lot of these, um,famous graffiti guys?
That be all over.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, you know, you only could know them if you had
a certain point in your life ora certain like skill set.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Who's the most known to you Like.
What would you compare yourlevel to to the top guys in New
York?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Shit, I'd say, mostly like European writers.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
What would you say, Like if it's a top 10 or top 20,
?
What number are you?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
In me Shit.
I see myself as a as in NewYork I'll probably see myself as
a nine and a half eight Topnine.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
No, if it's 20 people .
If it's 20 people, 20 knownartists in New York what number
are you?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Shit, I don't know.
I'd rather let somebody elsesay that for me, man.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I don't want to overrate myself, I'm just going
to say that I'm up there.
Top five.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, you can say that I'm up there.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice man.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Anybody who know me.
They know how I give it up upwhen it's time to hit the wall
battle.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
They know oh okay, yeah, I say that without
bragging, I'm up there do theyhave um like like my, like like
prince, my boy prince, he's go.
He goes with his talents forhis dancing.
You know he's in china rightnow, right like um.
Do you ever get that type ofexperience to go like different
(22:28):
countries?
Because you know show yourskills.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Well, I have offers of people like that, but it's
like it's hard for me to travelsometimes because I take care of
my family, or basically I takecare of my moms and stuff like
that, and it's basically me justtaking care of her.
So it's like I had offersthrown at me for stuff like that
.
So it's like I had offersthrown at me for stuff like that
.
But I try to keep it more like.
Instead of it being likeinternational, I keep it more
(22:53):
home based.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
More local.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I would go to Philly if somebody called me out there
to do stuff.
Jersey, like, I just keep it,you know where it is at.
Keeping it tri-state Right.
If I ever get somebody whereyou know a chance where I could
get somebody to help me takecare of what I need to do, then
I'll start doing that you knowOkay, All right cool.
I just like to let people knownever get street art mixed with
(23:20):
graffiti art.
Those are two different things.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
What is the explain?
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
the street art is something like more like the
murals people drawing flowersand the only thing is, some of
the people that do the streetart they use spray paint and
they try to get it.
They get it mixed some peoplethat don't know better they get
it mixed up with us.
It's like we could do that, butwe're more gritty with the
letters and stuff like that,because basically graffiti is
(23:47):
more about letters.
Well, let me not use the g word.
Come, a boy riff would be mad.
I use the g word.
I say aerosol artists or morewith letters, letter structure
and stuff like that.
Okay, then you have the streetartists which do the murals and
(24:07):
everything they do with spraypaint.
But you know they get respecttoo.
But it's like, don't mix thetwo up don't mix the two up, but
some.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
But can some of those street artists do graffiti too?
More than likely, if they'regood enough to do a mural, they
could do it.
They probably could do that,yeah they could.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
But most of this stuff.
When they try to do graffiti,some of this stuff look like
anti-graffiti.
Okay, right, and me I'm notwith the anti-graffiti stuff.
I'm into real graph likeletters looking dope so are you
looking for sponsorship?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
um, what is?
What is your end game like,where you?
I want to see you, I reallywant to start seeing you do
stuff for like real bigcommercials, like like sprite I
know they be having having somebig events and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Well, I did something on the wall for Sprite like
early 2000s, but it wasn't myconnect, it was another Graffiti
Artist Connect.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So you did hand-in-hand with different
companies.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, or sometimes it's like when I do stuff with
sometimes somebody else wouldhave a connect and they'll put
me on to do stuff with sometimessomebody else would have a
connect and they'll put me on todo certain things, but they
don't connect me with theconnect.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Oh, right, right right.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Sometimes it just be like that, because what I notice
as just being good in generalthis is not only with graffiti,
this could be with podcasts,this could be at acting or
whatever when you do certainthings with certain people and
they know that you are at ahigher level than them, they'll
never hook you up with theconnect.
(25:33):
They won't Because they afraidthat then the connect will be
like oh shit, I'm fucking withthis dude.
Your shit is much better.
Matter of fact, let me call youin what's your prices?
I think I could work with you,man.
I like how your stuff look.
Yeah, so that's the way of mylife too, because I don't never
get connect with the connect.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
But when I do connect with the connect.
I make all the connections.
You see.
Now, that's the thing that I,that's the truth.
That's a very true statement.
Right, people like Dame Dashhad a post.
He says if you want to seepeople win, you help them.
If you really want to seesomebody win, you help them.
(26:13):
Right, how much people ishelping nowadays?
People don't help.
People don't help Because itcould start with just even
volunteering and helping kids.
Right, people don't do it.
No, people don't do it.
No, people don't do it.
Out of all the friends I know,out of a bunch of friends I know
(26:33):
I'm one of the only people thatdo it.
I'm the only one.
For like 15, 20 years,volunteering, helping kids,
playing basketball, mentoring Igot my nonprofit stuff like that
.
I got friends who do volunteer.
You know what I mean, but it'snot a constant thing that I
would like to hear.
Like, say, I see people onFacebook always reminiscing
(26:55):
about something how good theywas, or something like that and
this or that.
You know I built this house orI played this sport.
When are you going to show it?
I'm not saying you don't, butwe don't see it.
I don't see you with the kids.
I don't see it, and then againI'll bring back to your point
with the connect that peopledon't want to connect because
they're going to know you'regoing to do much better with
(27:17):
that connect.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, they're scared that they think you're going to
take their spot.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
That's how it is it's I wouldn't care if somebody
else blows up.
I'd be like off of me, Iwouldn't care, I wouldn't rub it
in their face, but I'm happyfor you, right?
You know what I'm saying.
It's like listen, you did it,thank me, thank me later.
Thank me later or send a checkin the mail, right?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Another example there's this guy that used to
follow me on um, facebook andinstagram.
He worked for marvel, right?
Yeah, always used to comment onmy stuff, always used to
comment on my boy hop stuff,hops.
Another guy, very talented,hops, dks down with my crew.
(28:03):
Very Hops is dope with thecomic books, always commented on
our stuff.
So I remember one day I inboxedhim and he was like yeah, man, I
love your stuff, yada, yada,yada, right.
And I was like yeah, that'sdope.
I was like, yeah, if you likemy stuff, why don't you hook me
(28:23):
up?
Then he was like nah, he waslike why don't you hook me up?
Then he was like no, he waslike why don't you hook yourself
up?
Oh shit.
And I was like you know what?
Fuck this guy.
And I unfollowed him.
You know what I'm saying?
Because my thing is why youkeep telling me how dope my shit
is why you keep asking me whatI'm doing, like, what kind of
pens I use, all of this shit.
But you're working for marvel,but you're asking me how I'm
(28:47):
doing it.
Are you just ghost following meto get tips or to bite what I'm
doing to get yourself closer?
So by him saying that to me andI looked at it like I'm looking
at him as being a brother orwhatever.
I was like you know what?
Fuck this dude, I'm going tostart doing my own shit and put
my own shit out, because I sentshit to Marvel.
I sent shit to Marvel, I sendshit to DC.
(29:09):
But you see, the thing aboutMarvel and DC that people don't
know about because everybody belike yo, STEM, how come you
don't work for these companies?
You're dope as fuck.
I'm like, yeah, I'm dope asfuck to you because y'all right
graph, Y'all know me.
Marvel and DC, they don't knowme.
So in order to get to knowthese dudes, it's like you got
to send them a ton of stuff forthem to realize you, until they
(29:31):
get tired and be like all right,come in, Just like McFarlane.
Mcfarlane had to send thesedudes, I think, like 108
submissions.
Who's McFarlane?
Todd McFarlane is the one thatcreated Spawn and he's the one
that redrew Spider-Man and whySpider-Man is famous today?
Because he reinvented it.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
The black Spider-Man or no?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Nah, the regular Spider-Man.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
He just redid it, the one who did Spawn.
He redid Spider-Man.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Right Dope.
He's the one that made thewebbing and all of that, but I
thought you would happened tothose.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Don't tell me you threw them shits away my brother
just came to the house likeprobably like a year ago,
confiscated it and you took allof them.
Yeah, I'm good with it.
I gave it to him.
Oh man, yes, yeah, I'm goodwith it, I had, I had, I had two
.
I had two big white boxesremember the comic book boxes?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
yeah, I still got, still got it.
You still got it.
Yeah, I got almost like 600 to700 comic books.
Nice, I mean, if I try to gosomewhere to sell them, they're
going to jerk me so I just keepthem Right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
You ever go to that comic book spot over there by
the junction.
Yeah, bulletproof, I did thegate years ago.
Oh, okay, okay, okay yeah,that's what's up, man.
That's what's up man, yeah, man.
So, yeah, man.
So listen and wrapping up, whatis it where people can um
follow you, what you, you know?
Okay?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
contact you.
Uh, if y'all want to contact me, shit my name.
You can contact me at instagram.
This type is stem y n n and youcan find me there and you see
all my stuff.
And you can judge for yourselfwho I am Once you see my shit.
You never look back at anythingelse.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yes, you'll definitely be a fan of his man.
I'm a fan and a friend man.
I'm happy that you was here,yes sir, your opinion doesn't
matter.
Podcast man, episode 79, withmy broski 79?
.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Damn.
Welcome to the your Opinion Doesn't Matter podcast.
My name is Lamont, the host.
I'm here with a special guest,special guest, mr Incognito.
You know, I couldn't say hisreal name, I couldn't get the
guy to budge, to take thepoosh-ice-ty off my guy for over
(00:22):
35, 40 years, my guy's stem.
What's the word's the wordbetween what's going on.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Man chilling, chilling yeah, man, yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:29):
So tell me, so tell me about your, your travels man
being.
I know you, you know you cameup with me and the homies.
Yeah, you know, I'm saying youwas around during the time, like
when um graffiti was at hisheight yes karate was at his
height, yeah break dancing wasat his height.
Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, we lived through, we lived through.
We was there when that shit wasin the beginning and I just
held on to that shit, yeah andthen okay.
Speaker 1 (00:53):
So now let me tell you about my guest.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
See before he was teenagers before he's teenager.
Speaker 1 (00:58):
His name is stem.
He's a.
He's a well-known graffitiartist throughout the um, you
know the tri-state.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
Probably even further now, right, more than that man
I'm like, I'm known in.
I mean, when I sell my artworkI sold to people in Russia,
france, germany, spainThankfully not because of the
internet, probably because ofthe graffiti magazines I've done
in the past.
Then later on I did somegraffiti videos and then later
(01:29):
on, when I got towards theinternet, a lot of new kids that
never heard of me they got tohear about me.
But through the OGs they knowabout me because it's like the
graffiti community is small.
When you do something or evenif somebody dies, like it
spreads.
You know, spreads quick.
People spread word of mouthnumber one and number two when
(01:49):
you're really good.
That's when stuff about youbegin to spread.
Right and that's slowly how youbecome, like you know, legendary
for what you do and stuff likethat.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
Right, right, right, right right.
I remember I guess your passionstarted when we was in, like I
think it was 235.
Yeah, I remember we was inclass 235, enix.
You used to do, you used to dolittle drawings, you and this
other guy, another guy namedMark Clark.
Speaker 2 (02:14):
Yeah, mark Clark Stuart yeah, yeah, yeah, y'all
was doing that's when I used todraw from Marvel Universe, I
used to draw that, I used todraw that.
I used to draw like.
I used to draw a lot of carstoo.
I remember I used to draw theA-Team.
I used to draw like the Bionicman, like the Dukes of Hazzard,
(02:35):
before the flag became taboo.
Speaker 1 (02:37):
Right, right Before the Confederate flag.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
I used to draw cars always jumping in the air,
because that was the thing backthen.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
For some reason, Getting the used to draw cars
always jumping in the air,because that was the thing back
then, for some reason, gettingthe cars that just jumped in the
air or catching them like that.
So so tell me some um.
So, as we fast forward now, youbeing a?
Um, a well-known artist, Iremember, I remember, um a
couple years back, like probablylike 10 years ago, I go into a
gym to go play ball um, me andmy homies gonna play ball, big,
big gym, and in the back I seeyou.
(03:06):
I see you doing the artwork,but you didn't have that on.
Tell me, tell people about themystique with you and your um,
the mask and everything like, iflike, say who would be the
person who'd be pursuing you foryour, um, your dangerous deeds,
which is graffiti?
Speaker 2 (03:22):
well, well, first of all, it's like.
The thing with the mask is isthat I do a lot of illegal stuff
.
I hit a lot of trains, federalthings you know what I'm saying
and sometimes it's not just themask for that.
Sometimes you have jealouspeople and haters.
They might be like oh, that'sthis dude or whatever.
(03:43):
Let me send this over here,because it's like ain't nothing
more, ain't nothing worse than agraffiti writer that's not
talented as you, that you don'tdeal with, that hates on you the
most and that will do certainthings to you, just so people
could know who you are.
Oh right, it's more.
It's more than just cops Mostgraffiti writers, sometimes some
(04:06):
of them.
They're just like females.
They love talking, gossiping.
They always talk about 6ix9inedoes this, but they gossip more
than anybody else.
They have private rooms wherethey talk shit about people and
these are the people that reallydon't really go as hard as
people like me and other writersout there.
That's really going hard.
Speaker 1 (04:25):
You know what I'm saying?
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Right right, Because I've been at this for like damn
near, like probably 40 yearshard straight, you know.
Speaker 1 (04:32):
Who was the first ones I saw around the way?
It was Hash Trim.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
Trim and Port the whole TNC.
That's how I got into that shitwatching.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
What TNC stand for Well before it was.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Taxi, Niggas Kazells and after that Taking Niggas
Clout, the new crew, yeah, and Ithink it was Trim.
Trim was the prez and Hash restin peace.
He was the vice prez.
And I remember I used to chillby Hash House, which is over
(05:07):
there by Church Avenue, and Iremember I used to chill with
his brother and Hash came outone night and this was like, I
think, 9.30 in the night.
He came out with a can, lookedaround and called a throw-up and
did that shit less than threeseconds.
When I seen that shit I waslike, oh shit, I said this right
(05:29):
here I can't wait to get tothis level, bro.
And I wasn't really at thatlevel, I was still like
neighborhood.
As I got a little bit older, Istarted getting out of the
neighborhood and I started goingto other different
neighborhoods over and overagain.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
So the places that you what you hit, buildings
trains Right I mean, I saw yourwork for us trains.
Let the people know the placesthat you actually, they can
actually see your artwork.
I will be putting it up as well, but different locations.
Speaker 2 (05:55):
Yeah, it's like different locations, it's just
like it's mostly abandonedplaces, scrap yards, train yards
I can't really disclose becauseI have everybody and their moms
going over there, freights andyeah, and anytime I have a can
(06:16):
on me, wherever I'm at, I'llcatch a tag.
I don't really bomb hard like Iused to.
I might like in past years tocome I might come back, but I
mostly focus on peace and mostlybecause I'm like I like I get
to display more talent intodrawing something and drawing
(06:37):
like backgrounds and stuff likethat, because I'm not a graffiti
writer where I just throw myname up.
It's like I do wholebackgrounds, feed it right away.
I just throw my name up.
It's like I do wholebackgrounds and then if I'm not
doing backgrounds or letters,people could contact me.
I do portraits like somebodypassed away.
People call me.
I do their face up on the walllike I'm professional at this I
(06:57):
just don't do that.
I go, I do comic books, I doeverything bro everything right
right right.
Graph was just a way for me tonot just show people in school
or people in high school thatI'm dope.
Graph was a way for me to showpeople in each borough until it
became showing half of the worldthat I'm dope and what I do.
Speaker 1 (07:22):
So question, question , your skills as far as drawing
a lot of people who's likedrawers that I know.
They are good with their hands.
They can actually do tattoosRight.
Have you ever got into that?
Speaker 2 (07:33):
Nah, my boy Echo, Echo, he's also YNN, my boy Echo
YNN, nwc, dbc, he does tattoos.
He always tried to get me intoit but it's like my lifestyle be
so busy I could never get achance to do it.
You think you could?
Yeah, because I think basicallyto me.
(07:54):
I watch a lot of tattoo videos.
It's like tracing, yeah, and Idon't trace.
I know how to draw Like I'm areal artist.
Most tattoo artists, some ofthem, don't even know how to
draw.
They just trace like I'm a realartist.
Most tattoo artists, some ofthem, don't even know how to
draw it.
It is trace, that's all.
That's all you're doing, right?
So if I know how to draw andI'm tracing something, my skills
(08:15):
provided with whatever I'mtracing up, my skills plus what
I'm tracing will probably makeit look more than what it is,
you know okay that's that arm, Iknow I just have to have a
steady hand, cuz the needlemoves a lot and it's like, oh
yeah, that's something that'ssomething.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
I just have to have a steady hand, because the needle
moves a lot and it's likepoking and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
That's something I would try to get to do also,
because it's like I've doneacrylic, I do airbrush,
watercolors, gouache, I did alltypes of medias, a little bit of
oil, I mean that's like thenext step.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
So what do you see yourself like?
What is the goal?
What is your plan?
Like, I mean, like you've beendoing it for so long.
Well, my plan is just aquestion before you answer.
Are there at a time whenthere's people who's usually
like incognito, like you?
I know a lot of those guys.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
Yeah, a lot.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
Do they ever come out years later and say hey, this
was me, yeah, years later, asthey get old, they come out,
then they come out.
Then the cops throw the cuffson them.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Nah, it depends, man.
They have to have a reason.
Either they stop writing orthey're good now and they're
making money now so they couldcome out.
They don't really care andthey're not really about the
street graffiti, life like that,no more.
So they're just out there.
You understand?
Right, right, right.
So it's like I haven't got towhere I need to get to yet.
So until then, this is still meand this is what I got to do,
(09:30):
you know what I'm saying, but Idon't want to be working at a
job and somebody be like.
I just seen your video, man.
You see your lock over there.
You should try cleaning it outYou're fired, Right right.
Speaker 1 (09:42):
So yeah, you mentioned your crew was YNN
Right?
What does that stand for?
Speaker 2 (09:47):
YNN it stands for your Neighborhood's Next.
Speaker 1 (09:50):
Your Neighborhood's Next Right.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
And I made that crew Years ago.
Years ago, matter of fact, Imade it with Beams.
Years ago.
Years ago, matter of fact, Imade it with Beams Beams.
You probably know.
Speaker 1 (09:58):
Beams, beams Low, my guy.
Speaker 2 (10:00):
Yeah, and I'm also Low Life 2.
And you know, I know yourcousin, of course, prance big up
to Prance, yeah, beams.
I used to bond with Beams likeearly 80s.
Before he wrote Beams he usedto write Eclipse, oh word, yeah,
and wrote beams.
He used to write eclipse, ohyeah.
(10:20):
And we used to.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
We used to catch tags on key food when it was where
right it was.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we used to pack bags in there and
then we used to catch tags likearound mad early we was um, I
didn't know he was a graffitiartist.
Speaker 1 (10:28):
I knew I used to see beams around the way yeah the
name but I didn't know he was onit like that.
He knew how to.
He knew how to um.
Speaker 2 (10:34):
Yeah, because you do major, major stuff well, you
don't do the stuff I do.
He's more like a bomber and hebombs with dink.
Okay, right, so his beam isbeams dink and I met, I met um
dink through beams and I used tosee dink a lot of times when I
used to be at, uh, winthropjunior high school, but I never
knew it was him and that's alsoanother legend.
Dink been like bombing forever,you know, um, we also got some
(10:59):
shit on rite aid right now ifyou pass by there and you check
inside of the parking lot, um,but yeah, um y'all still team up
and team up.
No, not really because it's likeI kind of like.
Like I said, I bombed once inthe blue moon, but let's keep in
contact with Dink from here andthere.
I can say that Beams was myfirst bombing partner in that
(11:24):
neighborhood, in Church Avenue,and all of that was inspired by
TNC.
It was Trini Trim, benna, benjiPaulistic.
Yeah, I was inspired by thatPorter.
You remember Porter Right?
Speaker 1 (11:42):
there from 42nd Street.
Yeah, my guy, my guy.
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, all of them Shit, that shit was way before
Cab, that shit was way beforeeverything bro.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
Yeah, damn, damn, we go back.
That was the beginning, damn,when Angie was open yeah.
Angie, she's still therestruggling.
That was um.
That was like the the theuntapped time of of history.
Speaker 2 (12:07):
Graffiti, hip-hop, um break dancing yeah, that was
like everything was, everythingwas in sync, because that's what
it was in school like when weused to go to school.
Everybody was popping,breakdancing Right.
The only thing we knew aboutwas it was Run DMC Sparky D
versus the Playgirls.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Right.
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Roxanne Shantay.
Roxanne Shantay, roxanne.
Speaker 1 (12:30):
Shantay, utfo, utfo.
But I'm remembering when theyused to have parties around the
way.
I'd never seen you there.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
You used to have parties around the way I never
seen you there.
You used to come with us, nah,because I was always on my
graffiti shit late night thetime y'all was going out to go
to these parties.
Either me and Beam would bebombing or I'd be bombing by
myself At 15?
, 15, 16?
.
Yeah, because I started bombing, I started writing graffiti,
like around when I was 12 yearsold, like like around 12, 11.
Speaker 1 (12:55):
Cause?
Yeah, that's probably aroundthe time when you was partying
Right Also Friday.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Saturday night we'd be partying, yeah, and I'd be
doing my graffiti stuff andafter I'm done I'd go in the
house because I was.
My mom was strict, so I waskind of barred.
You know that.
Oh, okay, I used to sneak outto get out.
Sometimes I'd in the house.
(13:21):
Um, I used to borrow games fromuh clinton, um, jermaine's
brother, jermaine.
I used to borrow games from himbecause him used to get a game
in one day, turn the shit overin one day, yeah.
And I used to be like yo, letme borrow that game, I'll let
you hold this.
And it was yeah, it's aroundthat time oh, okay, okay and we
was in the house a lot back thentoo, because that's when
Nintendo came out.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
Atari, Sega, but you was rocking what you had.
Speaker 2 (13:46):
I had me.
I had an Atari.
I remember my father bought memy first Atari, I think in 1980,
82.
I can't remember, but he boughtit from Sears, okay, and it was
$100.
Speaker 1 (13:59):
That's when, $100 was a lot of money.
Oh yeah, that is a lot, sodefinitely a lot, yeah he bought
that shit for me and brought itto me.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
I thought I was the illest gift in the world I was
like yo, no graphics is betterthan this.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Right, right and there was how many bits was that
?
That's not 64.
One of them was a commodore 64,I think 8.
8-bit.
I had Atari.
I had Atari 2.
What was the top game?
If you remember Atari, what wasyour top game?
What was the top game back then?
Speaker 2 (14:26):
The top game was when it first came out.
I think it was Pac-Man andSpace Invaders, nah, and Mission
Control or something.
How about Maze, craze, maze?
Speaker 1 (14:35):
Craze, okay, maze Craze, maze Craze, okay, maze
Craze.
Pac-man, pac-man, pac-man.
Didn't really come out forAtari right away, like that, but
when?
Speaker 2 (14:43):
I don't know, but when I got my Atari it came as a
gift set.
It came with Pac-Man and Combat.
Speaker 1 (14:48):
Oh, Combat was the journey.
Yeah, Combat was definitely thejourney.
I know those times was crazyand the thing about it it's like
the graphics was so elementarybut we didn't know.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
Because we never knew technology was going to go that
far.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Right, right, because being a kid and actually
hooking up something to your TVand your TV looks different,
that was crazy to me Becauseactually, what we did, how we
came up, everybody in ourhousehold probably well,
everybody in our householdprobably well in my household
started with a black and whiteTV.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
Yeah, and then color, and then this, and then that.
The first TV I had was a blackand white Zenith.
Yeah, I don't know if youremember Zenith.
Yeah, I do, of course.
Right, I had a Zenith and thefirst thing I used to see was
Mission Impossible and I used towatch it so much.
I used to try to guess whatcolors they're really wearing,
(15:42):
right, and everything was blackand white.
And then later on, when thecolor tv came out, I remember it
was like 232 dollars, which wasa lot of money back then yeah,
color tv came out.
Then we was all watching that.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
yeah, we was antenna broke.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
I remember the antenna had broke one day.
I forgot it was me or my fatherbroke it.
And then my father was like, sointelligent he saw the antenna
was broken, he took the top offof the antenna Not to say he the
first one that created it andput foil on top.
Nah, he went in a closet, got ahanger and bent it and put the
(16:18):
hanger inside of it and thesetwo things when you move it.
The tv started showing good,nice.
My father was a carpenter, hewas a mason, he was good with
his hands.
Nice, nice.
That's why I think my skillcame from, because he was an
artist as well right, that'swhat's up, that's what's up,
that's what's up.
Speaker 1 (16:34):
yeah, I mean, um, back then was everything was new
, everything was new, everythingwas new.
We came into a time and thenfashion everything was new Son.
Speaker 2 (16:42):
If it wasn't for the Japanese, we'd probably be still
playing Atari For real.
Speaker 1 (16:49):
Would you do a like say they say hey, stem, I need
you to come by and do like adisplay.
Would you do it Like a gallery?
I mean yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:01):
If I'm getting paid, I'm going to do it.
Speaker 1 (17:03):
If I'm getting paid, I'm going to do it.
So why the mystique?
Suppose the law is going to beafter you.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
Nah, it wouldn't be like that because you mean you
wouldn't show?
Yeah, because this is mostlynot for the law, this is mostly
just for the ops or just jealouspeople, you understand?
Oh, okay, that's what it is.
But I've done not galleries.
But I have my stuff ingalleries where I show up, and
sometimes I don't show upbecause sometimes how I look at
it is I'm not like othergraffiti artists that always
(17:32):
want to show their face or beknown to be popular.
I don't care about you knowingwho I am, I just want you to
know that my shit is dope, yeah,and I'm a melanated person that
gets busy.
Speaker 1 (17:44):
Nice, nice, nice, that's it.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
That's all you need to know.
It's not about me.
It's about what I do, what youlike from me and what I could
sell you.
That's actually worth something.
So later on, if you come intobad times, you could resell that
shit.
You understand, and I work sohard in the graph game.
Whatever I'm doing and whateveryou have for me, it will be
worth something, because it'ssomething from somebody who
(18:08):
takes his word serious.
Nice, nice, nice nice, nice.
Speaker 1 (18:12):
So now that's, that's dope man, you got a, you got
history on a voa.
Like you have a, you have likea trail of work.
Speaker 2 (18:24):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:24):
I'm proud of you, man .
Speaker 2 (18:25):
Thank you, thank you for doing your thing.
Speaker 1 (18:27):
I'll be seeing.
Oh, that's them.
I'm proud of you, man, thankyou.
You've been doing your thing.
You've been doing your thing.
I've been seeing.
Oh, that's Stem.
I've been seeing him.
I forgot where I was at onetime and I seen your name.
I said, oh shit, that's him onthe train that's going by.
Yeah, he bombs.
If you see S-T-E-M on the train, that's Anyway.
Speaker 2 (18:43):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (18:44):
Anyway, this is him right here.
This is Infamous Stem.
So let's get into something.
What's going on today currently?
Let's just talk about somecurrent things.
Like you know, like your boyPuffy, he's not your mans, but
what you think is going on withhim?
Speaker 2 (18:57):
With him.
I don't know, man.
I think just a lot of peopleare just trying to get a lot of
money out of him now.
Yeah, yeah, because they knowthat his ex he got like what?
Three million just to like bequiet, right.
Then all of a sudden people waslike, yeah, he touched me in
kindergarten, he did this.
You know what I'm saying, right?
So it was like to be honestwith you.
We all did bad stuff back inthe days.
Facts If we was to all becomemillionaires, mad people would
(19:21):
be coming at us, mad peoplewould be coming at us.
So Mad people are coming at us.
So it's like he's just goingthrough all of that shit right
now Because you know, yeah, heprobably did do some bad stuff,
but he's not the only one that'sdoing that.
There's other people doing stufflike him, or probably even
worse, but guess what?
They're not in the limelightlike him.
So nobody's not fucking withhim.
He's in the limelight, and theonly thing that I don't like his
(19:45):
own people is trying to destroyhim right, and these videos and
all that, 50s definitely yeahbecause I'm saying like yo, how
y'all going hard and this dudelike that, and I'm like where
was the videos when epstein wasout there?
you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, I do him like that.
Why are going hard on him likethat?
Let the lord take care of thatshit.
If he did do that, youunderstand, yeah, but it's like
(20:06):
I agree yeah, because I'm likethe way 50 is going at him.
You think these niggas havebeef for eternity, right?
But when they've seen eachother, they'll be like yo what
up?
Speaker 1 (20:14):
yeah shit weird bro, the whole, that whole industry
is weird.
Speaker 2 (20:18):
The whole industry, it is man, because a lot of
weird stuff happens in that,because I guess when people get
into a different society or whenthey make mad money, it's like
all of a sudden they got so muchmoney, it's like they become
interested in doing weird shit.
Now they do yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Wrestling alligators naked.
Speaker 2 (20:36):
Now having sex with females is played out now.
So you want to do weird shitnow or you want to like you're
going to a secret society clubwhere you got to get blood at
the door and shit and giveeverybody a phone, Like what is
that?
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
Right?
Is that how it is with?
When y'all go into a crew ofgraffiti people, y'all be having
like some little secret shit.
Do you know?
Do you know a lot of these, um,famous graffiti guys?
That be all over.
Speaker 2 (21:04):
Yeah, you know, you only could know them if you had
a certain point in your life ora certain like skill set.
Speaker 1 (21:12):
Who's the most known to you Like.
What would you compare yourlevel to to the top guys in New
York?
Speaker 2 (21:19):
Shit, I'd say, mostly like European writers.
Speaker 1 (21:23):
What would you say, Like if it's a top 10 or top 20,
?
What number are you?
Speaker 2 (21:28):
In me Shit.
I see myself as a as in NewYork I'll probably see myself as
a nine and a half eight Topnine.
Speaker 1 (21:38):
No, if it's 20 people .
If it's 20 people, 20 knownartists in New York what number
are you?
Speaker 2 (21:47):
Shit, I don't know.
I'd rather let somebody elsesay that for me, man.
Speaker 1 (21:52):
I don't want to overrate myself, I'm just going
to say that I'm up there.
Top five.
Speaker 2 (21:58):
Yeah, you can say that I'm up there.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Nice, nice, nice, nice, nice man.
Speaker 2 (22:03):
Anybody who know me.
They know how I give it up upwhen it's time to hit the wall
battle.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
They know oh okay, yeah, I say that without
bragging, I'm up there do theyhave um like like my, like like
prince, my boy prince, he's go.
He goes with his talents forhis dancing.
You know he's in china rightnow, right like um.
Do you ever get that type ofexperience to go like different
(22:28):
countries?
Because you know show yourskills.
Speaker 2 (22:30):
Well, I have offers of people like that, but it's
like it's hard for me to travelsometimes because I take care of
my family, or basically I takecare of my moms and stuff like
that, and it's basically me justtaking care of her.
So it's like I had offersthrown at me for stuff like that
.
So it's like I had offersthrown at me for stuff like that
.
But I try to keep it more like.
Instead of it being likeinternational, I keep it more
(22:53):
home based.
Speaker 1 (22:54):
More local.
Speaker 2 (22:55):
I would go to Philly if somebody called me out there
to do stuff.
Jersey, like, I just keep it,you know where it is at.
Keeping it tri-state Right.
If I ever get somebody whereyou know a chance where I could
get somebody to help me takecare of what I need to do, then
I'll start doing that you knowOkay, All right cool.
I just like to let people knownever get street art mixed with
(23:20):
graffiti art.
Those are two different things.
Speaker 1 (23:23):
What is the explain?
What does that mean?
Speaker 2 (23:24):
the street art is something like more like the
murals people drawing flowersand the only thing is, some of
the people that do the streetart they use spray paint and
they try to get it.
They get it mixed some peoplethat don't know better they get
it mixed up with us.
It's like we could do that, butwe're more gritty with the
letters and stuff like that,because basically graffiti is
(23:47):
more about letters.
Well, let me not use the g word.
Come, a boy riff would be mad.
I use the g word.
I say aerosol artists or morewith letters, letter structure
and stuff like that.
Okay, then you have the streetartists which do the murals and
(24:07):
everything they do with spraypaint.
But you know they get respecttoo.
But it's like, don't mix thetwo up don't mix the two up, but
some.
Speaker 1 (24:13):
But can some of those street artists do graffiti too?
More than likely, if they'regood enough to do a mural, they
could do it.
They probably could do that,yeah they could.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
But most of this stuff.
When they try to do graffiti,some of this stuff look like
anti-graffiti.
Okay, right, and me I'm notwith the anti-graffiti stuff.
I'm into real graph likeletters looking dope so are you
looking for sponsorship?
Speaker 1 (24:36):
um, what is?
What is your end game like,where you?
I want to see you, I reallywant to start seeing you do
stuff for like real bigcommercials, like like sprite I
know they be having having somebig events and stuff like that.
Speaker 2 (24:47):
Well, I did something on the wall for Sprite like
early 2000s, but it wasn't myconnect, it was another Graffiti
Artist Connect.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
So you did hand-in-hand with different
companies.
Speaker 2 (25:00):
Yeah, or sometimes it's like when I do stuff with
sometimes somebody else wouldhave a connect and they'll put
me on to do stuff with sometimessomebody else would have a
connect and they'll put me on todo certain things, but they
don't connect me with theconnect.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
Oh, right, right right.
Speaker 2 (25:12):
Sometimes it just be like that, because what I notice
as just being good in generalthis is not only with graffiti,
this could be with podcasts,this could be at acting or
whatever when you do certainthings with certain people and
they know that you are at ahigher level than them, they'll
never hook you up with theconnect.
(25:33):
They won't Because they afraidthat then the connect will be
like oh shit, I'm fucking withthis dude.
Your shit is much better.
Matter of fact, let me call youin what's your prices?
I think I could work with you,man.
I like how your stuff look.
Yeah, so that's the way of mylife too, because I don't never
get connect with the connect.
Speaker 1 (25:52):
But when I do connect with the connect.
I make all the connections.
You see.
Now, that's the thing that I,that's the truth.
That's a very true statement.
Right, people like Dame Dashhad a post.
He says if you want to seepeople win, you help them.
If you really want to seesomebody win, you help them.
(26:13):
Right, how much people ishelping nowadays?
People don't help.
People don't help Because itcould start with just even
volunteering and helping kids.
Right, people don't do it.
No, people don't do it.
No, people don't do it.
Out of all the friends I know,out of a bunch of friends I know
(26:33):
I'm one of the only people thatdo it.
I'm the only one.
For like 15, 20 years,volunteering, helping kids,
playing basketball, mentoring Igot my nonprofit stuff like that
.
I got friends who do volunteer.
You know what I mean, but it'snot a constant thing that I
would like to hear.
Like, say, I see people onFacebook always reminiscing
(26:55):
about something how good theywas, or something like that and
this or that.
You know I built this house orI played this sport.
When are you going to show it?
I'm not saying you don't, butwe don't see it.
I don't see you with the kids.
I don't see it, and then againI'll bring back to your point
with the connect that peopledon't want to connect because
they're going to know you'regoing to do much better with
(27:17):
that connect.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
Yeah, they're scared that they think you're going to
take their spot.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
That's how it is it's I wouldn't care if somebody
else blows up.
I'd be like off of me, Iwouldn't care, I wouldn't rub it
in their face, but I'm happyfor you, right?
You know what I'm saying.
It's like listen, you did it,thank me, thank me later.
Thank me later or send a checkin the mail, right?
Speaker 2 (27:42):
Another example there's this guy that used to
follow me on um, facebook andinstagram.
He worked for marvel, right?
Yeah, always used to comment onmy stuff, always used to
comment on my boy hop stuff,hops.
Another guy, very talented,hops, dks down with my crew.
(28:03):
Very Hops is dope with thecomic books, always commented on
our stuff.
So I remember one day I inboxedhim and he was like yeah, man, I
love your stuff, yada, yada,yada, right.
And I was like yeah, that'sdope.
I was like, yeah, if you likemy stuff, why don't you hook me
(28:23):
up?
Then he was like nah, he waslike why don't you hook me up?
Then he was like no, he waslike why don't you hook yourself
up?
Oh shit.
And I was like you know what?
Fuck this guy.
And I unfollowed him.
You know what I'm saying?
Because my thing is why youkeep telling me how dope my shit
is why you keep asking me whatI'm doing, like, what kind of
pens I use, all of this shit.
But you're working for marvel,but you're asking me how I'm
(28:47):
doing it.
Are you just ghost following meto get tips or to bite what I'm
doing to get yourself closer?
So by him saying that to me andI looked at it like I'm looking
at him as being a brother orwhatever.
I was like you know what?
Fuck this dude, I'm going tostart doing my own shit and put
my own shit out, because I sentshit to Marvel.
I sent shit to Marvel, I sendshit to DC.
(29:09):
But you see, the thing aboutMarvel and DC that people don't
know about because everybody belike yo, STEM, how come you
don't work for these companies?
You're dope as fuck.
I'm like, yeah, I'm dope asfuck to you because y'all right
graph, Y'all know me.
Marvel and DC, they don't knowme.
So in order to get to knowthese dudes, it's like you got
to send them a ton of stuff forthem to realize you, until they
(29:31):
get tired and be like all right,come in, Just like McFarlane.
Mcfarlane had to send thesedudes, I think, like 108
submissions.
Who's McFarlane?
Todd McFarlane is the one thatcreated Spawn and he's the one
that redrew Spider-Man and whySpider-Man is famous today?
Because he reinvented it.
Speaker 1 (29:49):
The black Spider-Man or no?
Speaker 2 (29:50):
Nah, the regular Spider-Man.
Speaker 1 (29:53):
He just redid it, the one who did Spawn.
He redid Spider-Man.
Speaker 2 (29:57):
Right Dope.
He's the one that made thewebbing and all of that, but I
thought you would happened tothose.
Speaker 1 (30:06):
Don't tell me you threw them shits away my brother
just came to the house likeprobably like a year ago,
confiscated it and you took allof them.
Yeah, I'm good with it.
I gave it to him.
Oh man, yes, yeah, I'm goodwith it, I had, I had, I had two
.
I had two big white boxesremember the comic book boxes?
Speaker 2 (30:23):
yeah, I still got, still got it.
You still got it.
Yeah, I got almost like 600 to700 comic books.
Nice, I mean, if I try to gosomewhere to sell them, they're
going to jerk me so I just keepthem Right, right, right.
Speaker 1 (30:37):
You ever go to that comic book spot over there by
the junction.
Yeah, bulletproof, I did thegate years ago.
Oh, okay, okay, okay yeah,that's what's up, man.
That's what's up man, yeah, man.
So, yeah, man.
So listen and wrapping up, whatis it where people can um
follow you, what you, you know?
Okay?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
contact you.
Uh, if y'all want to contact me, shit my name.
You can contact me at instagram.
This type is stem y n n and youcan find me there and you see
all my stuff.
And you can judge for yourselfwho I am Once you see my shit.
You never look back at anythingelse.
Speaker 1 (31:15):
Yes, you'll definitely be a fan of his man.
I'm a fan and a friend man.
I'm happy that you was here,yes sir, your opinion doesn't
matter.
Podcast man, episode 79, withmy broski 79?
.
Speaker 2 (31:26):
Damn.
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