Miami Graffiti

April 2010
1) What do you write and what crews do you represent?

I write Kuart. I don't rep a crew, I'm solo...

2) Where did you get your tag? Any special meaning behind it?

My tag was given to me by an old neighborhood friend that used to write TEST. In the beginning it had no special meaning, I just liked the letters it had.

3) When did you start writing and what were some of your early influences?

I don't remember exactly, but I think it was around 1996-1997 that I started bombing. I was just getting around, throwing up handstyles and throwups. I didn't start piecing until a couple years later. There is a lot of writers that infuenced me when I first started. Too many to list, but just to name a couple: 3ple, Freek, Gonz, Dem, Theme, Eraze, Deed, Siner, STV, MSG, SAT, TE and all the other writers that were getting up back then.

4) What was your favorite Penit/Wall/Spot and why?

I don't really have a favorite penit because I was never really a piecer, I was more of a bomber. But I guess if I had to pick one, it would be the Malibu Penit. Even though I never laid down a piece there, it was right in my neighborhood and was the first real penit I went to.

5) Is there any crazy story that sticks out in your mind from days at that Spot?

I have a chase story from back around that time. Since I didn't really paint in penits, I'll just tell one that happened in the street. I was with two of my boys that write. We were hitting the back of a business that faces the turnpike between Kendall and Bird Road. The pigs roll up on us and we all take off. One of my boys ran to his car and tried to get away but got roped. My other boy and I jumped the fence and ran across the expressway. On the other side of the expressway there was a canal. We were about to jump in and swim across, but luckily we didn't. We ended up laying sideways, half in the water covered by some branches. The cops thought we swam across and sent a couple of cops and a K9 to the other side of the canal. They also had a highway patrol on the highway going extremely slow with his high beams on looking to see if we were still running on the expressway. With our luck, right where we were hiding there was a huge ant pile. Picture hiding there for like two hours, having to be silent while getting bit by red ants... The cops eventually gave up and we got away. The next day we must have had over 100 ant bites on each of us. Fuck it though, I'd rather that, than spending the night in county like my other boy did.

6) Name a Miami writers work that you respect a lot and why?

There is a lot of writer's work that I respect. Off the top of my head I would have to say CROME for being well rounded, and VIE for being consistent...

7) Any good stories about a time you got chased or busted?

Another chase story... It was three of my boys and I; we were hitting up a spot on a golf course facing Flagler. We finished and were walking back to the car, and had to walk through a neighborhood to get back to the car. We made a turn into the neighborhood from the golf course and ran right into like 4 or 5 cops. We all took off running back to the golf course. The cops tackled one of my boys (the same one that got caught in the last chase) and the rest of us kept running. The cops kept up for a bit, but got tired before us and we got some good distance on them. We ended up jumping a fence and trying to get in this five-story apartment building to hide, but we needed a code or a key to open the main door.

Cops started to flood the whole neighborhood in seconds. ALOT of them!! The most I've ever seen. When the cops flooded the block my boy broke a window on the side of the building and we all got in. We stashed everything on the 1st floor and ran to the 4th floor to hide. They had a helicopter right over the building, I thought we were fucked by then. I didn't understand why they would go on such a mission over someone bombing... It turns out that in the neighborhood we had walked through to get to the car, someone had fired shots and hit someone. The description the cops had was 4 males... What fuckin luck!!!!

So 3 of us hid in the room where you throw garbage away. While we were in there we could hear the cops all over the place, inside and outside of the building. One of my boys panicked and took off through the staircase and got roped. There were two of us left. We knew they would check the garbage room, so we hid in the garbage chute. We braced our arms and legs against the wall of the chute so we wouldn't fall 4 stories down. I could clearly hear a cop next to the garbage container on the 1st floor saying, "If they come out, they're coming out through here". A cop checked the room we were in and didn't see us since we were in the garbage chute. We heard him say "Clear." and leave. We got out of the chute and hid in the same garbage room. We hid there for about five hours until they left. It felt like forever...

We called a taxi to pick us up at a Winn Dixie that was next to the building. We hid in the bushes until the taxi got there and we got away. They caught two of my boys and one of the guys who was involved in the shooting. My boys that got caught ended up going to trial with the guy who was in the shooting. What a mission they were on!! They later dropped the charges on them and convicted the guy who fired the shots...

8) Advice for Toys nowadays?

Try your best not to be such a toy.. Learn your history, Practice, and get up... Eventually you'll get better... Hopefully...

9) You've written with a lot of people, but have never formed or joined a crew? Why not?

I understand and respect the idea and concept behind a crew. I just think that crews sometimes have a weak link. A person that isn't holding their weight, that is soft, or isn't as dedicated as everyone else in the crew. So I'd much rather depend on myself than having to pull the weight of someone that isn't as strong. Don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good things about being in a crew, but a lot of politics and bullshit come along with it from what I've seen... I just don't think its for me.. And big ups to all the people who get down with me, regardless of me not being in a crew....

10) What do you think of the Graf Scene in South Florida and Where do you think its headed?

I think the graff scene in Miami is the shit. I love this city, and know it will get better through time...