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Nothing is ever random. Not even the fact that my cousin’s husband, who I have only met twice, used to bomb on Staten Island back in the days. Though I missed the glory days, I’ve been catching flicks on Facebook and thought it was time to post up. Tom Petronzio aka TAP, representing SI, telling it like it was ~
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When did you start writing? & what was the scene like in SI back in the days?
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TAP: I first started writing in late 1980. I was a freshman in HS. I happened to like this girl Melissa.B. I wanted to get her attention so I started writing Tom loves Missy. everywhere. As I pursued this M/O. In HS I sat next to this Black Girl named Kecia. She would write Kecia Kee -N- Easy Gee. I then became T-A-P -N- Missy B. Eventually Missy had no interest so she was dropped.
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I created this toy connecto which looked more like a logo than a tag. In the beginning it was TAP, KELP 3 and STAR 2. Those were my initial partners. We would Tag fire boxes and NYC busses with these Hurt Tags. Eventually people started giving me recognition of seeing my Tag and the fire was lit. I think I stayed with the connecto for about 2 years.
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In HS dudes with style noticed I had an uncanny knack for getting up. They would tell me. “Yo TAP drop the connecto the shit is hurt”. OMEN 2 was a West Brighton cat who brought me up to par. EROS, who wrote CAM at the time was another dude who was always showing me tagging style. I got better but more importantly I was getting up.
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I think in 1981, 98.7 KISS FM first went on the AIR. I remember Fantastic Voyage was the first song I heard on this brand new station. Suede Pumas were in and, in fact, I remember bringing a toothbrush in to clean mine. The Heartbeat trilogy was out. Sweet GEE, Tanya Gardner, Treacherous 3 . We would go up to the Old Forty Duece and watch Kung Fu flicks. Saw the Nesting up there and all the black dudes in the theatre were adding there own ad libs to the scenes, We brought that skill back to our suburban movie theatres (LOL).
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I could say so much more about how the commercialization of Hip Hop was just taking place. I had the Nylon BVDs, The Adidas, The windbreakers, Fat Laces, Le Tigre shirts. The sewed in creases in my Lees. I was the only MF in my area to wear that gear prior to 83 and caught alot of shit for it.
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What were your favorite spots ? What was your greatest hit of all time ?
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TAP: The Train Tracks on SI were peaceful. As i got more into it, I used my climbing ability to get on bridges, We had a bus yard under wraps for awhile and we would kill it. We went off schedule one evening and it was game over. Stakeout.
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My greatest hit off all time was for me the Train Bridge cause I went solo on the 4th of July. Giant snow owls migrate there in the summer as I found out at the top of my climb. There are far more talented artists in the city but I got a pic with the Twin Towers in the Background that can never be duplicated. Its my moment in time. Now that I think of it. I will probably be cremated with that pic in my pocket (LOL).
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Another hit which was pretty cool to me was the road to Great Adventure. I did it with a non graf friend but put Richie LUF for him. He died several years later and I am on that road alot. Even though the Tag has been buffed for years. I think of him immediatly. I actually got a tear in my eye writing about that. He was a punk rocker and he had a pet rat that he dyed Tiger stripes (LOL).
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My final is a dumb one there was an old NYPD car that was bought by a security company. It still was Blue and White but I rocked a tag on it and at first glance people thought I hit the 5 O’s car. Its all smoke and mirrors (LOL).
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You describe yourself as a bomber — what inspired you to take that approach to graff ?
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TAP: There are artists and bombers, some are blessed to be both. As for my peers (dudes I competed with) MARS, LASK, GANO had both talents. There are alot of older dudes that carried that role but I will tackle that in Next question. I got alot of props for the older cats. ART takes talent for one and if you are not talented alot of patience and practice. First off I only got the fire cause I liked seeing my name on things, as recognition comes your ego gets involved. I didnt like putting my time and energy into something and it get buffed. To me it was heartbreaking watching pieces get buffed.
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I put a 1000 tags you cant clean them all in one night (LOL). I was destructive by nature, I guess I picked quantity over quality. As far as bombers go the heavy hitters are to some degree loners. I never got caught on my own, it was always someone else’s misstep that jammed me up.
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Whose work do you most admire, both artists and bombers ?
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TAP: For work I admire most, for artists I am gonna stay on Staten Island. There was and is enough talented artists to occupy my memory bank for a lifetime. I am gonna pay props to different dudes for different reasons. If I miss someone its cause im alittle burnt LOL. Well I admire CASPER out of West Brighton first and foremost. He had unbelievable work on the west Brighton Pool. I was 15 and just learning the beginnings. I got all my friends to go to the West and see his work. I CAN”T BELIEVE NO ONE HAS POSTED ANY CASPER PICS ON FB.
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AIDONE, I admire his work from the Late 70s. He did some styles in the his day that were way ahead of his time. His pieces were cool but more than that he was a ferocious bomber, i look at old pics and I know how hot those spots were. He definetly was a ballsy writer in his day.
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RINONE. Is The KING of SI GRAFF to me. He killed the North shore/ brought it to the South Shore which was like Waltons Mountain in the 70s. He had big 5 boro respect. He made a nasty one/ two punch with AID but then also ran with what I Regard as Hall of Famers from Stapleton. MENIC, SAINT, BASIC, BENO, SIK, FLEX. RINONE just killed it before Grafff was glamourous.
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BRAZE, Was another Legend to me, Great artist and Bomber, did pieces in Ballsy spots as well. His style to me is one of a kind.
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MIRAGE,MONIE,were great artists who took chances. Thats the mark of greatness to me.
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JADE and KEKA were south shore Pioneers, I remember searching the train trestles for new work from these 2.
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There are plenty of old school cats I missed especially from North Shore and I apologize.
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My era, who I regarded as flat out competition was LASK and CEAL. LASK was that duel bomber/artist, We got together once and tore shit up. I will always see LASK fat cap tags when I think Bombers,
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My man CEAL, He achieved BOMBING fame with 2 names. Definite BUS KING on SI in his day. LIKE ME, wasnt into the artist side of things, MAD BOMBER, WE got together on several occasions. To me one of the best friendships I made in graff.
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I admire CASTER a phenomenol Artist, SYRE (RIP) who was a real good friend of mine, that CEAL introduced me to.
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GANO IS EVERYONES ERA. GREAT ARTIST/ GREAT BOMBER. What I really respect about Him is he knows the ART of self promotion. He is a smart Dude. I cant walk away from North Shore Bombers without Giving ON2, ROM, and TIN there props, I know I forget many from my era but these guys stood out to me
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Now my fellow South Shore brothers who I hit with. RAD3, NS and MARS, MARS is that BOMBER/ARTIST super talented and if you could call a MF a graffitti genius its him,
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I started out with KELP3, who later became GE, KART and STAR2. I pay them respect because they were there when we were battling to be king of the Great Kills Train Station LOL.
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The final admiration is for My Man KID who doesnt settle for 2nd Best. KID and PK are kings as we read.
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There are so many bigtime bombers in the 5 Boros to name but OE3 P13, GMAN and BS 119 plus SES from BKLYN were the biggest bombing inspirations for me .
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All adult responsibilities aside, do you ever get the old urge to go bombing ?
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TAP: Yes, I think talking to this younger Dude from SI, EVEN and the Original Gangster AID ONE make me realize what good times it was. Maybe someday, right now I got 3 teenagers to raise. (LOL).
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Graff gave me friendships that will last a lifetime, You make new friendships with dudes because your common thread is the passion of your past.. Graff makes you determined wether Artist or Bomber. You wanna be the best.. As a bomber on SI, I strived for all out.. I peaked in 85 but you know because of my graff intensity I know there is no quit in everyday life. Graff, short of my wife giving birth to my 3 kids was the best times of my life..