The writing on the side of the wall read "BABYROCK". It was bright, colorful, larger than life and I couldn't turn away, so I quickly tried to soak it all up before I had to catch up with my older cousin who was already way down the street. This kind of tagging was a little different from what I was used to seeing, it seemed to have a presence that made it stand out from the other ones that crowded the rest of the crumbling wall. It was the summer of 1983, BBoys and BGirls were poplockin' and breakdancing on sheets of linoleum at the corner and guys carrying boomboxes blasted the latest GrandMaster Flash. This was the beginnings of what is now known as "Hip Hop" Culture, and that was when I first became drawn to Graffiti.

I was born in North Philadelphia and raised in the Hunting Park section of the city. When I was about nine, I started keeping sketch books that were filled with scenes from my environment, from children playing stick ball next to the decaying factories, the cool stream of water bubbling from the fire hydrant down the street, to my Grandmother watching seemingly endless novelas . I also tried my hand at drawing graffiti which served mostly as background elements to my pictures. Kids started asking me to write their names in "bubble letters" or draw  them graffiti- style "characters". By the time I was in high school, however, I wanted to make my drawings seem more "realistic" but my drawings still possessed the lines,movement,and composition of my Graffiti influences.

I took my first art class in college, and it was as if I had to "unlearn" all of my drawing habits that I'd developed until then.  During my critiques I often heard that my drawings or paintings were too "illustrative" and sometimes too  "graphic." I understood that these critiques were essential for me to succeed in school, so I took it all in and tried my best to implement what I had learned. All the while I was in school, I still kept my own private sketchbooks filled with the drawings I'd like doing--but now they were enhanced by the new techniques that I was learning. 

Slowly, I started to develop the style in which I work today. A combination of drawing, painting, and writing using the mediums that harken back to the Graffiti masters of my youth- Acrylic, spray paint, and permanent marker. My subjects are somewhat similar as well, I paint about my friends and family, social issues/ vices and Hip Hop.