WEST: I came out really writing in 1982, as far as putting ink into markers and going out. I got my name WEST back then. That was the begining of public art, which is to me the definition of graffiti. It becomes graffiti when you go from your book to the streets. In terms of bombing, that really kicked off in '83.

When did those whole cars get done?

WEST: I used to bomb. I never really pieced. I used to piece in books, I didn't know how to paint. I had a beef with FLITE. He came to look for me at my school with a whole crew of kids to beat me down. We hooked up and kinda squashed that beef. We became partners. FLITE said ;quot;look, I know how to piece and you are already bombing. I'll take you to the 1 tunnel at 145th street.;quot; I had been bombing the lay ups at 225th street, that was something I was down for. FLITE was down with a lot of kids from our neighborhood, so we connected. I would put him up on the inside, and he would help me do pieces on the outside. I learned a lot watching him paint. In those days FLITE was way ahead of his time. In terms of style, he and FBA in general. That's how I started piecing. Just simple styles of letters and forms at first.

I saw some WEST cars that were pretty elaborate work, did they come a few years later?

WEST: Originally I was known for simple pieces. More like SKEME, on that level. Nothing too complex. It wasn't 'til '85 or '86 that I started doing wild style letters, burners and basically developing my letters.

PSYCHO jumps into the conversation:

I remember you started bombing and only did throw ups for a while. Then you did the pieces, and then came the wild style burners. You followed those steps.

WEST: Part of the thing that I learned from FLITE was paint control. That was a big thing back in the days. Today, kids use all sorts of caps. I used to just practice by spraying hundreds of chip shapes, outline and shadow them, just to get a crisp hand.

How long did the train bombing season last?

WEST: The important thing about graff' is that it is a movement. It goes in cycles. There are cycles in graffiti, at least in New York, I don't know how it is in Europe. For me '78 to '81 was like the RTW, TNT, SEEN and DEZ era. The next big movement was the 1 line from '84 to '86. You had the TAT's on the 2's and 5's. That cycle is my experience. That's when JON was creating his stuff and when FBA and FC were doing their thing. Kids where producing! Every weekend there would be 15 to 20 whole cars, no problem. In between, like around '83, there where cars that where getting painted here and there. But in '85 and '86, the productions were flowing. The next generation after us was WANE and WEN and those guys, they picked up the banner and kept running. They were painting until the shit got deaded by the subway system.

How did FC come along?

WEST: "FC is our crew. FC is 15 years old. It started also in '82. At first it was a gang of ill kids in Yonkers. It was handed down to PHIL 167. He used to bomb insides. He put me down and gave me power over Manhattan. He told me I could put people down in Manhattan. At that time I was like a toy myself, I didn't know a lot. That was the same time I started painting with FLITE and going into the 1's. The click I was with just grew, and we all pushed FC. Today FC is one of the top crews in New York City. I'm not saying that because it's my crew. To me the top crews in NYC are FC, TAT, and FX. No disrespect to other crews, it's just that these crews have achieved the most significant and important shit as far as crews go. But even as far as crews status go it's TAT and FC, because these two crews go back to the train days. FX is relatively new, but I still give them their props. FC is established, as well as TC-5 which is like a parent crew with members such as DOZE and SEEN who influenced us a lot.

What does FC stand for in the graffiti world?

WEST: A lot of kids make up names for their crew. Back in the days the name of your crew meant a lot. FC means Fame City. City is a metaphor for life. That's where we live. It's like the life of fame or Fame City. ROCK ON CITY was the name of KEL's crew. That's what they where all about, ROCK ON! and the city is just where it happens. The reason I say it's important is because fame is what graffiti is all about. I don't care what you say! You could be the kid with the best style or a bomber, in the end it's about fame. You can be famous for being fly or because you bomb or just for being an ill kid, in the deeper meaning of writing is guerrilla fame. You don't have to have money to be famous in graffiti. It's what you do that will make you famous or not. I have a problem with magazines that make one individual important, when really you should focus on what he did, their work. Fame City to me tells the whole story about graffiti.

Does FC still piece a lot?

WEST: Our fame is established on trains. That's what people know us for. When I meet a lot of young kids today, they know me for recent shit, like walls. We do productions now but we are older men with families, work, etc. We don't have the energy and time to be going out every weekend. I wish we could paint all the time but it's not like that.

I supppose it has an even more important value than, when you can make it out to paint?

WEST: Definitely! All winter we wait for the weather to break. I think the most significant thing that we contributed in the modern era (i.e. the 90's), is teaching kids how to paint thematically. In New York when people think of FC, they think of concepts and themes. They think of a crew painting together. Before we came on the scene, it was like this kid did this style, and that kid did that style. Colors where all over the place. We were like, what if the eight of us painted together with the same background, same themes, same colors and the same story. To us that's a reflection of our crew. We are real tight. People know that about us. On a personal level if someone is going to fuck with PSYCHO, then he's got to deal with me too. Same thing when we paint. Maybe KAWS, DASH, PSYCHO or WANE have all different styles, but we are all coming from the same root. It's important to paint with your crew and to have kids who you know are all thinking on the same level.

Were do you get the themes that come out of your murals?

WEST: "The number one motivation in our themes is to make kids think. I have a lot of respect for artists who do that. You could be the flyest kid in the world with letters, that shit doesn't impress me. What impresses me is when kids do stuff with new ideas. When we paint, sometimes it's political, sometimes it's social, sometimes it's just about style, but the main aim is to make kids have a reaction. A lot of kids can do nice neat pieces, but at the end of the day, who cares? There are a million nice pieces. I know there are kids out there who may have a better style then someone in my crew, or may have better technique, but it's the concepts that make what we do shine. That's one thing that we have that can just go on and on.

That piece you did with DASH at Yankee Stadium caught my attention (as the police rolled up on me to just harass me while I was taking photos), can you explain some of the symbols in it?

WEST: This worker is taken from a book on the Russian Revolution. The theme here is Revolution, because that's what graffiti is to us. We wrote FC international, because we want kids in Paris, Germany and Japan to know that we are thinking of them. The worker holds books, which means that he has intellect, he is a manual worker who can think. The other character is throwing a molotov cocktail. If you look close, you will see flags and silhouettes of people marching.
That's what's happening in the piece. It's about industry and progress. The type is from a Russian Revolution poster. SERGE and I did a piece at the graffiti hall of fame in the Bronx in '92 that said 'the revolution will not be televized'. That's a concept from a '70's song. This piece is part two. We wrote in Spanish ;quot;the revolution will not be televised. That's what it's about.

It's kind of rare to see writers involved politically through graffiti, from what I can see. How do people react to that?

WEST: Well Europeans in general are much more politically conscious, than Americans. When you meet a thirty year old European they will be more conscious of the political history in their country, than someone else would be in the United States. That's just the fact of our society. Young people in particular here are just out of touch. That piece we are talking about at Yankee Stadium (where people come from everywhere to see baseball games) is just right around the corner from the ghetto. We put the revolution will not be televised in Spanish because that's the main language spoken there. We wanted the message to be clear. I also do a lot of cartoon characters, it's brings kids back to a symbol that they can recognize, from their childhood. They will look at Ricochet Rabbit, or Hong Kong Phooey and will remember that cartoon.