By 11 and 12 years old, starting Junior High, we moved to Zerega Ave, one block away from Seen One (which I was very aware of), and just a few blocks from Duli 007. Our building was directly adjacent to the infamous Zerega Lay-up, which I had my eye on. I was venturing out on the subways alone, ready to step into the bigger league. Riding the train, I found the 6-yard. Soon after, I walked to the 6-yard from home to get an up-close sense of it. Naturally, the subway panel-style pieces in my piecebook were intended to make their way onto the subways, although that was not to be. Chillin’ and writing at the YMCA at Castle Hill, which was the UA/TMS hangout, I began meeting UA kids. Yet in late ’81, navigating intense dynamics, my family suddenly moved to Puerto Rico for some months. Then in ’82 we moved to Pico Rivera (East side of Los Angeles).

The overall culture shock presented deep discontent, which I used as fuel along with my self-driven, persistent Bronx battle aesthetics unto a creative explosion through the 80s and into the 90s. Some in LA began catching a hint of Rapper’s Delight, etc., but NY writing and Hip Hop were not actually there yet. Immediately, to a whole lot of people I was from a whole other dimension; the first Bboy, Chinese-mock-neck-Sergio-Valente-Pro-ked-69er-bottom-rockin’/ floor-rockin’-microphone-rockin’-emcee/bilingual-emcee-hip-hopper that many ever saw. That was before Style Wars, Wild Style, MTV, and Subway Art. Though I kept my writing very secluded, in my experience I was the first NY style writer that (not all) but plenty of people ever saw.
I was 13 and upward, attracting a ton of attention for my creative displays. Much of it was first-time astonishment for audiences, and some of the attention was ill too. I immediately incorporated West Coast style Popping into my repertoire, and was breaking, popping, emceeing constantly. Truly, I was just intensely clinging to and expressing my NYC neighborhood culture. In doing so, I pioneered and personified the spread of Bronx Hip Hop.

In a conflicted, unconventional manner, I was simultaneously bombardingly demonstrative and yet very guarded and secretive with my crafts. Despite my not wanting my BX neighborhood culture to spread, a local LA scene was forming. In this way, Kid Frost, who had recently begun to rap, and others were drawn to my brother and me. We were on early party flyers side-by-side and rapping at house parties, clubs and events. Tony G was spinning at some of those events.

From ’84- ’88, I would depart Pico Rivera and visit NYC, and I even moved back to NY for a period, coming out in newspapers for pioneer graff painting on Long Island, until I got in trouble for bombing. As soon as I returned to Pico Rivera in ’86, my partners there grouped up with me. Although we had already started a graffiti yard and formed creative bonds from ’82-’86, upon my return, we made our crew, United We Stand (UWS) official, and it would grow into a sizeable coterie.

As we were still representing authentic hip hop, Zulu Gremlin and his brother Lil Blitz moved from out of state to our High School. They were welcomed into UWS and we all kept steady-building. In ’89, with only a partial rough draft of the song La Raza, my partner Kid Frost landed his first album deal with Virgin Records and came straight to my condo to request lyrics. I wrote lyrics for that Hispanic Causing Panic album, and some of my UWS partners who had earlier written their first rhymes following my patterns also wrote for that album and greatly contributed to the iconic La Raza video, etc. That success led to us forming the Latin Alliance rap group in ’89-’90 and the self-titled album on Virgin Records, with Kid Frost, three emcees from UWS, i.e., me, Lyrical Engineer Genius Gee, and Zulu Gremlin, then our partners Mellow Man Ace (Cypress Hill), Tony G, Julio G, Ralph M, Scoop DeVille (actually a performing toddler at that time), the Baka Boyz, and others.

By age 19-20, I had a rap artist career going on a major record label, and was writing lyrics for more than one artist on more than one record label who experienced major successes. Although paradoxically secluded, through the 80s, I had also established myself as a freelance artist, bombing many jackets, painting rap show backdrop, canvases, medallions, designing logos, designing my own custom clothing, painting TV sets, movie scenes, and being commissioned for murals and unprecedented mega one-man wild style graff productions. As a private escape I would frequently go bombing, either alone or with my boys, in our several UWS underground graff yards and elsewhere.

As word spread in the mid-80s, and important accessible pieces were done by Soon, who I was not aware of until sometime later, an early LA writing scene was forming. I connected with all-city LA bomber Skez One (MIA, NTS, then UWS and UTI). Through that bond, Skill One (UTI) and I were strongly connected, and Hex One (TGO) and I were meaningfully connected. Within a few short years, building upon what NYC created, LA writing was quickly becoming an environment of graff refinement. I also briefly plugged into the SF-Oakland Bay Area writing scene, bombing there with Crayone (TWS), Shok, Ruel (ROT, Bay Area STP, now WOD). Partnering with these LA and Bay young men, and through personal diligence, a fresh sense of graff refinement additionally became a part of my experience. By ’87 and ‘89, I had been down with writing for 10 and 12 years. Consequently, in many regards and in my own way I had roots, knowledge, styles, and wild styles deeper than probably anyone in LA, and I would think among the deepest outside of NYC through the 80s and into the 90s. Around those years, my brothers Skez, Skill, and Hex as well as Crayone, Shok and Ruel were on track to gain their prolific momentum and were on full-blast aerosol execution mode. Their abilities raised the bar and were mutually beneficial in our UWS-UTI-TGO-TWS-Bay STP brotherhood and phenomenal street combustions.

Concurrently, during ’91-early ’92, UWS was top-billed for rhyme performances at the 1924 Resurrection Gym, a.k.a. the Oscar De la Hoya Youth Center in East LA. That church-turned-boxing center, was the scene for the original Rocky movie and Rocky V. There, UWS was approached by Frank “Poncho” Sampedro of the legendary 70s rock band Crazy Horse, who was in the audience. We established a relationship and recorded an unreleased UWS album with him. (That was in addition to the numerous unreleased recordings we already had with my brother Zulu Gremlin, as well as Tony G, Julio G, Baka Boyz, etc.). Our crew United We Stand had major attention and opportunities, including some of the most prominent management executives in LA seeking to sign us. That included an album deal offer from Dr. Dre and Death Row Records the exact day that Snoop Dogg was recording his very first record Deep Cover, which private studio session we were invited to and showcased three original UWS songs at.

This is only a brief summary of the creative polymath tracks that I charted as a young artist. I have rarely conveyed these historic accounts publicly or in one place. That’s part of my secretive, unconventional manner. In this way, I have truly remained underground. The point here being that my resume is that of an absolute prototype hip hop pioneer in the spread of Bronx hip hop, a real part of the foundation of Los Angeles hip hop, a part of the foundation of the LA writing movement, and a key pioneer in the establishment of the English-Spanish bilingual rap music genre which directly went large-scale. Some of my street-level activities all the way to my performing at venues, such as the LA Sports Arena and LA Colosseum, not only helped to lay the groundwork for the LA hip hop movement from inception, but also inspired, taught, and contributed to many others, some of who in turn became professionally notable. My youthful crafts, creations, and performances have meaningfully cultivated what are now multiple global artistic movements and billion-dollar industries. Despite numerous additional endeavors and pathways (in academia, philosophy, ecclesiastics, family, work, industry, executive business, etc.) that I have unconventionally taken for decades now, in my advancing in years, I am now opening up about some of my accomplishments and some covert works, including art, music, and the new release of my first-of-its-kind (Graffiti) Writing Philosophy book. Thank you for your interest.