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Skuf - Biography
SKUF's presence in the NYC and international graffiti scenecan't be ignored. Having gone all-city several times atdifferent levels his name is one of a handful synonymouswith bombing, and continues to be even after his last citywide spree in 2005, following which he stopped.Growing up in Bushwick, Brooklyn, graffiti and its parallelelements were all around him. With an older brother 10 yearshis senior heavily into break dancing SKUF was constantlyfed hip hop culture surrounded by his brothers friends.His involvement wasn't something he chose but somethinghe naturally grew into. The art and colors were what intriguedhim and once he was able to put it all together in his head heknew he wanted to get up, even as an 8 year old he saw nameslike O.E 13, P13 and wanted to be as big and famous as theywere. The lure of escaping his reality, attention other writerswere getting and his brother demystifying what bombing wasfed his appetite for what he called 'killing the street.' SKUF wasan active writer from the late 80's, bombing in Junior high allthroughout his neighborhood he built a solid local presence.It was 1991 that his cousin STAK (TFP) gave him his name,and the city-wide onslaught began.When talking about his cousin and how his work influencedhim you begin to decipher even though he was bombing,and pretty focused on the vandalism side of graffitithe encouragement to be creative played a big role in thedevelopment of his style. "STAK has one of the illest hand-styles in graffiti history, he's extremely underrated. He alwaysencouraged the whole YKK crew to be creative. They wouldall compete against each other and try and come up with newstyles. Creativity is what made us who we are."Holding such a strong place in the scene for so many years itis clear that graffiti was the catalyst for much of SKUF's lifeexperience. When I asked him what some of the good oneswere he was adamant that 'good' can mean different things atvarious stages of your life. "What was fun was going out,breaking the rules, getting up, living lawlessly. Living in a worldwhere everyday rules do not apply. That escape alone was fun.Racking paint, getting up, the beefs, the wars. All of that at thetime was living and it was fun at the time." All this wasn't withoutconsequence and he contrasts these tales with the bad ones thatcame with it. Getting incarcerated, getting cut, but the worstof it all was having his friend (alias VE) die right in front of himbombing late at night in a rough neighborhood, over graff. It isabsolutely true, as SKUF says, that people die over stupiderthings. Given the list of what can go wrong when you're doinggraffiti: getting hit by a train, in fights, shot, electrocuted,falling off roofs.... Now as a father it's this list that brings himto the realization he doesn't want his son following in someof the footsteps that he covered the city with in younger years.Instead, he feels that kids should be channeling their energy,embracing the creative elements and finding a way to extractthe negative side of graffiti culture without losing the positive.He laughs when he remembers the old guys in Bushwick thatwould tell him he was wasting him time writing, and eventhough he may be echoing some of their words the fact is thatif it's SKUF saying it to kids it's a little different. He himselfsays he didn't truly realize he was creative until gallery owner,Hugo Martinez brought it to his attention. It was around thistime he stopped bombing and began doing shows, traveling,being able to paint and although not living off it, at least payingsome bills. Slowly but surely he realized Martinez was right,he was creative, and graffiti was his medium.Having lived through first hand what someones belief in yourability, and helping you to trust in that SKUF knows what a littleencouragement can do. As a youth he had nothing like this,he was in and out of jail and as he says "I learnt to be a gladiatorinstead of a scholar," he believes that if kids could becomescholars instead we'd be living in a different community. His ideason helping to cultivate the youth in New York are apparent,"It takes a village to raise a child, NYC is my village."SKUF stopped by the New Design High School a few monthsback and it was pretty clear it was a huge deal to the kids to havea big writer stop by and just give them some time. He answeredall their questions, and the respect they had for the fact he wasnothing but real with them was clear as day.SKUF's involvement with Rooftop Legends seems to be a meetingof two like minds. He gives Jesse Pais (NDHS Dean, alias EV)some serious credit for what he has created with Rooftop Legendsand the energy he has put in. Both he and Jesse are trying to findthe best ways to execute their ideals: embracing the positive aspectsof graffiti, and eradicating the negative without losing the rawnessand passion that are intrinsic to the core of this movement.SKUF describes what is being done with RTL as a study of thismovement, giving people a place to express themselves and seeingwhat can be done to further it. What he is helping to do for thebroader understanding of the art-form and its surrounding cultureis not much different from how he is breaking it down for his sonPharaoh. At 3 years old he is intrigued with what he sees on the citywalls, and SKUF is faced with the task of explaining what's goodand what's bad. It's not entirely similar with the world outside ofgraffiti, people are interested but need those who care and understandit to bring to their attention that there are different parts. Vandalismis one but there is a huge proportion that is not. It's this which peoplelike SKUF, Jesse and all that are involved with Rooftop Legends aretrying to bring to the surface. SKUF as a father, and Jesse as a Deanare in the position to show the next generation that they can pushthis medium to a whole new level. This is something that speaks toso many, both locally and internationally. Allowing you to be heardwith your own voice, own style and in your own way. That alone is ahuge thing to teach the youth and sets them up with a confidence intheir ability that they'll carry with them into a creatively enrichedfuture. It's no doubt a huge task, but safe to say that they are alreadywell underway.SKUF wanted to give thanks to his wife Naisha who he calls theworlds greatest mother. And son Pharaoh, 'without him, life's notworth living.' We'd like to say thanks for his passion and involvementwith Rooftop Legends.*WORDS & IMAGE: S.LESTER. POSTED BY ROOFTOP LEGENDS AT 11:46 AM [Source:
