Subway World UncouthYouthLDN

In short Subway World is a Dictionary of most of the major subway systems in the world.

The book has information on over 75 systems each says the country, name, opened, lines, stations and length. It also has 3 or more bullet points with interesting but not always useful information. Some of the cities have short quotes from writers, but not many of them have this unfortunately.

I think I have an unhealthy obsession with the combination of trains and graffiti and I find the different train systems around the world pretty fascinating. It is nice to see some of the lesser known subways in there like ones from South America for example but also some more obvious ones seem to be missing. I am surprised that Singapore’s MRT wasn’t in there after all the press it got when Fricker got caught, actually I think it was published before that happened. Some of the cities in the book I have never even heard of like Lisbon (I think it is the capital of that country we shipped our convicts to)**For the record that was a joke but thanks everyone for pointing it out**.

On a more serious note it’s an interesting book especially if you are going Interrailing but dont think that it is a guide because it isn’t, not in the way you are thinking anyway.

The book is hardback 17.6×23.2cm and has 160 pages. Each city has a double page spread on one half has a photo of a panel on that system and the other half has information about the system and sometimes another image.

Them Rizzley boys at Shush have got a new tee on the table with illustrator smasha Ventsa.

Go grab it here and check out their dope jumper with Farms too.

If you hadn’t guessed already Rockin’ It Suckers is about New York’s RIS crew. RIS crew has been bombing New York’s trains, streets and tracks for the past two decades and has such members as JA, Ghost, Duel and Smith.

If you had watched Style Wars and not really paid much attention to what was going on in the graffiti scene across the pond then you would probably think that once the MTA introduced double fences, razor wire and vicious dogs to their yards that was the end of New York’s rolling canvases and in a way this book shows that it was, to a certain extent anyway. No more rolling full colour wholecars pulling into stations and the early morning strap-hangers dropping their cups of coffee. But this wasn’t the end of the story, a few crews kept the torch going while the veterans hung up their coats and this book is about one of those crews.

This book shows the huge change in style between the early days of New York graffiti and the current scene. More security meant less time in the yard so styles changed accordingly. The book is mostly filled with throw ups and dubs with a few full coloured panels for good measure. It has some good write ups by some of the members of RIS crew but the only chase story was a little disappointing, im suprised if it was the worst jam JA got into (sorry I had to do it).

I think this book needed to be made to show some less in the know writers that writing on steel didnt end in New York when Style Wars credits rolled.

Cause We Got Style is a collection of photographs of people posing from the 4 elements of hip hop (Writers, Bboys, MC’s and DJ’s, for those who don’t know) in Europe in the 80’s and early 90’s.

I’m sure most of you will agree with me that the 80’s has to have been one of the best decades. It had it all great drugs, great music, the rise of graffiti and of course the fashion. It is no surprise then that  80’s fashion is the most imitated these days but the fact that every little hipster artfag in Shoreditch is bopping around in Adidas Original garms ruins it a little for me, I’m just waiting for the Kangol had to re-appear.

There are many books with lots of hip hop photos from the 80’s like ‘Back in the days’ by Jamel Shabazz (one of my personal favourites) but this as far as i know is the first that documents the scene here in Europe. It is nice to see there is also no shortage of photographs from England.

Each image has a short description next to it saying the year, place and who is in it, some also have a short comment by the person posing which is nice. At the end of the book is a short section (printed on turquoise paper) that includes some interviews one with DJ Supreme and stories from people including Martin Jones who was Goldies manager in the 80’s.

I’m sure all of you have pulled a pose in front of a piece at some point in time, although some of the poses in the is book are a little laughable I’m sure we could all learn a few new poses from this it. If your into books like a ‘A time before crack’ or you if you are interested in fashion from the 80’s then this book will make a nice addition to your book collection.

Cause We Got Style is published by Dokument Press also check out the website DopePose

Its nearing Christmas so I thought I would write a few books reviews so maybe you can ask for them from your mum or spend those book vouchers from Aunty Flora.
Anyway the first book review I am doing is of Justin Rollins book ‘The Lost Boyz’

‘The Lost Boyz’ is the true autobiographical story of Justin Rollins a.k.a 706 and his more than a little troubled path to manhood on the streets of South London. Where him and his gang (WZ) spent their time either on the street or in young offenders institutes for crimes ranging from robbery to GBH.

To be honest this book was not exactly what I thought it would be. I think the title ‘A Dark Side of Graffiti’ may be a little misleading in ways as, although the book does talk about graffiti a fair bit it is really more about young gangs in London and graffiti was just a by-product. This however does not make it any less of a good read as the life of Justin has been full of experiences most of us will never have and to be honest would never want. The name for his crew WZ which is short for Warriorz is fairly apt as their lives seem to resemble more closely the lives of Swan and his gang than your average graffiti writer.

The book is published by a Waterside Press which is basically a legal book publisher. So I have the feeling this is partly to educate people on the effects of childhood trauma. It isn’t a book for a bit of light bedtime reading as it will probably give you nightmares of kids drawing satanic signs on their walls with their own blood which will leave you running to your mum and dad’s bed crying.

If you are into graffiti and reading then I would definitely recommend the book. It is a good insight into what life was like for the neglected youth in South London in the 90’s. It’s not too long (160 pages) and there aren’t too many long words so you won’t have to reach for the dictionary every few words.

I enjoyed this book and I’m sure others will have as well. So hats off to Justin for managing to write a book and get it published at such a young age with very little education. Also if this book has helped people better understand some of the thousands of troubled and neglected youths that are currently incarcerated in our penal system then all the better.

I don’t claim to be any kind of movie buff, but i think even people who do not have much of an interest in the graffiti scene would find this film enjoyable. Having said that my girlfriend did seem to lose her concentration towards the end and distracted me therefore i missed a key part of the film, but don’t worry i watched it again. read the review after the jump.

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I got my new ILB&G tee in the post yesterday, real nice print quality and a REAL clean design.

You can get them from their online shop, or over at NotGuilty, where you get free stuff with most orders

I have been meaning to write this review of Alex Fakso’s second book, Fast or Die for quite a while now. Anyway i have finally got around to doing it so read the review after the jump.

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A good review over at NotGuilty, who also have some for sale.

‘I saw some cleaners sneaking towards Motiv, Solve and Cher, i tried to warn the guys but…

‘Do you want to paint the train?’ ‘Yes’ Really Big?’ ‘No Regular’ ‘Why dont you make it really big, more cleaning,

more money, if you need a ladder tell us!’

Well my copy of NG5 arrived in the post yesterday and i wasent disappointed. Not Guilty never seems to fail to get better with every issue.I’m not gonna post any photos of the content as there is enough of that already about on the net but this issue as usual has a nice mix of trains, sketches, handstyles and some really nice photography. Also the free stickers and postcards are a nice bonus aswell.
The bottom line is for under £5 you really cant go wrong. I’m looking forward to issue 6
go buy it here.