I was a loner as a kid…

and I lived in a rough neighborhood, surrounded by trains and industrial grit, plagued by drugs, violence, and racial tension. I was mesmerized by the colors and the words that were scribed onto these metal boxes in and out of reach. This curiosity flourished within me, and those boxes soon became a visual handshake inviting me into the world of Buffalo graffiti.

Still, I spent my creative days alone

…in front of one box, then another, creating my existence from an aerosol can. Buffalo graffiti kept me away from the demons plaguing my neighborhood in The Old First Ward. Spray paint was a friendly darkness that camouflaged me. The only sounds that were allowed in my world were the screeches of moving rail cars on the rusted tracks, and the beat of old school hip hop that entranced me long enough so I could create my way through the night. A Tribe Called Quest, Brand Nubians, Gangstarr, and others provided rhythm for my artistic strokes. This graffiti artform and its soundtrack guided me through life, allowing me to avoid the pain of a future addiction, a cell block, and, in many ways, a casket.

I eventually escaped my Old First Ward neighborhood and left my city to see the world and cultivate my life.

I still carried with me a pride of my blue collar neighborhood, and I eventually returned to my city. Today I create whenever possible. I gave a gift to my neighborhood, a mural depicting its storied history. Its been my largest wall to date and the process alone was a journey. I remember playing my soundtrack and looking back on my earlier days, when graffiti kept me from harm on the very tracks my wall sits on. I give back in this same way to other neighborhoods by providing splashes of color to inspire other young Buffalo graffiti artists, and young artists in general, who may be blinded by blight. I have come to realize that without my art and the neighborhood that taught me to survive, I would not be able to break through the darkness and the fog, all with the shake of an aerosol can.