Estria Graffiti Battle 2009 (Update)

Vogue TDK ?CREW 2009 Estria Graffiti Battle National Champion

Congratulations to Vogue TDK/?Crew on winning the 3rd Annual Estria Graffiti Battle! (Katch of Hawaii took 2nd)! Last Saturday, 20 graff writers from across the country came out to Lil' Bobby Hutton Park, aka Defermery Park in West Oakland to paint for the National finals of this now annual community event. The graff battle is a part of the Life is Living festival which featured Dj Sake One, performances by Kev Choice, Pharoah Monch, The Mighty 4 B-Boy Battle, and Town Park Skatejam. Yeah, it was a zoo!
Each writer was given 13 cans (Montana 94) to paint an 8'X8' canvas stretched on wooden cubes strewn across the park which was packed with community people on a really good vibe. Writers were given the word "Grow" to freestyle, manifiest, and inspire the community that's watching and interacting during the 5 hour time limit to complete work (it was tough for people like me who are from Oakland, stopping every 30 seconds to hit up a kids blackbook or give pounds and hugs to the fam). Every painter went went super hard this year, making this year's throwdown one for the books!

Since I didn't get to leave the confines of my cube, I'm glad my patna Scott LaRockwell did a bang-up job documenting the day, CHECK IT OUT. Some good shots in the SF Weekley blog too.

Refa TNS's piece was extra dope!

Big thanks to Estria/Bamuthi/Crew and all the volunteers for bringing it all together! This has quickly become my favorite annual community event! Stay up!

Oakland Wall of Fame Update

Beat Street/B-Boy Interlude- The Roots

Meut One TDK, Soul TDK, portrait by Amend TDK

Dream's Tattoos of fallen brothers PakOne TDK and PlanBee 11-5 By Spie TDK

J Dilla- Anti-Amerikkkan Graffiti

Vogue TDK reps an original style... wholly shit.

PakOne R.I.P. by Spie TDK, TMC, FC, IRIE POSSE

Chino BYI rep'n NYC!

Original style innovators, Mark Bode character, Stan 153

Young buck Daz flexes on the Meeting of Styles section of the wall.

Tall homies are the last to Rock, we gotta sew the backgrounds together and it's a wrap! Apologies to those not featured, promise I'll get you up, the shadows were too much for my sidekick... booooo.

More from Oakland's Wall of Fame. Stay tuned for a massive post once it's all said and done... Shit is lookin DOPE. The wall is almost a QUARTER MILE long with many of the Nation's freshest writers rocking styles in memory of Mike "Dream" Francisco, Oakland's favorite son and style master who was tragically murdered in February of 2000. The wall is a tribute by his comrades that helped Mike put Oakland/Bay Area Graffiti on the map. Keep an eye out for the opening party throwdown coming soon!

Ps... the banner image for this blog is a pic of one of my old pieces the day before painting began on this huge project. The wall was so caked with hundreds of burners that it was falling off in huge beautiful chips that had to be pressure washed off and primed. Big up to young Kufu 2!
-wm.