Section of "Elite Operations" from my unpublished memoir...
Chapter 6 1986 The Saga Continues
Saga was such a powerful name, he would always tell me, “The Saga Continues!” But Saga did not start off as Saga—his first graffiti name was Maze. I mostly saw his tag name on busses and sometimes and only sometimes around the neighborhood. Like many writers, including Oops and Saga, they would hardly tag around their own neighborhood for of fear of being exposed by nosey parents and non-graffiti writers. Richie was of Japanese descent, but he was a straight up bboy, break-dancer and graffiti writer. He was a smart kid who went to a top High School and his parents owned a grocery store in our neighborhood. Richie would hang out with other bboy’s in other neighborhoods, but he would from time to time hang out with us and show us some of his latest breaking moves. Richie was also a big influence in my graffiti career, and I considered him a hero in my life. If it weren’t for genuine and good people like him I would’ve turned out to be a menace those around me—including myself. His parents also employed me at their store. I would help out at the grocery store during my summer vacations, which allowed me to stay away from real trouble. They looked out for me time after time. Thanks for saving my life Mr. and Mrs. Morimoto.
I would hang out with Saga at his home and watch him sketch and break-dance. We often drew while listening to Whodini, Skinny Boys and LL Cool J. Saga was my inspiration for many things. He was living the hip-hop, bboy lifestyle. Saga visited NYC in early 1987—he brought back many things hip-hop—so much that I almost pissed in my pants. First, he went to the Times Square train station and snapped up photos of the last remaining graffiti painted trains. The subway system was still rocked with tags and pieces and throw-ups. There was graffiti on every train. He took pictures of old school Quik, Cope, Arsen and Dust throw-ups and a Zepher tag on a wall. Saga was also able to record the latest rap songs from KISS-FM—a prominent and legendary NYC radio station. Finally, he learned some new pop locking and breaking moves from some of the breakers at Times Square. When he came back from NYC, I spent many hours at his home, I wanted to hold the graffiti photos and I wanted to hear those rap songs. Saga had a Sony double cassette red radio with the latest gadgets and we would create our own jams, record our own rap songs and recite satire shows. All this from the music and beats he brought from NYC that we mixed and recorded together. It was fresh to hear NYC raps in their rawness and early years.
Saga was such a powerful name, he would always tell me, “The Saga Continues!” But Saga did not start off as Saga—his first graffiti name was Maze. I mostly saw his tag name on busses and sometimes and only sometimes around the neighborhood. Like many writers, including Oops and Saga, they would hardly tag around their own neighborhood for of fear of being exposed by nosey parents and non-graffiti writers. Richie was of Japanese descent, but he was a straight up bboy, break-dancer and graffiti writer. He was a smart kid who went to a top High School and his parents owned a grocery store in our neighborhood. Richie would hang out with other bboy’s in other neighborhoods, but he would from time to time hang out with us and show us some of his latest breaking moves. Richie was also a big influence in my graffiti career, and I considered him a hero in my life. If it weren’t for genuine and good people like him I would’ve turned out to be a menace those around me—including myself. His parents also employed me at their store. I would help out at the grocery store during my summer vacations, which allowed me to stay away from real trouble. They looked out for me time after time. Thanks for saving my life Mr. and Mrs. Morimoto.
I would hang out with Saga at his home and watch him sketch and break-dance. We often drew while listening to Whodini, Skinny Boys and LL Cool J. Saga was my inspiration for many things. He was living the hip-hop, bboy lifestyle. Saga visited NYC in early 1987—he brought back many things hip-hop—so much that I almost pissed in my pants. First, he went to the Times Square train station and snapped up photos of the last remaining graffiti painted trains. The subway system was still rocked with tags and pieces and throw-ups. There was graffiti on every train. He took pictures of old school Quik, Cope, Arsen and Dust throw-ups and a Zepher tag on a wall. Saga was also able to record the latest rap songs from KISS-FM—a prominent and legendary NYC radio station. Finally, he learned some new pop locking and breaking moves from some of the breakers at Times Square. When he came back from NYC, I spent many hours at his home, I wanted to hold the graffiti photos and I wanted to hear those rap songs. Saga had a Sony double cassette red radio with the latest gadgets and we would create our own jams, record our own rap songs and recite satire shows. All this from the music and beats he brought from NYC that we mixed and recorded together. It was fresh to hear NYC raps in their rawness and early years.
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