Constructive Destruction Vol 2

First thing I noticed about this 2^nd dvd from the constructive destruction guys, apart from having their own great theme tune!! is the inclusion of a lot more live painting footage, this makes it so much better than the first and keeps the interest level high. Some old favourites on this one again like Sento, Timber, Enter, Nace, Kerse and Apart and once again the choice of music, for me is a bit annoying, I’m an old man now and my ears cant take it like they used to but overall I do think this is a great dvd.

After some funny footage of an LA lady complaining about graffiti in her back yard and a brief intro of some rolling stock footage we hook up with the YNC crew and watch them painting, this is at night but the great thing is we go back the next day to check it out in the light, another night paint follows then its back the next day again to check it out, quite often in these types of movies you watch someone paint a car but don’t get to see the finished result cos its so dark, this makes a welcome change. After a bit more rolling footage with some better music we get a live paint in with Kreser, never heard of this guy before but he rocks it. Next there’s some night throwup action which aint that great but this is followed with 2 nice pieces painted by Ciao and Lime??. More rolling footage then a short section about “Phrite” R.I.P, bit more rolling with a great bit of music before we get to hear from the guy behind the “Southern Pacific Forever” books, this is a really interesting section , check his myspace…..

http://www.myspace.com/southernpacificforever

Next up is Sinek who paints a wall alone then a wall with Guilt, Strike and Urine, then he hits a Freight with some others whose names I can’t make out. This is followed by another section of rolling stock featuring Revok, Echoe, Kerse and Versot amongst others, but these were the ones that stood out for me.

Tucson gets a shout out from the Bronx legend Cope2, then there’s a section featuring more rolling stock, street bombing and a bikini clad model posing in front of a graffed up wall. Next up, Joins and Con paint an abandoned building, the pieces are sick but what I loved about this bit was the little effects going on in the foreground, the mixture of porn and animation on the tvs and the space invaders, nice touch. There’s some more street bombing mixed in with a bit of skating, some night time freight painting and we end with a selection of still photos of painted freights. Right at the end is a really funny bit, its an interview with Tribe on what looks like the coolest show on American TV “The Drop” I’m not gonna take the piss out of DJ Lady Tribe as I believe her brother is Tlok but the 2 guys she is with…… damn!! they just look like the baddest coolest cats around. This is what commercial hip hop looks like folks, you get down with ya bad self!!

Spacehop says 3.5 out of 5 hopstas… Would def watch this again, some great bits of live painting, this is still a Benchers DVD but with a little bit of something extra..

http://www.myspace.com/constructivexdestruction

Constructive destruction VOL 1

There are a number of Freight graff dvds out there at the moment, I was lucky enough to get my hands on four of them, here’s my review of the first….

Constructive destruction VOL 1

I like freights, there’s something about the way these old cars trundle across the good ol’ US of A that makes me want to go there, spend all day in a layup out in the middle of nowhere in the hot sun painting car after car, I don’t imagine it’s an easy thing to achieve but easier than say painting the Bucharest subway or hitting a clean train in New York City. Freights to me seem all about the fun side of graff, painting with your mates, having a beer and finding out someone 600 miles away has seen your stuff running, in this day and age it’s a welcome return to the old school values of graffiti i.e benching, collecting /trading flicks and meeting like minded people. There seems to be a respect for the giant box cars and engines that is rarely found elsewhere, writers know their “Golden Wests” from their “Tropicanas” or their “Reefers” from their “Rail boxes”, its almost on a level of…. dare I say it “trainspotting”!!! there’s a geekyness to all this that I love, there’s still the element of destruction but as the title of this first DVD suggests its “constructive”.

Basically this first Vol from the Construct guys is a benchers wet dream, living in Devon, UK, I cant really say I’ve got much experience of watching live art roll by, plenty of walls get covered but our freight trains are pretty much non existent so I’m grateful to the guys that go out there and get this footage so that the rest of the world can see it to. Having said that after I’d seen all the freights roll by and the movie was over I didn’t really want to watch it again but I guess this is the downside of watching a benching DVD. The quality of the footage and the graff is great, old favourites of mine like MBER, DIAR, GONER and ICH are all over this alongside to many more to mention here, I also liked the little flashes of naked ladies, which seems to be a welcome standard in most graff dvds these days, I thought the soundtrack was for the most pretty good but some of the tunes sounded like 1980s Heavy Metal, most of which wasn’t good then and def isn’t now. What little bits of live painting there is didn’t really impress me but it was good to see something different after watching 40 odd box cars go past. Essentially this is a great dvd but a bit of a one hit wonder, it’s not something that I would watch again and again, like for example “Affiti Grey” but it’s def worth checking out

Spacehop says 3 out of 5 Hopstas…. buy it if you love a bit of benching from…..

http://www.myspace.com/constructivexdestruction

Die Slow 2, history of violence, Keep six, Doug, Label, Surgen and now Big Miles return to give us more of the Canadian street bombing, freight hitting SDK experience. Like I said for D.S. Vol 1, I first found SDK on You tube with this vid of Keep 6 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_RqMQyBAIw&feature=channel_page

I thought this was a sign of great things to come but like the first DVD I just ain’t feeling it on this one either. It starts with some sped up shaky camera action that kind of made my head hurt as I tried to watch someone go around slapping up stickers, then, as if it was all building up to this moment… Doug puts 3 small tags up on a wall in broad daylight. I’m not saying this is lame just not what I expected after such a crazy build up. Keep six hits a freight next, it’s big and its silver (the piece not the freight) but the Keep six quality I was expecting just wasn’t there, he saves the day with his trademark “Keeper” tag though and then it’s straight into Doug hittin up the streets, the Pawn broker’s throwie is sick and it’s obvious this guy has got his letters down, Label comes next with some street and trackside tags and throwies, all good but a bit similar to the stuff from Vol.1. Then it’s Keep 6 with Nacs, they hit a freight and this time he’s on point.

After a brief intro to new boy Big Miles it’s back to more LBL throws followed by Surgen hitting freights but like Keep’s first silver, this gold piece just don’t do it for me, the silver piece that follows ain’t much better, WUFC SDK this is not. After a few minutes of nightime footage that reveals a STOMPDOWN KILLERS huge roadside silver there are some still pictures of the work of Big Miles, the pics look great but then we see him paint with Surgen in a freight yard sandwiched between to trains which means you never get to see the finished piece which is annoying after watching them paint it. Label returns with another ok silver freight then we get to see what Big Miles can do, he seems to like writing “Tax This” everywhere and like all the SDK guys his handstyle is amazing but as a piecer, for me, it’s not that great, the SDK are bombers, they get up and get up everywhere for which they deserve extra credit but wether this is enough to make a dvd out of I’m still unsure. Next is a section featuring Nacs who produces the best thing on the DVD so far, a huge silver and black piece but then its back to Big Miles and his hand styles followed by a session with Nacs and Surgen at the freight yard, it’s obvious that these guys can paint so I don’t know if they got nervous being filmed or something but once again I aint feeling it. Next we go on a boat cruise (no really!) Where the SDK have some fun drawing on a selection of lovely ladies and then apart from some more footage of Surgen tagging that’s about it!!

To sum up, like I said the SDK are bombers and they do the whole writing on freight trains and road sides in broad daylight really well, they’re definitely hardcore but I get the feeling this has gone to their heads and what we get as a result is a dvd about how “hard” they are, how much weed they smoke, how much whiskey they drink and how many ladies they can get on their boat to draw on rather than just showing off the skills they obviously have, I think they have been sucked into the whole gangster lifestyle a bit to much and they come across as a bit wannabe, that said though when I bought the DVD it did come with a fly “silver” chain which I will definitely wear the next time I go Gang Bangin!!

3 out of 5 Hopsta’s ….think about buying it if you like bombing or you want a fly “silver” chain.

Another Review of InFamy, found online........

HOW DID WE GET FROM THE PYRAMIDS TO THE PROJECTS ?!: THIS IS ME...I WAS HERE...FUCK YOU (a/k/a my INFAMY DVD REVIEW)

HARD KNOCKS THE SUBWAY EDITION

I was really interested in this as its a limited edition dvd, only 500 (legal) copies were made and I was curious to know what all the fuss was about, luckily the German branch of Spacehop.50g lent me a copy for review so here's what I think.

It makes a change to watch a dvd like this that features the same format of breaking into a yard or entering a tunnel that doesnt have the usual shaky camera, to dark to see, blurry footage. Instead the majority of this is really well shot, you can see that the guy behind the camera has thought out each section and there's a lot of planning gone into this dvd, the "actions" are filmed well, given the circumstances, but it's the bits inbetween that I like the most. The quality of the graff is impressive and consistant, featuring many differant artists and crews including, 35ers, Abis78, Acer, Acid, Amik, Azur, BAD, Bead, BSK, Burn, City, CMD, DGB, Dose, DRM, Drops, Dust, Ecsit, FCKW, Feat, Fery, FLS, Gamble, Hisk, HIV, Kaktus, Kird, Kitch, MRN, Nash, Pais, Plus, Puma, RBS, Rely, Roka, Roy, Shus, Siba, Sien, Skey, Skid,Smart, Soe, Sok, Tesa, TFZ, THC, Tin, Trus, Tuff, Tvisd, Type, Way, Zack. This is essentially two movies in one, the first concentrates on Berlins subway system while the secound deals with the MTA system of New York, allways good to see panels running there especially in 2008!! The run time is 1hour and 34 mins which i did think was a little bit long, but thats just because even if it was shot by Speilburg, there's only so much.... enter a yard, paint a train, leave yard, photograph in traffic, my mind can take It would really benefit from some commentary over the footage like in Dirty Handz 3. Without this it does get a bit boring, a train in a tunnel tends to look the same the world over, well worth a watch though.

Spacehop says 4 out of 5 Hopsta's. Don't watch on You Tube, BUY IT!!!
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FukGRAFF3

This description is from the Bombing Science website www.bombingscience.com

60 min.- Live bombing, live bombing and more live bombing... this is what you will see in Fuk Graff #3! This DVD is completely dedicated to NYC bombers, with footage with Haeler, Sev, Cano, Facet, Ques, Hektic and many others. A must have if you like dirty NYC bombing!

Overall this aint that great, it's watching stuff like this that makes me not like graffiti, it seems you don't need a lot of skill to be a bomber in New York at least not according to this DVD, It starts ok with Seu1, Cano and Deco but then it all goes a bit downhill and the quality of throwups get worse and worse as we go along, Tease saves it at the end but only because of the variety of footage of him bombing. The DVD features 18 "Bombers" and the format is the same for all except Tease. Each person gets about 2 mins in which they do a throwup, done at nightime in what I think is meant to be "hot" spots but I've a feeling theyre not, mixed in with this footage is some flicks which again are not that great and I was bored after 30 mins, after 45mins I was ready to slit wrists, Ive watched Fuk Graf1 on google and thought it was ok but I wont be getting anymore in this series. Lifes to short.

Spacehop says 1 out of 5 Hopsta's. This sucks!!! Buy at your own risk.

Infamy

This description is from the Bombing Science website www.bombingscience.com

Take an intense journey into the dangerous lives and obsessed minds of six of America's most prolific graffiti artists: Claw, Earsnot, Enem, Jase, Saber and Toomer. Directed by acclaimed filmmaker Doug Pray (Hype! and Scratch) who teamed up with writer publisher and graffiti guru Roger Gastman the movie takes you deep into the world of street legends Saber Toomer Jase Claw Earsnot and Enem. With brutal honesty humor and charisma these artists reveal why they are so willing to risk everything to spray paint their cities with "tags" "throwups" and full-color murals. You'll also meet Joe "The Graffiti Guerilla" Connolly a notorious "buffer" who paints out graffiti on his neighborhood's walls with a vengeance matched only by those who vandalized them. From the streets of the South Bronx to the solitude of a San Francisco tunnel from high atop a Hollywood billboard to North Philadelphia for a lesson in "Philly-style tags" from the Mexican border to a Cleveland train yard Infamy doesn't analyze or glorify graffiti... it takes you there and brings it to life.

This is great, well worth the money, I cant fault this movie, It's really well put together, at 90mins long never gets boring, everyone featured is a legend and the interviews are really interesting and funny. The 5 finger discount king Earsnot cracks me up with lines like " There are some things that I just WILL NOT pay for, I won't pay for any type of Gore Tex jacket or any kind of meat"!!!! The massive Toomer getting interviewed with his mum is a classic as is the story of Jase's trip to the docs and the fact he used to write "Master" but stopped because people wrote "Bater" underneath. Enem's handstyle is amazing to watch, anyone who thinks there's no skill in tagging , look and learn. Saber, is Saber, unbelievabley talented but modest with it, Claw easily rocks spots in the Bronx and beyond with Miss 17 that would make the most hardcore male bomber a bit twitchy and who wouldnt want Joe Connolly cleaning up their neighbourhood??

Spacehop says 5 out of 5 Hopsta's!!

I dont need to say anymore, just buy it!!!