Hip hop culture exists here in very strange forms; strictly Russian but a bit perverted. So goes Graffiti since it is a part of it. Most people here don't know what hip hop culture is. They just know some rap music like Onyx or Cypress Hill. 90% of all kids (rappers) here wear some clothes with the Onyx label. They look like clowns. There are only a few people break dancing here and they've got nobody to compete with... no battling DJ's - but this is mostly because of money. People earn money spinning rave and jungle, but not hip hop. It's good that many people write some lyrics though, but they still have big problems with good beats....

It's very hard to find any graffiti here (pieces or even tags). A few people in the city (I'm from St. Petersburg) have their tag-names but even less of them are writing pieces. The oldest pieces that  I've seen were done by WOLF in the middle 80's. Just a few people know about them, especially since they're located in a section quite far from the city. Besides nobody really gives a #$%& about graffiti here.

The first people who starting doing rare but quite constant pieces in '96 were: SPP crew, MCA, MADEYE aka RU, ZAAF, FUZE. Eventually MCA and RU became the BCM clik. After that AQUA joined FUZE and they started the GHOSTS CREW. RU started to write MAIN.

There's a guy here named DJ K-FEAR; he's said to be the best writer here. That's what they "said"? (I dare to admit). I've only seen two legal pieces by him and there wasn't much expressed...

So what we've got now are three crews in 6 mln city: SPP (3 persons), BCM (2 persons), GHOSTS CREW (2 persons) plus a few single writers whose works appear occasionally like once a year. Basically you can walk for hours around the city and see no tags at all.

The paint most used here is ABRO, being that it is the cheapest. It costs about $2.50 per can and they've got only a few colors (primary colors only) and the texture of the paint is very shifty (transparent and looks very faded). Of course we've got no caps, graff mags, books, videos.... nothing!

I think the reason why we writers in the world write is for self-expression and to get fame (but this also depends..). Only true writers survive here, spending their poor money for paint, but not only for beer, vodka, weed and shit...

Many people are lazy. They just can't get off their asses to do anything, even when they say that they like graffiti!  With my help and support, some people have tried to write at least once but its still not something that everybody likes. I guess it has to come from deep inside you.. not just doing it because it's fashionable or the hip thing to do..

By the way, graffiti's popularity here has grown very quickly. Since the Competition in June'97 in St. Petersburg the SPP crew has become well known in the city as the "best graffiti crew". They've even been invited to paint some rave stores' walls for money...

The train scene here almost doesn't exist. The lazy mu'$#'/.kaz don't understand why they cant write shit in their backyards, why it's necessary to go somewhere to endstations, wasting their time... just only doing simple things. [remember that BCM train??? it's probably the one and only Russian train maybe], underground trains never got hit, as far as I know.

What purpose does Graffiti serve?
The purpose of graffiti varies from country to country, it depends on the country and the times. Graffiti can be aimed from political purposes (not pre-electional shit though =)) to doin it "just for myself". Its just like some other things in hip hop: it can be learning people of some thoughts, philosophy, not doing bad things, it can be just self-expression, showing your skillz, styles, getting fame, acknowledgment for your professionalism. However there are two things: quantity and quality! One can get props for his piece or tag on every street in city or something, or for not many pieces but for really skilled works. Two things are good, but every writer got to have and must constantly work out his own style!! These are facts that everybody knows I guess. It's cool when people do something really extraordinary - either doing pieces in places hard to get to or doing some very big pieces. I like it when any extreme is in it. It's like when the one man said (some featured old-school writer) "In the city, graffiti shows where it hurts!".. he said.

But here in Russia we don't have it like that. People are just doing the first steps, copying already done...learning.

Is Graffiti an Art Form?
Of course it's an art form! But as it confronts the societies rules it will always be wrong in some peoples understanding.

 When I've been to Finland I was unable to see many pieces but  it seemed to me that Finland has its own styles. Yes they were different, but in the meantime there was like one Finnish style. Probably every country has its own styles. Italy's got its own style and so does the USA. Its the same with Russia, we've got styles that you will only see here.

What is the penalty for "getting up" in Russia, if you are caught?
This is something so rare that I think that every cop can think up his own penalty. By the way I've never heard of somebody getting caught in action. Once we were stopped by some cops when carrying some cans in a bag. They searched us, asked what is it for (in general), what is it we are going to use the cans for etc.? I don't know, we don't have any laws here against "graffiti" but I think officially if you were caught you'd have to pay fines for damaging public property.

How did Graf find its way into Russia?
I don't know?? Russia was closed to any western cultures including hip hop. We had our first breaking crews even back in the day, some people had brought in some stuff from abroad. I don't know, we had some MTV videos .... One of the first things I ever heard about hip hop was MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice...... but I never liked them both. At that time I actually knew nothing about graffiti. I don't remember how I knew about graffiti. I saw it sometimes in hip hop videos. I heard some things from other people but I never saw it live here.

Do you think of Graffiti as a western idea or as an idea that expresses something about who you are and says something about your culture?
It can be universal but at the same time its very different. I mean everybody can do it if they really want to do it.

What does Graffiti say about what is happening in Russia today?
Nothing. It's all about so-called hip hop or I don't know. Everybody has their own feelings about what is hip hop. Many people associate it with guns or drugs. Well weed is something that people understand in any country. You always see characters with smoking dudes..

Are there any International Graffiti Art Legends work that you admire?
I've downloaded tons of flixs, but only some of them do I really admire. It's hard to name them personally.

Where do you see Graffiti headed in the future?
I think that hip hop and graffiti must display the wrong sides of life and criticize the ugly sides of society or just be a beautiful artfbrm.

As an artist, where do you feel that you will be in 10 years?
I will do my best to stay true to the hip hop culture. I'm not only a writer, I do some DJing for myself and I have to develop both of them.

Are you happy with your life?
My life in general? No! But its great that I can do things like that. Living hip hop is taking most of the time in my life now, even though I'm still a student.

Describe your typical day in Russia?
It depends on if I have to study this day or not. I go to St. Petersburg if I have to study. I live in the small suburb of Gatchina (40 km, about 1 hour by train) and the Institutes are located in the big cities.  I also go to the city for many other reasons.

Still I spend much of my time at my computer making hip hop beats browsing the net, IRC(intemet relay chat) on the Graffiti Channel. Personally I have gained much knownledge from the internet (I have had the Internet since '96).The Internet is something that I'm busy at nights with from 12.00PM till 2-5AM in the morning. Then I get up at 1 or 2PM when my father comes home for dinner.I'm often walking in the city trying to find out different things from many people (we have a hip hop center organization. People who work there sell Gemini DJ equipment and actually not into hip hop at all. They can't tell you nothing about the equipment that they sell. They are strictly businessmen! Its in my plans to DJ, I currently have some vinyl (16 not many), that I gathered from many different places/people. We don't have hip hop vinyl here at all! I want to make something big, and I'm always moving to this...

Is the Idea of "Freedom of Expression" important in your life?
Yes! I always feel like creating something and really don't see that graffiti spoils something ... I just hate lazy people.

In Russia are there any women in Graff?
Maybe,I can't speak for all of Russia but in my experience I never heard of such.