Expect sparks when two crews collide. Fills get abstract, characters pose, outlines pop, shines burst and backgrounds flare yet the real stress causing graff foreheads to pucker is not the law or the pikeys robbing cans…it’s the clock!
Two of London’s finest, TRP with CEPTs’s galactic concepts, SNOE’s awesome fills and BRK’s letters bump up against ID crew. ID rock up understrength, shorthanded; 2 v 4, no chance surely.
Dr Food rocks the decks while Pure Evil whips it up on mic, Strongroom Alive pumps it out into internet world. Time is running out, the ID character is looking rocky, TRP smoke up a flaming background, Judge A was thinking TRP but now thinks ID, Judge B changes his mind constantly.
TRP – the can that shines
10 minutes to go, large piece of blank background on the ID side, a character remains a fuzzy exploration in muddy colours while TRP dink shines off corners and outline their Bode characters. Perhaps in sympathy for the overwhelmed ID boys, TRP step up to fill in the cactus on ID territory marking the boundary between the two pieces. From a perch in the shade it looks like a lot of pressure.
Heat and aerosol fumes drive dogs mad and Englishmen to beer. ID’s piece is partially obscured by a large awning while BRK feels at home in the almost Mediterranean conditions. An Extra 15 minutes is decreed by the judges.
Whistle! Goddamn, a reminder of a football match is the last thing I needed having hotfooted it over from seeing my team spanked 0-5 at home just a couple of hours earlier. The audience whoop-ometer is pretty inclusive, people just like cheering like pavlovian beerhounds. Three judges step forward. Andy from Stussy, a dude with a pedigree graff alter ego plumps for ID, feeling that completing the character then getting an outline round that made it pop wins the day. Pure Evil, colour lover, sides with TRP. All down to the third judge who extols the virtues of both pieces in a pretty even-handed way before going for ID!!! Wooooooooo wooooo wooooooooo.
Interestingly, hardly anyone could read what the writing actually said so I am grateful for one of the writers telling me what the two crews wrote was “Can You Feel The Force”, TRP piecing “FEEL” and ID writing “FORCE”.
Them judges had a pretty hard call to make. ID’s medallion wearing character, hands spread wide came together right at the end though the late addition of shine to the character was a backward step. The 4 man TRP produced a more polished looking piece and a sweet background not to mention joiner arrows with nice fill leaks. However ID’s letters popped a bit better off their flatter plain red background. Neither crew’s work is up to the usual standards expected of these crews when piecing down a HOF or jam, blame the time pressure, probably. Tough decision, who cares, chill and enjoy. Could be worse, could have been stuck down an airless rabbit hole under a train track.
