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Brim Fuentes, is the founding member of graffiti crew TATS CRU, and was born in the South Bronx, New York City. Brim was fortunate enough to start writing graffiti in one of the most important periods of graffiti history. He began bombing and hitting New York City Subway trains, in the late 1970s, all the way through to the mid-1980s. After the trains were cleaned in 1989 he and the rest of TATS CRU took to the streets and began bombing and creating street art all over the city.
Brim's friendship to Afrika Bambaataa, and the almighty Universal Zulu Nation led to Brim being featured in one of the most important videos in hip-hop culture, "Afrika Bambaataa - Renegades of Funk",
Brim was also featured in many other important documentaries and movies about Hip-Hop and graffiti culture from that time period including Dick Fontaine's 1987 documentary "Bombin" where he was introduced to fellow British graffiti artists Goldie and 3D (who later went on to form Massive Attack) . [1] Brim became Goldie's artistic mentor, New York was the place that lifted his horizons, and America was where he would later become "Goldie". [2]
Brim was documented as the first graffiti artist to come to the UK and appeared on many TV stations and newspapers including the front page of The Daily Telegraph discussing this graffiti culture. Upon this media frenzy Brim was invited to lecture at Oxford University and was asked personally by Michael Winner to create the backdrops in his film Death Wish 3 which starred Charles Bronson.
The prequel to this film was BBC'S 1984 Beat This: A Hip-Hop History The film included footage from DJ Kool Herc's original parties, The Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay, Soul Sonic Force and Afrika Bambaataa. The film featured Brim's take on graffiti in New York. The film was one of the first documentaries about Hip-Hop.
Brim would go on to form a clothing line FJ560 with then famous rapper and friend Fat Joe The flagship store was located in the Bronx, New York City. Fat Joe, The Terror Squad and Big Pun can be seen in many videos wearing FJ560. Fat Joe would paint with TATS CRU before he was a famous rapper.
Brim and TATS CRU would be heavily involved with advertisement for Fat Joe and created painted billboards across the city promoting his album releases. By becoming such an iconic figure in the world of art he received a mention alongside other TATS CRU members in the KRS-One track "Out For Fame". On the passing of Big Pun, TATS CRU painted the memorial wall that is visited daily; Brim is currently working on the Big Pun statue project that will create a 3D memorial wall in honor of the late Big Pun
Brim currently lives in China.
Fred Brathwaite, more popularly known as Fab 5 Freddy, is an American visual artist, filmmaker, and hip hop pioneer. He is considered one of the architects of the street art movement. Freddy emerged in New York's downtown underground creative scene in the late 1970s as a graffiti artist. He was the bridge between the burgeoning uptown rap scene and the downtown No Wave art scene. He was immortalized in 1981 when Debbie Harry rapped on the Blondie song "Rapture" that "Fab 5 Freddy told me everybody's fly." In the late 1980s, Freddy became the first host of the groundbreaking hip-hop music video show Yo! MTV Raps.
The Universal Zulu Nation is an international hip hop awareness group formed by and formerly led by hip hop artist Afrika Bambaataa.
Beat Street is a 1984 American dance drama film featuring New York City hip hop culture of the early 1980s. Set in the South Bronx, the film follows the lives of a pair of brothers and their group of friends, all of whom are devoted to various elements of early hip hop culture, including breakdancing, DJing and graffiti.
Richard Colón, better known by his stage name Crazy Legs, is an American b-boy who was featured in the earliest stories on hip hop dancing to appear in mainstream press, and as president of the Rock Steady Crew brought the form to London and Paris in 1983. Today he is also involved in community outreach, dance instruction, and dance theater productions. He has appearanced in fiction films and documentaries. Crazy Legs is current president of the Rock Steady Crew.
Bio is the tagger name of Wilfredo Feliciano. He started painting graffiti on New York City Subway in 1980, and is one of the founding members of the TATS CRU.
Wild Style is a 1983 American hip hop film directed and produced by Charlie Ahearn. Regarded as the first hip hop motion picture, it includes appearances by seminal figures such as Fab Five Freddy, Lee Quiñones, Lady Pink, The Rock Steady Crew, The Cold Crush Brothers, Queen Lisa Lee of Zulu Nation, Grandmaster Flash and ZEPHYR.
Melvin Glover, better known by his stage name Grandmaster Melle Mel or simply Melle Mel, is an American rapper who was the lead vocalist and songwriter of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five.
Hip hop or hip-hop is a culture and art movement that was created by African Americans pioneered from Black American street culture, also known as hip hop African American culture, that had been around for years prior to its more mainstream discovery while later reaching other groups such as Latino Americans and Caribbean Americans, starting in the Bronx, New York City. Hip Hop is one of cultural movements that has been shaped and dominated by African American males though female hip hop artists have contributed to the art form and culture as well. Hip hop culture is characterized by the key elements of rapping, DJing and turntablism, and breakdancing. Other elements include historical knowledge of the movement, graffiti, beatboxing, street entrepreneurship, hip hop language, and hip hop fashion.
John Byas, also known as The Original Jazzy Jay or DJ Jazzy Jay, is an American hip hop DJ and producer.
Beat This: A Hip-Hop History is a 1984 BBC documentary film about hip-hop culture, directed by Dick Fontaine. The cast includes Afrika Bambaataa, DJ Kool Herc — the film includes footage from Herc's original dance parties — The Cold Crush Brothers, Jazzy Jay, Brim Fuentes, and The Dynamic Rockers. It is narrated by Imhotep Gary Byrd. Originally part of the Arena television series, it was among the first crop of documentaries about hip-hop.
Luis Cedeño, more commonly known as DJ Disco Wiz is an American DJ.
Clive Campbell, better known by his stage name DJ Kool Herc, is a Jamaican American DJ who is a pioneer of hip hop music in the Bronx, New York City, in the 1970s. Nicknamed the Father of Hip-Hop, Campbell began playing hard funk records of the sort typified by James Brown.
Paul Winley Records Inc. was a doo-wop record label founded in 1956 that, in 1979, became one of the earliest hip hop labels. It was situated on 125th Street, Harlem, New York City. Winley released doo-wop by The Paragons and The Jesters, and hip hop records by Paul Winley's daughters, Tanya and Paulette, produced by Winley's wife, Ann. The label can lay claim to a number of firsts: one of the earliest rock and roll compilations, one of the earliest breaks compilations, an early solo female rap artist and an early instance of social commentary in rap. Winley was also the first label to record one of hip hop's most important figures, Afrika Bambaataa.
Lance Taylor, also known as Afrika Bambaataa, is an American DJ, rapper, and producer from the South Bronx, New York. He is notable for releasing a series of genre-defining electro tracks in the 1980s that influenced the development of hip hop culture. Afrika Bambaataa is one of the originators of breakbeat DJing.
Tats Cru, Inc. is a group of Bronx-based graffiti artists turned professional muralists. The current members of Tats Cru are Bio, BG183, Nicer, HOW, and NOSM. Tats Cru were founded by Brim, Bio, BG183 and Nicer.
Joseph Robert Saddler, popularly known by his stage name Grandmaster Flash, is a Barbadian DJ and producer. He created a DJ technique called the Quick Mix Theory. This technique serviced the break-dancer and the rapper by elongating the drum breaks through the use of duplicate copies of vinyl. This technique gave birth to cutting and scratching. It also gave rappers better music with a seamless elongated bed of beats to speak on. He also invented the slipmat.
Graffiti in New York City has had a substantial local, national, and international influence.
Hip Hop Family Tree is a series of educational and historical comic books written and illustrated by Ed Piskor that documents the early history of hip hop culture. Originating online with Boing Boing, the series was published in print form by Fantagraphics Books. The first collection was a 2014 New York Times Graphic Books Best Seller (#7) and was listed in The Washington Post Top 10 graphic novels of 2013. The second collection won the Eisner Award for Best Reality-Based Work in 2015.
The South Bronx is an area of the New York City borough of the Bronx. The area comprises neighborhoods in the southern part of the Bronx, such as Concourse, Mott Haven, Melrose, and Port Morris.
Buddy Esquire was the most well-known show flyer artist in the Bronx in the early days of hip-hop, from 1978 to 1982. He was self-taught and learned drawing and typography principles from books at his local library. Graffiti, Japanese anime, superhero comics, and Art Deco architecture were among his influences. Grandmaster Flash, Afrika Bambaataa, Kool Herc, the Funky 4 Plus 1, and the Cold Crush Brothers were among the hip-hop legends whose early performances were advertised on his flyers. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Buddy Esquire's visual styles helped to set the tone for hip-hop. His flyers are some of the only primary materials relating to the earliest developments of what is now the world's most popular music genre, aside from their striking graphic elements. Many of his work used jukeboxes and historic theater marquees as inspiration. His work featured sharp chiaroscuro shapes as well as a playful tension between lettering, photographs, and decorations.