Interview and images are © copyright 2006 NCT crew, Dsyple and Aprocks.
Note from Art Crimes: Almost everything else on Art Crimes is about the artistic aspects of graffiti. NCT, while also very artistic, is more about visual takeover. It is important to represent this aspect of writing in a website about graffiti art. The Los Angeles scene is most often misunderstood by outsiders, so it's also crucial to let its members tell it like it is.
NCT comes out of Southern California and Los Angeles, a city that is unique in many ways. It's a place where almost everyone seems to have a car and a gun, and most things are cheap and expensive at the same time. Home of Hollywood, fame is The Only Game In Town. Well, that and the church of plastic surgery. Until recently L.A. had no train system, and it'll be centuries before the system catches up to the commute, so the 9 million or so inhabitants get on the crazy highway system there and create legendary traffic jams. So naturally, some writers hit the freeways, because that's where everyone else is.
For the record, Art Crimes deplores the painting of freeway signs in general, especially the fronts, especially in LA, because it's ridiculously dangerous to climb signs and overpasses. Someone was shot off an LA freeway sign very recently, and of course, falling into moving traffic is deadly as well, to say nothing of the razorwire that spirals up the sign poles. It is also a felony to hit the freeways, and you can go to jail for nearly forever in California for a couple of felonies. And painting over freeway signs makes people get lost, which can cause panic and accidents. It's dangerous for everyone. Don't try this at home! This article is presented for informational purposes only. You have been warned.
NEW warning: 2 young men in Atlanta were charged in 2007 for painting freeway signs and now they face a possible 15-21 YEARS in prison. Let's hope they get a lawyer, and in the meantime, you stay off the freeway signs.
AP (Aprocks): What is the meaning of NCT?
Fuct: Nightmares Come True.
AP: What is NCT's history in Los Angeles and how long has it been bombing?
Sex: Been around since 1997. It originated in San Diego and I got recruited by those heads in 2000 ... after that in 2001 I put down EAS, IBIS, AKTR, FUCT, and JUMP and that was our team.... ever since then we been fucking it up.
AP: Do u feel NCT is respected among other veteran LA crews?
Fuct: The way I feel is that we are respected but we are also hated.
Sex: I think that we are hated only because we are doing stuff that other foos haven't done. Since like the fucken Wisk and Ser era and shit.. those foos pioneered heavens and shit.. and then other foos came along like Zes, Futur, Rask, And Meko ... but we have to deal with all the barbed wires and all that shit.. its rougher for us now.. I've seen my crew fall off shit, jump off heavens, chased off heavens, shot at ... all that good stuff
Fuct: Got broken legs broken arms ...
AP: Why did u guys decide to hit heavens so hard?
Aktr: I used to see CAB and all that old skool shit... and I said I think that's where the fucken shit is at. And as soon as I started hitting heavens I noticed I started getting more props and I was like FUCK YEAH this is what I am going to stick to.
Sex: I used to see Chaka and Oiler on backs and ... then Gkae did an interview on Fox 11 ... after that fucken interview i got so fucken hyped.... And finally one night we said let's hit that shit... one year we got around like fucken 40 heavens half of those on the front... with full colors, big shit... none of that stupid lil tags or throwies on there.
Fuct: I felt like we would get more respect by hitting that and letting people know we were here to stay. That we were not going to disappear and that we were not just one-hit wonders... we are going to come in strong and stay strong...
AP: who's had the sickest heaven?
Sex: Fuck that's a fucken tough one dog from all the fronts...to all the top to bottoms and end to ends.
AP: 'Cause I remember seeing Fuct on the 60 fwy and the 710 fwy...
Sex: There's a lot of good heavens dog but pretty much all of them are sick. The fronts are the sickest... this foo (Fuct) and EAS did one on the front one time... a crew spell out "NUEST CAL TRANS KILLERS."
Fuct: We were up there for like an hour...
Sex: And then me and this foo (Aktr) hit one on s____ street ... that's where we got chased out all crazy.. that was fucken sick we hit eight that night.
AP: So when you guys are looking at a new cat to bring into the crew what are some of the things you look at?
Aktr: Basically we just look at mostly how much heart they got for graff.. what does he have to offer to the crew.. we don't discriminate ...if everyone in the crew likes you and you are painting ..then its on.... just cause you could draw on a book or do pretty colors don't mean shit... we look at everything an individual brings ....
Sex: You got to put in work and we have to see your shit ... if we see someone coming up like crazy... we meet the cat and we get good vibes then its on and cracking...
Fuct: Like OVER (R.I.P)
Aktr: OVER (R.I.P) had a gift ... I told these fools that we better start killing shit... and we did..all of us as a big crew... sad that OVER (R.I.P) left the crew..and it still hurts to know that my homie got killed for something that was not his beef.... He was a down motherfucker ..always had our backs.
AP: When you guys finally decide to put someone down what does he have to do?
Sex: It's a lot of steps... and the question is right... this might sound fucked... but we only put down guys man... cause we put down a few girls and shit has hit the fan... the homies don't know how to keep their shit in there pants hahahaha.
Fuct: Hahahaha ... I want to see your shit up on streets, walls, anywhere.. just put down sick shit... We have put in a lot of dirt so we expect the same from a newcomer.
Sex: This is not a retirement crew.. if u get in you are going to have to give it all your fucken heart and soul. "YOU GOT TO PUT YOUR BALLS INTO IT PRETTY MUCH" We busted our balls, we were hungry for that shit, we wanted to be number 1 so we fucken killed... hitting 4 to 5 billboards each night...sometimes u would see 4 heads on single billboards on one block..hahaha.
Fuct: I'm still am hungry for it. I want money for this shit now.
Dsyple: As far as the crew goes what have you guys done that has been different compared to stuff you have seen in the past?
Sex: We are a small crew.. we are not as big as other crews... but we love to smash .... we are a family.... ..
Fuct: We are a small crew and we put it down.
Sex: We don't need a lot of people to smash shit. We don't need 100 heads... 10-15 heads we fuck shit up.... We are going to smash everything dog, heavens, center dividers, everything....
Dsyple: You guys said you guys been busted, cut, broken bones, has that made you stronger?
Fuct: I'm still the same. It's not going to change me. If I break a bone, crack my skull, I'm still going to fucken bomb. Till the day I die. It's all for myself and my homeboy OVER (R.I.P). It's all for him.
Aktr: About the jail thing, it will stop us for a while but like I'm not going to lie -- when I get busted I tell myself I'm not going to do this shit anymore, but then when I get out there I'm like fuck YEAH I wanna hit this fucken heaven... and you cant stop ..been through it all ..some of us are dads..but we still wanna hit shit.
Sex: If u really have the heart for it you are going to do it. Like 6 years ago I was like a little fucken toy that would ask foos to sign my book and I would meet all these fucken dope ass writers from dope crews -- I'm not going to mention names -- and they would just sign it and look the other way or sign my book all stupid and jam, I use to get excited about it and be like yeah look at this shit. And now I look back at it and be like fucken foos those foos are fucken DICKS.
Fuct: That's why we don't discriminate like that ...we give everybody respect. Everybody that writes we give them all our heart. But the minute they flip or say some shit about us then it's on. No matter how your style is if you are a writer then you will get our respect just for being a writer. But you wanna disrespect then fuck it.
Sex: There was a lot of points in my life that shit has happened and I was like fuck it, I'm not going to do graff anymore -- but I can't leave these foos behind. I try to live a normal life and I can't. I didn't want to make all this money and shit...i didn't wanna go to a private school and party with all these emo faggot ass rich kids... instead I wanted to fuck shit up with these foos. I think about it like that's my love and someone dissing the crew is something that I take real personal cause I risk my freedom for this shit... for some punk ass fucks to come and fuck my shit up.... there's a lot of fools out there...u know who u are...who run their mouth 'bout us.... But the minute they see us they either run away or pull out a strap and that's bullshit. Guns ain't gonna solve shit... but if that's the way they wanna do it then fuck it.
Fuct: And I never catch them lil fuckers that diss my shit.... damn! I hate it!
Sex: Once we start climbing a little bit all these foos can't touch us, they cross us out on the ground but the fucken barb wires scares them, they are bitches.
Dsyple: What separates you from other cats?
Sex: It's not the amount of work. It's about what type of spots you get in every city u go to ...wherever we have gone we have hit the "ON BLAST SHIT."
Dsyple: What about fame?
Aktr: Fuck the fame we are out for the love.
Sex: No matter what if we go to another city we are going to fuck shit up. In the main streets and in the hardest spots.
Fuct: You got to really have that heart and soul to step into downtown Los Angeles, or South Central 'cause you might get capped. On sick spots you are going to be seen no matter what. I have been shot at, chased just for just being a writer. Shit is crazy but I love it.
Dsyple: What's your biggest fear? And what's next?
Aktr: My biggest fear has already came true... OVER (R.I.P) got smoked. I don't want that to happen to us again. We are going to keep going just for the heart and keep doing shit. Me Fuct AND Sex are not going to stop. We are going to keep painting.
Aktr: Painting, bombing everything. Graffiti is our life. It's a way of life.
Sex: Art is some shit on a canvas. What we do is vandalism. It's what I love to do when I am depressed, sad, happy ... It's what I love to do.
Fuct: It's in my blood. I feel it in my veins, my hyna right next to me and I push her right off just to go catch a spot, like "Where you going"? And she will just go home crying, but it's in my blood. I don't think anybody should die for this shit but when you are on a heaven and you are like fuck it I'm willing to die for this shit I love this shit when you are on a heaven and you're screaming and nobody hears you and the cars are passing by and you are just like FUCK YEAH WE DID IT, WE'RE DONE LET'S FUCKEN GO ... It's a feeling not many people will ever experience.
Sex: That's pretty much my fear too dog just losing a homie like OVER. It feels fucked up looking back and seeing OVER laying in the casket. Couldn't hold back tears... We down for our shit, but that don't mean that we ain't got feeling... We loved that motherfucker as much as we love everybody that is in our crew and everybody that shows us love!
Fuct: OVER was like an innocent kid that just worked all day and his excitement was just writing all day. When I met that foo we started writing together and I told him we were going to hit spots and he was like fuck yeah take me out and we started going out catching the bus to hit spots. And just fucken KILL KILL KILL. He then went the wrong way. I told him not to but ... he got shot for no reason.
Sex: About what's next ... pretty much whatever gets in our path. I got shit to worry about too like bills and staying our of jail ... keeping my parents happy ... u know.
AP: What is your mentality about dissing each other?
Sex: Our crew is different... Sometimes we don't pay attention to that shit... Sometimes we get all hyped... Sometimes we play with the lame ass crews thats try to step up... Haters if u reading this... Just remember that when u diss us IT MAKES US LAUGH ... BUT WE WILL FIND YOU!
Aktr: They fucken lined us FUCK UM! They just hating we are going to keep doing our thing.
Sex: We sometimes even put comments for them like "Get off the nuts" ..Bitch fuck YOU..
Fuct: Once you see a homie die for it your attitude could change for this.
Dsyple: What has been one of the biggest impacts in your life?
Aktr: With me I grew up with all that gangster bullshit and that's all I seen and I knew that if I stayed in school ... and then I heard about this tagger shit and pretty much my older brother was involved with all these writers and in the sixth grade I started writing. If it wasn't for graffiti I probably would have been dead from gangbanging.
Fuct: Me too. It kept me away from all that drama. All I had to do was say YES and I was in a gang.
Sex: We all grew up around the same area. Pretty much the same thing too. East LA is fucken crazy shit...every fucken block can be a different gang...It's crazy shit...
Dsyple: So graffiti was like an outlet out of the gang scene?
Sex: Yeah to get the fuck out of the whole thing dog. Lost a lot of homies growing up...lost a lot of family members to the ground or to the system ... It's fucked and it hurts but I do this shit for them!!!!!!!
AP: Any last words?
Sex: Props to all foos in my crew I got mad love for all you motherfuckers!!!!!. Pretty much the 5-0's too they think they got shit on us... but they ain't got shit. Oh yeah and to all them fools that be saying that NCT be using ladders or other shit to catch spots!!!!!!! Hahaha keep talking we just like everybody else normal shit.
Fuct: You get surprised by everyone in the crew not just one person.
Sex: Pretty much props to who ever down with us. There's too many names to name but if you are down with us even if you are not from our crew we got mad love for you foos. All of you that have been there even if u ain't writers and to my parents for no matter what type of shit graff got me into they never turned their backs!!!!!!!
Aktr: Pretty much like props to everyone in the fucken world who fucken writes. Every mother fucker who tags. Even our fucken enemies, we are on the same team, that foos is stupid, who gives a shit. Fuck the system.
Fuct: Give props to all our haters for noticing our shit and hating it so much that you go out yer way to diss hahahaha... and to all my homies.. my family .. the crew... everybody ... hookers hoes tricks ... hahaha we out!!!!!!!
Sex: We are here for the long run.
Dsyple: What is NCT going to be remembered for once it's all done?
Sex: THE KILLERS WHO CONQUERED THE BARBED WIRE AND CHEESE GRINDER.
Sex: To all these new writers starting off don't try going to billboards all fucken drunk. Give it your best and fuck haters!!!! KEEP YOUR HEAD UP !!!!!!!!!!
 Art Crimes Front Page
|