Sonntag, 15. August 2021

Interview with Kool 131 (The Death Squad)

                                               Interview with Kool 131 (The Death Squad)

                                                               

  Kool 131 (The Death Squad)
                         

                                      conducted by Sir Norin Rad (The Intruders / Germany)  

SIR NORIN RAD:" Where were you born and raised?"

KOOL 131:"New York City. I'm from the westside of Harlem. 131st Street & Amsterdam Avenue. Manhattanville Projects." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"When were you born?"

KOOL 131:"I was born in 1961." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"How old were you when you started noticing the work done by Writers and where would you see it? I guess it must have been tags during the early days of Writing prior to the advent of Masterpieces."

KOOL 131:"1970. My family...we moved from Brooklyn...from Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn to Harlem, to Manhattan...in the Manhattanville Projects. Our apartment was on the 15th floor and the view from the window was the IRT Broadway coming up out of 137th Street. We had that view and of course the Hudson River, New Jersey, the George Washington Washington Bridge but that was 1970. As a matter of fact that was the winter of 1970. That's when I was seeing a lot of the old guys.....you know, T-Rex 131, The Soul Artists, BYB. You know, a lot of tags like you said. You're right, they were skinny tags and stuff like that. Yeah, 1970. The tags really caught my attention, the graffiti caught my attention because I had been drawing since I was six years old. So I was still drawing on notebook papers, stuff like that. Yeah, that really caught me. I was like,"Wow, look at that! What is that?" You know?" 

SIR NORIN RAD:"So which Writers stood out to you at that time?"

KOOL 131:"First of all T-Rex 131 lived right around the hall from me. They lived in a larger apartment. Yeah, and so of course I met him. I was just a kid. At that time T-Rex 131 was in his late twenties.....and then we had Top Cat 126. He lived in the building right down from my building. Top Cat lived in 545 West 126th Street. Our building was 1430 West 131st Street. And then my cousin....don't forget my cousin....Peso 131. He lived in 1470. We all lived right there in Manhattanville Projects together.  So that's what hit us together...Peso and me 'cause my cousin is just like two years older than me. Those were the names that hit me: T-Rex 131, Top Cat 126, Moses 147, Ali (The Soul Artists), Spade 130. We're talking about Broadway 'cause that was the main line....Broadway Number 1 Local."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So what caused you to put up your name as a Writer?"

KOOL 131:"As I got with T-Rex 131...'cause I would always go around the hall,you know,  I found out that he was an artist. My mom and his mom became close friends. So it was like, "Welcome to the neighbourhood! Welcome to the building!" And so I would go around his house 'cause his mom would tell me,"My son's an artist. Go in there and talk to him! You'll like what he does." And sure enough when I would go around to visit him he was a member of NOGA which stood for the Nation Of Graffiti Artists. That was under Hugo Martinez. A lot of these older Writers were members of NOGA. He would do these canvases and he would do them within like 15 minutes with Uni-Wide Markers. He would tag his name, you know, T-Rex 131. It was explosive at that time as a  kid! I said,"Hey, can I do that, too?" He said, "Yeah, you can do this!" "Yeah, I saw your name on those trains!" So he was like, "Yeah, yeah!" That's how I got into it. And then my cousin Peso, he was pushed by Spade 130. I was still a child. I was probably about 14 at that time. I started tagging in the staircases. He would give me markers....Mini-Wide and Uni-Wide Markers. He'd fill'em for me with the ink and all of that. Pilots..... He introduced me to all the tools of trade as kid and I tagged the staircases with him. We went to the staircases and just tagged the walls, you know? That's kinda how I got into it before I actually had the heart to go to the tunnel."

T-Rex 131 (legendary early Harlem Writer)

Tag by Top Cat 126

                                                 
                                          

SIR NORIN RAD:"What was the first name that you wrote?"

KOOL 131:"Kool 131. That was always my name. That was given to me by a cousin down in Florida. We used to go there and visit family, you know? There used to be a Kool Aid (famous powder drink) commercial which I loved. It went,"Kool Aid! Kool Aid! Tastes Great!" and I would just stand in front of the TV and sing it when I was a kid. My cousin kept teasin' me about it and then he started calling me that, "I'mma call you Kool Aid!" It got stuck with me."  

SIR NORIN RAD:"So how did you transition into hitting the trains? Did you start by doing insides?"

KOOL 131:"Both. There was a kid CD...Cool Diesel 130..he lived in the building right across from mine and there was another kid....Erb. Him and I got together. They were also street taggers, you know? They would do tags in the building and on the walls outside. So the three of us got together, you know? They asked me,"Hey, Moe!" Cause they used to call me Moe. "Hey, Moe! You wanna go to the tunnel? We can get some paint." So I was like,  "Okay. Let's go give it a shot!" And we did and that was in 1975, you know? We went into the Broadway Tunnel there because it's right there. It's just two blocks off the street from us on Broadway...137th Street. So that was our first piece on a train. The first piece was a Boe ....'cause that was my boy Boe 131......Kool 131 and CE 3. I wanna say that was one of the first spider clouds that had been done in graffiti history." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Could you describe the feeling that you had when you entered the tunnel to do your first piece? Were you excited?"

KOOL 131:"Yeah, we were excited and we smoked weed. Those were the weed days. We smoked some weed, drank some beer and we was feeling good. We were kids, we were feeling good. Not worrying about the inevitable....you know, like death and you gonna get killed in there...you gonna get electrocuted or ran over by a train. We never thought about those things. We never gave those things heavy thought. It was more like, "Let's do a piece, man, so everybody can see it!" That was pretty much our mind frame back in those times."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So I guess after having done your first piece you had caught the bug and wanted to do more pieces on the trains?"

KOOL 131: "Yes, Boe and me did. CD 130 and Erb they kinda went off on their own. They went into another direction. Boe 130 and myself we continued going because he was really excited and enthusiastic and he'd always come get me,"Yo, Moe! Yo, Moe! We're going to the tunnel, man! I got like 15 cans!!!!" And I would be like, "Yeah, bet! Let's go!" Yeah, Boe and me we did a couple of pieces for a minute there!!! He was pretty much like my first learning partner back then."

SIR NORIN RAD:"You are being praised by many legendary Style Writers as one of the best Writers ever. Which influence did those Style Masters that came before you like Phase 2, Riff 170, Pel and Tracy 168 have on you and on your approach to Style Writing?"

KOOL 131:"Okay, Phase 2, Riff 170,  Pel......the Bronx boys......I call them the Bronx boys 'cause they were all Bronx Writers.....they all had a huge influence on me. Boe faded off the scene a bit. He went into the job market. I kept going on by myself. You know, doing pieces on Broadway and that's how I ran into Dean (BYB) in the 1 tunnel. He said,"Hey, hey, shortie Who you with???!" I said, "By myself." He said, "You are? For real, shortie?? You got balls!!! I like you!" So I started hanging out with him.  He was like a big brother to me....Dean.That's who put me down in BYB. Just as Phase 2 put me in INDs through T-Rex 131. Right, I was just a kid and I met Phase 2 and I asked him, "Hey, can I tag your crew?" He said, "Yeah, little man! I like your little work! You're gonna be good when you grow up! Yeah, go ahead!" That's how I became a member of The Independents (Phase 2's crew).  Stan 153 was another mentor to me as far as being a fantasy artist. Stan 153 was a big mentor to me, loved him dearly and that's  who put me in 3YB.....the 3 Yard Boys. So that's how I got into those crews respectfully. When I got tired of Broadway...'cause I kinda got tired Broadway, you know.....I asked my cousin Peso 131 'cause he knew so many Bronx Writers like Riff 170 and them....he knew them personally 'cause he hung out around alot of them...I asked him, "Hey cuz, take me to meet some of those guys 'cause I'd like to meet them!" And so he took me to the Writer's Bench on Grand Concourse &149th Street. Back in the days it used to be so crowded. There I met Kindo 2, Butch (2) and Case (2) and by this time I had a lot of pieces out there. You know, I had pieces on the 5s....by myself! I was doing a lot of pieces by myself and they saw what I was doing. And also by that time my cousin Peso 131 and me had done a couple pieces together. So they was familiar with me. Peso would tell'em,"This is my cousin Kool 131!" They said, "What? Yeah, from Broadway, right?" They was kinda  excited to meet me but obviously I was more excited to meet them. I used to go to the Writer's Bench everyday by myself from that time and watch pieces.  Hang out with them and watch pieces 'cause that's what they did. Riff's style.... his style was magnificent!!! It was magnificent! But also so was AMRL who was a Soul Artists member! Back then he was rated the baddest Style Writer in America and he was, he really was,you know?! So I saw his style and right along with him was of course Phase 2. So those guys' style influenced me big time, you know? How to do lettering, how to flow and that helped me to go into my own zone of it. There are some Writers who are saying, "Yeah, Kool 131....he copied Riff's style!" That's a lie! Of course that's a lie! Now Riff and me became pretty close. He would come by my apartment. He loved my mom's cooking and baked goods, he loved that. But he would come by my house. He was older than me, he was a lot older than me. Remember I was a kid under these guys! He came by and he showed me a Pale 2 outline he did on a piece of paper and it was in skinny letters. You know, the skinny computer style letters?  And he said, "Kool, man, I like your style!" Now if this is a man who my pieces are supposed to mirror why would he say something like that? Am I right?"

SIR NORIN RAD:"I hear you. It seems to me that you were heavily influenced by him but you didn't just bite his style but instead you took it to another level."

KOOL 131:"Word! You know it, Norin. You know it backwards and forwards. Riff showed me that outline and from that outline he said, "Hey Maurice (Kool 131's government name), you should skinny up your letters instead of continuing with the wide letter concept!" And I said, "Nah, I'm good with the wide lettering. I like this style that I do." He said, "I hear you." 2 Bad was one of his names..."

SIR NORIN RAD:"But isn't that also a name that you wrote? I think I have seen a couple of 2 Bad pieces done by you." 

KOOL 131:"I got the permission to do them from him."

SIR NORIN RAD:"So that's official."

KOOL 131:"Right, right. I got it 'cause he was the first 2 Bad. That was his name. And then there was Warm 2 (another name that Kool 131 used to write) which I believe was Bot 707's name (legendary Writer of The Fantastic Partners). He didn't have a problem with that. So Riff told me from that day,"You could piece any of my names, man! I don't care. You're the only one I would prefer to piece any of my names because I like your style! " And that's the way he was, you kow? As far as Lonnie...Phase 2... he had the soft, smooth style, you know what I mean? His style was beautiful, it was brilliant!! Those guys...that was style back there, that was lettering at its best and we're talking about the early 1970ies. So that's were my influences came from. Those were our mentors and our big brothers. That's the way it was for me back in those days."

 2 Bad aka Kool 131 (The Death Squad)

 

                          

2 Bad aka Kool 131 (The Death Squad)


2 Bad aka Kool 131 (The Death Squad)


SIR NORIN RAD:"Did you have a secret spot where you would refine your lettering style?"

KOOL 131:"Yeah, we did walls on Riverside Drive 'cause Riverside Drive was just three blocks down from us towards the (Hudson) River. It's called Riverside Drive. It runs all the way downtown and it also runs all the way uptown. There was a lot of parks down there, you know? Basketball courts, handball courts and that's where we would go. We would go down there and practice on those handball court walls. And Part 1 (The Death Squad) and me would get together and we would practice on some handball court walls in his neighbourhood. Him, Peso and myself, you know? That's what we did. We loved the walls, too. We did a lot of walls."

SIR NORIN RAD:"I guess you also spent a lot of time sketching in your blackbook..."

KOOL 131:"Yes, I did a couple of blackbooks. Many blackbooks got lost in the mix 'cause passing blackbooks around that's what we did. You'd hit it then pass it to Case (2), he would pass it to Bear 167 (TDS) and then Bear 167 would pass it to Noc 167......you know, it would get passed around. Sometimes it would get into some Writer's hands and you would never see it again. (chuckles)"

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe your approach to sketching! What would you do in order to get yourself into that creative zone? Would you smoke some weed and listen to music?"

KOOL 131:"You said it, man! (laughs) Yeah, smoking weed....back when I was doing that  we was rolling up joints in bamboo papers, you know? I'm talking about regular joints. Part 1 (TDS) would come over everyday, Case (2) would come over by my apartment where I lived with my mom. My mom allowed us to smoke weed in my room. Case 2 and Part 1 would come over. There were times when Chain 3 (TDS/TMT) would come over. Bear 167 would come over a couple of times. Noc 167 and them would come over. Panic (TDS)........ Panic (TDS) of course....he would come over with Part 1 (TDS). But yeah, when I was by myself I would smoke me a joint. I got some Barry White playing. You know, I loved Barry White. I was into the Jackson Five, Marvin Gaye, Earth Wind & Fire, Al Green. A lot of the good R&B that was back there. Jazz......I love Jazz. I came up in Harlem so that was the environment I grew up in. That would get me in the mood and I'm just drawing, you know?"

Panic (The Death Squad)

SIR NORIN RAD:"As a true style master you didn't limit yourself to writing just name but instead you had a huge variety of names that you put up just like the style masters who came before you. Which other names did you write besides Kool 131?"

KOOL 131:"I already mentioned 2 Bad, Warm 2 and Pale 2. Other names that I wrote were Vega 2, Dobra 2......."

Dobra 2 aka Kool 131 (The Death Squad)

SIR NORIN RAD:"I have been told that cats from Harlem were always known for dressing up fly. Did this also apply to you? Did you also wear Cortefiels, Italian Knits, Overlaps....all that good shit from A.J. Lester's?"

KOOL 131:"That was my dressing game! That was my first summer job! See, I liked to dress as a kid 'cause we watched the older guys. Two of my cosuins were members of the Council with Nicky Barnes. Those guys that I looked up to, they wore nice suits. They either wore suits..not with ties....but you know with like mocknecks shirts. And you know a nice blazer with matching slacks, matching shoes..I liked that ensemble of clothing. There was a dear childhood brother of mine.....he lived in my building on the 17th floor and he came to me...Nathaniel Boykins...we called him Nate. He said, "Hey, Moe! You're looking for a summer job, right?"  I said, "Yeah, Nate! I'm looking for a summer job! My mom wants me to go to work. I'm getting in too much trouble over here." He said,"Alright, alright! My uncle Paul..he works in A.J. Lester's. I'm gonna talk to him for you!" Yeah, yeah!! And so I got my first summer job at A.J.Lester's after I got my working papers. I was doing the inventory. When the trucks brought in the clothing and whatever else I unloaded the truck and took all the stuff downstairs, shelved it. That was my first summer job and that's how I got to meet a lot of the gangsters 'cause they was coming in there shopping! (laughs). And that was my style of dressing!"

Kool 131 (The Death Squad)



Kool 131 (The Death Squad)


SIR NORIN RAD:"Let us talk about your crew, about The Death Squad! You started it along with Mr. Jinx 174 and Chain 3 in 1976, correct?"

KOOL 131:"Yes, sir!! Yes, sir!! We were hanging out on 149th Street..on the Grand Concourse.....Writer's Bench. We were the only three there on this particular day. It was during the summer time, right? Right at the Writer's Bench there is those steps that'll take you up over the pedestrian walkway to the other platform, to the other side. You know, from the Uptown Side to the Downtown Side..... So Mr. Jinx 174 was sitting on the stairs smoking a cigarette and Chain 3 and me, we were pretty much there at the platform. We were just watching pieces go by, you know, talking, planning things. Chain 3 said,"All these crews, man! Let's come up with our own crew!" So Allen...Chain 3.....said, "Let's call it The Squad!" I said, "Yeah, that sounds good!" I said, "But even better...let's call it The Death Squad!!!!!" You know, 'cause in my block we see all the gangsters coming up with their cars. They met up in a bar that was right there on the corner across the street from the projects. That's where the Council met up. They would have drinks and all of that. You know, socializing with each other. We saw their cars and we were like, "Yo, that's death! Check out that Lincoln!" "Yo, that Lincoln is death!" Or we would say, "That's poison!" So I said, "Let's call it The Death Squad 'cause that describes the way of our pieces!" Mr. Jinx 174 said, "Yeah, yeah, Kool! I like that! The Death Squad!" So that's where that name came in. Chain 3 and me were like, "Who's gonna be the president?"So I pretty much looked at Chain 3 and I said, "You can. You'll be the president if you want and I'll be the vice president." He said, "We'll see. We'll see what's up." A little time after that...I'd say some months after that he hooked up with Kade 198 and Tean 5....you know, the brothers from TMT. So then TMT came on the scene. We found out about that a little later and I think he thought we was mad with him like,"Yo, TDS they mad at me! I jumped ship. I left them hanging and I'm with this other crew." We wasn't mad at him! He said,"You know what? I just wanna share my style, help others." Do that man! Do that! That's what we're about! Meanwhile I was running around recruiting people, you know? That's what I was doing and my first member was Part 1. Right, 'cause he went to school with my older brother. Printing High School. My brother told me about him. He said,"Yo Moe, yo Moe!! There is this kid in my school! He's a Writer, man!  A Puerto Rican kid."I said, "Who're you talking about, man?" He said, "He writes Part 1." And I was seeing Part's pieces. His pieces were bad, he was a bad boy back then!!! He was an awesome artist, man! And I also was seeing his pieces on the 6 line. I loved going and watching other writers' pieces. I loved their work, you know? I used to hang out in East Tremont, the Grand Concourse, Moshulu Parkway...I used to go to different areas in the Bronx, different train stations......just hang out by myself. So Chain 3 went his way. Who became the president of The Death Squad? I did and I made Part 1 the vice president, you know? Bear 167...he was pretty much like the enforcer and he did just that. Bear wasn't no joke. He was a big guy. He pretty much went around to guys talking about they was TDS and they wasn't and he kinda did what he did, you know? (laughs) He would be like, "If Kool 131 didn't put you in TDS, you ain't in TDS!!!" Stuff like that, you know? But yeah, we did TDS and TDS ran from there. So  I went up to Printing High School and I met Part 1, we sat, we talked , we smoked some weed, you know? We kinda walked around, it was him, me.....Noc 167 was with us, Panic was with us. We hung out."

Part 1 (The Death Squad)

Kool 131 and Part 1 (The Death Squad)



Bear 167 (The Death Squad)

                        

SIR NORIN RAD:"Where was Mr. Jinx 174 from? Did he also do pieces or just tags?"

KOOL 131:"No he did pieces! We did pieces together!  He was the first 2 Pac. When he was writing  Pac 2, we hadn't heard of the rapper.  We're talking about the 1970ies! We were young. For me Mr. Jinx 174 was the first 2 Pac 'cause that's what he wrote. We did a Pac 2 and 2 Bad and I did a cat character at the end of the car. You know, it was a pretty nice car. I got pictures of it. And he did a Mr. Jinx 174 with Bear 167 and he had a couple of other pieces back there. But yeah, Denis Crabbs...That's his name. He was a Bronx kid. Once I went to the Bronx,right......'cause see Part 1 came over from the 6 line. He was a 6 line guy and he was a part of  the 6 Yard Boys (6YB) with Hindu 2 and them. He was a big part of their family and so he came from over there, from the 6 line over to Broadway......back in that era. Like around.....I'd say around 1975 he was showing up on Broadway. So I saw his pieces, you know? And I was really anxious to meet him and it was an honour to meet such an illustrious Writer like himself. I always gave other Writers their proper respect and honour 'cause they were artists like I was. So me and Part 1 we stuck together and we ran TDS. We took it as far as we could back in that time. In 1978 I went to the military. I got called to arms. I stayed in Aschaffenburg, Germany for almost three years and then I came home."

Pac 2 aka Mr. Jinx 174 (The Death Squad)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Could you please shed some light on Padre 2 (TDS)?"

KOOL 131:" Yeah, Jesus.......my boy, man...he passed away..he was my boy! Padre Dos....he was a real mellow kid. Real mellow, quiet, laid back......I loved him like a brother.  Him and Dek (TDS). Now you're talking original TDS members from the beginning! There was also Magoo 2 (TDS). He did pieces with us, too.  Now that's when we were going to the Utica lay-up. We did a lot of pieces in the Utica Lay-up. That was the 5 lay-up. He was also Puerto Rican. We did a Dek-Magoo 2- Vega 2. I did a Vega...V-E-G-A with the wizard on the first part of the car."

SIR NORIN RAD:"If you were to rate Padre 2's piecing abilities on a scale from 1 to 10 where would you place him?"

KOOL 131:"Oh man, he'd be above 10 for me. He was awesome!!! Padre...he was awesome, man! I loved his style and I loved his work!"

Padre 2 (The Death Squad)





Padre 2 (The Death Squad)


SIR NORIN RAD:"Do you recall how Padre 2 was recruited for The Death Squad?"

KOOL 131:"Part 1 knew him. He knew him and Dek and I believe Part 1 recruited him. He knew them and then I got to know them. That was somewhere in the Bronx. Those guys were awesome. We did a Shampoo-Padre-Pale. Chain 3 did the Shampoo piece and I did the Pale. The Padre was before mine. That came out nice! Other pieces...we also attempted to do a whole train. That was the great Utica lay-up raid on TDS! (laughs) Slave (TF5) was with us. He hung out a lot with us, too. He was a dear brother to me. Just like Case 2 (TFP). Case 2 was like an older brother to me. We were tight, we were like family! All of my graffiti brothers I used to walk to their homes to hang out with them. I used to walk from Manhattanville Projects to Taft Projects everyday to hang out with Part 1 as much as he used to come over where I lived! I used to walk from my projects to Case 2's projects in the Bronx to hang out with him. Walk .....on foot! That's a long walk! You know? Yeah, to hang out with him and I'd spend the whole day, two days just hanging out with Case 2 before I went back home. Case 2 would be like,"Yo Moe, man! It's late!!"'Cause  you know he had his little room with the bunk bed......"Yo man, sleep down on the bed, I sleep on the floor. Watch TV, we out!" 

Kase 2 aka Case 2 (The Fantastic Partners) and Kool 131 (The Death Squad)

SIR NORIN RAD:"What did you think about Case 2's style?"

KOOL 131:"It was awesome! Remember as long as I was hanging out at his apartment all we was doing through the afternoon we was drawing, we was in the kitchen at the table drawing. You know, doing new outlines. Coming up with new outlines. Case 2 would be like,"Yo Moe, check out this Kase outline!"His style was outstanding!! And Butch! Butch 2 and him were major partners. Butch came by.....Outstanding, they were outstanding!!!" 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please describe how Noc 167 got down with The Death Squad. It amazes me to see how much incredible talent was down with TDS: you, Part 1, Chain 3, Noc 167, Padre 2 etc.  Style Masters gallore.... "

KOOL 131:"He's one of the original members. Noc 167 was hanging out with Stan 153 (3YB) at his house and we was going over there to hang out with Stan 153....Part 1 and me. So we was hanging out with Stan 153. He was living with his grandmother over there on 8th Avenue in a tenement building. Stan 153 was a fantasy artist. He was doing a lot of Vaughn Bode work, a lot of it. So Melvin (Noc 167) was right there. I was familiar with Noc 167 at that time and of course when he met me he was like, "Wow! Kool 131!!!! What's up!? I'm Noc 167. I heard about you. Can I be down?" I said, "Yeah, you're down. No problem! Of course! By law!!!!" As I said he's one of the main original members of TDS."

SIR NORIN RAD:"When did Noc 167 join you?"

KOOL 131:"1976 going into 1977."

Noc 167 (The Death Squad / Out To Bomb)

SIR NORIN RAD:"Did TDS have a specific location where all its members would meet at?"

KOOL 131:"No....various places. Sometimes a couple of us would meet at my house. Sometimes we would meet at Part's block and a lot of times we met at the Concourse (the Writer's Bench)."

SIR NORIN RAD:"How do you define a dope piece?"

KOOL 131:"Well-proportioned letters, nice color coordinations...you know, nice balanced color coordinations....things like that. That makes a beautiful piece for me." 

SIR NORIN RAD:"Please explain the importance of the tag in Style Writing! I have observed that quite many Writers of today do not consider it to be necesssary to have a nice tag anymore. For you Style Writers it was the contrary, wasn't it? "

KOOL 131:"You're right, Norin. The tag, right? That's the grandfather! That's what started it all! Taki 183..he was a Tag King. Tags...that's what started the game, you know?! So yeah, when fancy tags came in back there that caught people's eyes. That's what caught my eyes! These guys' tags! Top Cat's tags??? Oh boy!!!! I still can do'em today! Stay High 149.....he had an unstoppable tag style. "Voice of  the ghetto" (one of Stay High 149's legendary tags)......what have you. A lot of those guys that tagged the insides with those opaque Uni-Wides, Mini-Wides and Pilots.......Nic 707 (OTB). I loved those guys' tags. Yeah, it was some own respect to have awesome tags."

SIR NORINRAD:"Did you attend those block parties and park jams in Harlem where DJs would cut up breakbeats and MCs got busy on the mic? I mean your legendary cousin Peso 131 was obviously part of the Fearless Four MCs........"

 KOOL 131:"I did, I sure did! Back in them days that's what we did, you know? Besides being a Writer......that's what we did."

Peso 131 (The Death Squad)


2 Nasty aka Peso 131 (The Death Squad)


SIR NORIN RAD:"Would you like to give some shoutouts at the end of this interview?"

KOOL 131:"A special shoutout to Part 1 and Flite 1.  I give a shoutout to all my fellow TDS brothers. A shoutout to the TMT crew! You know, to Kade 198 and Tean 5. To Chain 3! To my long-time brother Skeme...you're always my brother! No matter what! A shoutout to Fed 2! To all the brothers at Tuff City! My boy Butch 2 (TFP), we just connected back together. To Checker 170.  He's the guy that hosts many of those events there in the Bronx. We go way back.  To Chris Pape! And a big shoutout to my brother Norin Rad!!!! Brothers for life, Norin!"



Interview with MC Terry Tee (Touch Of Class / The Nice & Nasty MCees )

                          Interview with MC Terry Tee (Touch Of Class Disco / The Nice & Nasty MCees ) MC Terry Tee (Touch Of Class Disc...