1.    What’s your graff name? How did you get or come up with your name? What crews have/are you in?

I write/wrote KAIR

I came up with my name because it sounded neutral, plus my homie sat down with me and I mostly picked out letters I felt were easy to draw, I always felt my name was easy to paint and the letters flowed.  I was put down with DCV ( Def Crown Villains) because my homie FEAR. We met at a wall after I had been painting for awhile  and stuck by him for a minute and got put down shortly after, at the time I was the youngest from our crew. Big shout out to the whole crew.

2.     When did you begin painting? What or who inspired you to paint graff? Why do you do it?

The first time I had ever seen graffiti was in second grade, for a summer trip my family drove a van from California to Maine. So I seen the most in New York, I had no clue it was graffiti just it looked dope, better than just plain walls. I started tagging at 14 with a different alias.  I was the only girl in my area that I knew painted at the time, I mostly just tagged with streaks and drew on slaps because the dudes I chilled with were mostly into just drawing in blackbooks. I remember looking through a blackbook and seeing a JROZ piece and I always thought it was a guy until my homies was like na it’s a female. After seeing her pieces I wanted to paint on walls. Also, when my mom would drive towards LA I would be stuck staring at tags, bombs and pieces where ever I went. I never seen anyone paint with cans and I was just drawn to it. I was always an awkward kid into shit others knew nothing about, I liked having that knowledge over people. Until I met my homie and biggest influence ROTEN SKA, he showed me I knew jack shit and I was just a toy and needed to step up my game.  So thanks!

3.     Are you a graff writer or a graff artist or just and artist? Is there a difference?

I wouldn’t even know, I never knew what the hell I was doing. I just liked bombing on walls. I liked seeing my name big and tags, stickers didn’t do much for my ego.  I think there’s a difference, but the whole technical side of graff trying to dissect it for readers to understand is lame.  But in a nutshell yeah.

4.     Is it important as a graff writer to fulfill the illegal aspect of graff ( tagging, bombing)?

It depends what you’re trying to accomplish and what you want out of it. Personally, yeah I think you do. I wouldn’t see if you want to get in the scene and get respect from the people who paved the way, why you would skip out on all the work they did to get where they’re at. Yeah, your shit looks pretty… big deal, who are you? I don’t get why you wouldn’t do illegal graffiti? That’s the best part, who wants to sit at a legal wall your whole life and have a couple people say it looks dope. My memories and stories and adventures are more fulfilling then some person telling me its cool. The illegal aspect is the only reason why I ever was thrilled about it.

5.     Describe your most favorite bomb or piece that you’ve done. Why was it your favorite?

My favorite bomb was just a simple silver I did in the soto yard. I was painting with another female SHE and some other chicks were with us, I was painting the at the bottom of the yard and was looking up seeing some dudes in the yard painting also. I got a little agitated that one of the dudes painting there was capping a bomb I had running there. So I watched for a second and walked up there. I hit him and his homie up and told the dude he was going over me. He laughed and I admit I got heated. I told the dude either he left now and saved his paint or he could waste it and I would just cap him as soon as it dried. I don’t think he believed me because he kept at it. I waited and sure enough as he walked away I lined his shit. His face was priceless, the bomb I went over him with was better than the one I had there so it was in my favor. About a week later the bomb was on front page of some graff site.

6.     Describe your style, do you display femininity in your work or do you keep it gender neutral? Why or why not?

I say neutral, I would try and use bright colors at times because I was a girl. But when I met dudes a lot would say they thought I was a dude. I always thought it was my baggy clothes and butch haircut that landed the male questions. I tried to stay away from the girly shit, tried … I never wanted to be known as a female artist I feel it’s like some plee for some extra unearned recognition because theres so few and some girls use being a female as some boost to get some easier judgment. I just wanted to be a writer. 

7.     Describe your best and worst experiences painting.

My favorite times were always the times that went wrong, downtown LA was always my favorite that I have the most stories from. One night I went with the homie and we carried a bible with us to look discreet I guess, I was reading through some of it and we heard this deep creepy voice coming from bums across the street and I swear to this day me and the homie were listening to this voice/bum recite out loud what I was reading… We tripped and booked it.. haha I’ll never forget how scared we were. The worst time was painting behind some cemetery and I was walking solo and I slipped on some rocks and one of my feet landed in mud and sewage or mold or some nasty shit and I lost my shoe! I still remember walking up to the homies without a shoe and painting barefoot and the long walk on the track with a cold foot, pretty bad.

8.     Any other artists that you look up to? If so, why?

I look up to quite a few so I’ll only mention the ones I feel closer to. First off the one who brought me up a lot was ROTEN SKA, real humble dude, great artist some of the cleanest pieces I’ve seen. He taught me everything, put up with my tantrums when I would throw cans because I went bipolar a few times because I didn’t grasp onto the cleanliness of the task too quickly. I owe him a lot we had some of the craziest times painting with each other, a lot of  dope stories, we made a dope duo for awhile. We fed off eachother’s constructive criticism. But he taught me what LA graffiti was and I just ran with it. FEAR DCV UTI, my other teacher. My style was never influenced by him but he was the head of my crew and had a blast with him even if we bumped heads. He always brought me around and introduced me to so many OGs from LA, and hearing stories of the good ol days were some of the best times for me in my life period. He’s like family, like an Uncle, let me crash whenever family life was hectic so I thank him for a lot also. I was also very thankful to be real close with one of my favorite writers CAB, that dude taught me a lot. I was never really star struck by an artist but painting with him when I did I admit I felt dope ha! He’s the most humble cat in the game and a huge influence on my stuff. We always agreed that bombing was always more fun, he’s another that stories were priceless to me. Lastly, the artist I have and always will look up to MOST  is Panic otr uti sh lod stp uca rtdk td12 fb wnt cwa arc , super humble dude and his graffiti blows my mind. I don’t care how many pics you show me and whats being done now but LA GRAFFITI is PANIC to me. He was always real cool to me and great on advice one of the first to recognize me as a female writer which I was hyped about at the time.

9.     Favorite kind of paint? Surface?

Free paint was always my favorite, but specifically I liked the Rusto Whites, Walmart Silvers, Montana Silvers, Krylons Ultra Flat Black, Killz White, Montanas Fever Red. Anything that covered well and you didn’t have to keep going over.  I loved bombing trains and walls…I was stuck to the LA river and soto yard mostly, just because I liked going solo I felt safe there. I went there many times solo to blow off some steam and paint. Train yards were always fun, the best part rolling up and wondering how many lines were parked waiting.

10.  How do you feel as a female in a majorly male dominated culture?

I never had an issue with it, I mean it’s like life in general mostly everything is dominated by a certain group isn’t it? I never liked chilling with females anyways so I actually preferred it. I learned a lot from every dude I met. I hated the drama and gossip, but as a female I felt I was the little sister to a bunch of crazy ass brothers and I wasn’t to be fucked with. I enjoyed it, many dudes I rolled with taught me a lot from a male perspective and felt in life it helped me a lot, a more cold hearted frame of thinking. I got my street smarts and life smarts from the males. Plus, there wasn’t too many girls doing much with it…. I never did as much as I wanted to either. I got pregnant had a kid and I left. I felt at a certain point graffiti was like a slut, I had my way with it, did what I wanted with it, and dropped it. I had bigger dreams for myself and as much I respect it, just felt I personally wasn’t going anywhere with it.  But oddly enough I give graffiti a lot of respect, was the greatest part of my life I enjoy speaking about.

11.  Do you think female graff artists are getting the recognition they deserve?

Yes and no. I think the ones who were worth mentioning yes. The only females that deserve recognition are ones who are original artists, ones who got their hands dirty and would tag solo and not just and for some males attention. I don’t know any female writers these days to say no this girl isn’t. The baddest bitches in LA  graffiti already did their work. I would love to see a new graff female do a bunch of dirt and wow us, but I just don’t see it. Take it as a positive challenge….

12.  What are your views on graffiti art being displayed in galleries? Do you think this legitimizes graff, or commercializes it?

I think it’s dope. I don’t go to many art shows unless I know graffiti is the topic. I think graffiti being included in galleries is a positive for many starving artists. Many artists have this as their only way to eat and I support it 100%. I just think the newer art is garbage like the whole Bansky and Obey cats. I hate that shit, that’s what kills it for me is gallery shows like that. Like I said before I like the raw graffiti, I don’t care if its some basic clean letters just make it look dope display it and if you can make a buck for a cheeseburger why not? Normal people don’t get we have pioneers in this scene and a lot of artists struggle because all they have is graffiti and they should be able to feed themselves and children with what they do!

13.  Tell us one random fact about you!

 I have freakishly small hands, that made it hard to hold cans at times.

14.  Anything else you’d like to share with our readers?

MUCH RESPECT TO ALL THE PEOPLE I’VE MET THROUGH LA GRAFFITI. ALL THE FRIENDS AND ENEMIES I’VE MADE, ALL WORTH IT. REST IN PEACE TO GYROE AND SAEL DCV AND TO THE RECENT PASSINGS OF EVAK, GIL, AND DASH.