Rab’s World

PieceBook: The Secret Drawings of Graffiti Writers is the brainchild of former New York City Graffiti writers; CHINO & SACHA. (Authors - Sacha Jenkins and David “CHINO” Villorente) They are contemporaries and friends of mine. They both repped CAC on the lines back in the day. I have not held a copy in my hands. If this is comparable to the excellent work of Mascots & Mugs : The Characters and Cartoons of Subway Graffiti put out by CHINO and REAS; then we are in for an incredible high! According to Chino; “The reproduction quality is exceptionally accurate. When compared side by side I found it pretty hard to tell the difference between the original art and the print.” I have my copy now. When I walk around with it; it feels like I have an original blackbook. I have two pieces inside + I see at least two from my very own various black/piecebooks of the past. The bugged-out part is the simulated [read: 'printed'] gray duct tape on the binder of the blackbook as it was falling apart. LMAO!

Some of the writers featured in Piecebook are: Dondi, Lee, T Kid, Lady Pink, IZ The Wiz, Kel 1st, Seen UA, Ali, Daze, Skeme, Noc 167, EZO, Cey, Part TDS, Don 1,West, Caine One, Mare, Doc TC5, Sye TPA, Shy 147, Kaves, Weber, Freedom, Rab, Wane COD, Dero, Reas, Erni and others…

So many of these are my contemporaries and the ones who came before me. The Black Book (as we called it in NYC) was an integral part of our claim as artists. I put together my first ‘Piecebook’ in 1981. I did lose two over the years. But I have the main stuff from my Graff NYC climax in the mid 1980s. A well-respected piecebook not only contained artwork of the owner, but artwork of past and present writers also. My book adhered to all those points. My ‘books were passed around for weeks before I saw them again. but when I saw them…maaaaan the artwork shined with fervor! I am in the process of scanning those pages. I will post to this site in a few months via a Flash Photo gallery. But back to this ‘PieceBook’ published by Prestel. This book will have the whet your desires for now. This book can only be obtained in hardcover. Our Black Books in the past were hard covers. I am told that they did not poly-gloss the pages. The book resembles an old school black book.

I’m elated to know that people are documenting this important part of Hip Hop history.

To order through amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Piecebook-Secret-Drawings-Graffiti-Writers/dp/379133896X

SWINDLE magazine has posted a blog about this book also.