At149st.com has the best bio for graffiti pioneer TAKI 183: “TAKI was by no means the first writer or even the first king. He was however, the first to be recognized by the news media.” The “news media” they’re referring to is the New York Times (PDF of article), who wrote a story about him back in 1971. It’s no doubt that this was a significant moment in the history of the outlaw movement, but is he going too far in this recent interview with author Roger Gastman, when he says that Washington Heights isn’t the birthplace of graffiti because it lacked media coverage? Read more »

Hailing from Washington Heights, TAKI 183 is often billed as one of the first graffiti writers and is widely credited with spurring competition for ups in New York City after the New York Times featured him in the 1971 article “TAKI 183 Spawns Pen Pals.” Nearly forty years later, the rudimentary tagger has launched a new website with photos, stories and these hand tagged screenprints for sale.