GETTING UP with SHAM: The Bombing of Shit Fuck City
by Munkifunk
"The Greatest Graffiti is NO Graffiti" - SFPD Motto
"It's so easy to do. Anybody can make a mess. Some people just don't get it. Fucking shit up is just so much fun."
— Sham, KUK
"We got seven minutes to buy more beer, and all night to kill toys!" That's how our evening began. The liquor stores were closing and renegade graff writer Sham needed more alcohol to get his perv on. The agenda for the night was a simple bombing run: "What I'm going to do tonight is walk through this tunnel and pick something that I don't like. I'm going to go over it nice and good and thick. I'm going over everything...mad killing fool right now...I'm drunk...I'm high on speedballs...I've been smoking
weed...I've been shooting dope...I've been shooting speed...I've been shooting crack...you know how to do that? You take a little bit of lemon juice and drop it on your crack...stir it up...you don't even put a flame to it... you only cook dope...and then you fucking put it right in your vein and call it a 'ringer.' Speedballs and crack are one of the best things I've ever found in my life. Drinking that Tenderloin ninja juice really gets me fired up!" Indeed.
That was a couple years ago. Since then, our renegade graff writer has been evicted from his home and fired from his job, while his crew, KUK (Kill Until Killed), have earned the distinction of being the first graff crew in SF to be raided by the police and subsequently indicted by a grand jury on 24 felony charges of graffiti and conspiracy to commit graffiti as a gang. Law enforcement officials have adopted a zero-tolerance stance against the graffiti writers and the District Attorney's office is reportedly opting for full prosecution, which could lead to time in state prison. "In March, a San Francisco grand jury indicted 8 people on 24 counts, including conspiracy (182); gang participation (186.22); graffiti (594); and there were gang enhancements. On a legal point, defendants are charged with participating in a gang, as well as crimes committed for a gang purpose. All are felony counts. A conviction could mean state prison. Of the 8 indicted, 5 are allegedly members of KUK, which stands for Kill Until Killed (or according to one member, Kiss Until Kissed). One alleged gang member is a woman. All are in their 20s and come from middle or upper middle class backgrounds. All are Caucasian. Some have multiple prior convictions for related crimes. The crimes that lead to the indictment occurred in 2002 and included the gang tag, KUK, as well as the tags of individuals. Those included: deth; abhor; sleaze; vic20; and a graphic of a large dead cat, with Xs for eyes. That was allegedly the product of the female member. KUK Graffiti has appeared in San Francisco, Oakland and Berkeley; on cars, trucks, road signs, light boxes, overpasses, and public and private buildings. One tag stretched, and maybe still stretches, over 200 feet. On Potrero Hill, on a housing project called Turner Terrace, and which is visible from hwy 280, I'm told there is a tag 6 feet tall and perhaps 100 feet long. "Practical considerations," says Harry Dorfman, "made it so that we only presented a portion of the available evidence to the grand jury." Mr. Dorfman says there were more than 100 separate tags that might have been used as evidence. Seven of the eight indicted were arrested. I don't have a date yet. One has a warrant. Sept 6 is the trial date." -Press Notes from the Office of the District Attorney website
But that's all beside the point. What we need to focus on right now is not the overwhelming need for the DA's office to successfully prosecute someone, anyone, even if it is just a ragtag bunch of delinquents obsessed with writing their names on the sides of buildings. When compared to 3 off-duty cops who went on a drunken rampage over fajitas and the alleged cover up by top brass officials, terms like "property damage" and graffiti-abatement" start to sound like a poor substitute for "police scandal." Let us instead return to that innocent night when we bombed the West Portal Muni tunnel in San Francisco. It was dark and stormy. I had a 6-pack. Sham had the Krylon. He turned to me and said: "When God created Earth he said, Sham I created everything. Now I want you to go out there and spread the word. I said, Sure God, I will."
This is what he told me...In the beginning "It kind of started like this: I like fucking shit up. I'm a fucking vandal. I'm scandalous. I'm a scandalous vandal. I take what I can get and I give even more. Any fools get in my way, best to them. I don't consider myself an artist at all. I consider myself a vandal. I just fuck shit up. I think I was just born that way. I was born with this ingenious plan to destroy the earth. Maybe it was my good friend and dark lord Satan. Somewhere along the line it was that guy sticking his big dick up in my mother's fucking twat, coming all up in there, and [making] this little beast of a boy that turned out to be Sham. I don't know exactly all that bestiality bullshit, but here I am, and you're all sorry for it. I've hopped trains across the US I've hit everything. When I was writing, I never thought about no hiphop thing, or punk rock thing, or styles and shit. It just all started as fucking shit up. I just had to fuck it up. I just couldn't stop it once it began. Now here I am with a name and it's up everywhere. Motherfuckers hate me because I did it on purpose. I did it intentionally. I see all these fucking fools calling themselves artists throwing shit up all over the city. Fuck that dude. That ain't art. That's fucking vandalism. That's what I'm here for. Fuck that art bullshit. I'm here for real just fucking it up." And you shall know his name...
"Sham wasn't my first word, but it's the best one yet. The reason I picked Sham [was] because that's what it all is...this whole masquerade...everything that we live around...this government...this whole fucking world...it's all a sham. You think writing graffiti makes you cool? No, that's a fucking sham, too! Fuck that. Everything is a fucking sham. That's why I'm here. That's why I write Sham. KUK, that stands for Kill Until Killed. That's just the way it is. One day me and Sect were sitting around and we decided let's see who can be the most hated writer in this city. We ain't going to write unless we're going to write over somebody, and that's how KUK became. We just said we're going to kill until killed, but no one's been able to step up to kill us so I guess we just keep killing. We've had some good battles. We've battled quite a bit. It's all been fun. I like every minute of it. Me and Sect fucking made this shit. Motherfuckers, they don't know what to think. Here we are, punk as fuck, hitting KUK everywhere. They get scared when they see it 'cause they know we don't give a fuck. We are the fucking masters. I just want to set the fucking record straight: Any graffiti artist that ain't in KUK should get really fucking pissed because we know you suck."
Art vs. Graff
"I'm an artist, too. I'm a good artist, but that's not what I see graffiti for. Graffiti is a fucking game. It's all about getting your name up. It ain't about who can draw the prettiest picture. It's about who can fuck shit up the most.I ain't got no fancy caps. I don't care. Some people think, 'Oh you've got to have this pen, you've got to have this kind of paint, you got to have all that shit...' Nah, fuck it, what you've got to have is just shit to fucking mark on things and say, 'Hey, I fucked your shit up!' Some people think graffiti should be legalized...like an art form...it's like the art of the man on the street...fuck that. Just like skateboarding, keep it illegal so it makes it fun. If graffiti was legal, I wouldn't fucking write that shit. Hell no.You want to know why it's fun? I'm fucking famous, but nobody knows myface. Some fools do, but that's just because I catch them slipping and Irun up on them. I'm not afraid to hide who I am. The wrong motherfuckerswho cross my path, they know who I am. For the most part, graffiti is done strictly for the people who write graffiti. I don't do this for the fucking normal Joe. I actually do it for other writers because that's the only people that care. They fucking see that shit. They know what's up. They fucking see me. I'm fucking famous. Hell, it's not what I went out to do intentionally. I fucked shit up so bad that people just took notice. Now here they are, all my fucking fans, and they hate my guts. I'm kind of like the GG Allin of graff."
Battling
"I have a hard time writing if I ain't beefing with someone. I need some incentive there. It's like a game. Who can be up the most? Who can be the best? I battle people for various reasons. If I see something I don't like, I'll cross it out. Fuck it, whatever...you want to beef me? C'mon let's get it on! It's more fun to write over other people than it is to write on something blank.When I first started writing there was no fucking unity. It was battle,battle, battle! People don't battle anymore. They're all a bunch of fucking sissies. They're all a big 'Get A Long Gang.' Fuck that. That's not what graffiti is about at all. It's just getting up and stomping anybody in your way. It's about fame. Most fools who write, they get hella mad when they get crossed out. I fucking love getting crossed out! That means they love me. But the funnything is that nobody ever signs their name. If you're going to beef somebody, if you're going to hack somebody, if you're going to go over somebody, you better sign your name or that's fucking pussy shit. What the fuck? Let them know. Don't be a sissy. Put your fucking name on it. Graffiti writers, they write for other graffiti writers. But in my case, I don't do it to make friends. That's just not what it's about. Not in my eyes. I don't know who these 'Get A Long Gang' fuckers think they are...trying to say peace, love and all that shit. When has peace and love really ever existed in this society?"
Hiphop vs. Punk rock
"I give props to hiphop. I like hiphop. I like what they're doing. It's a lot like punk rock. But I just can't groove with it. I like to be angry. I like to be mad all the fucking time. It's the only thing that makes me happy. It's fucking energy. It's what keeps you going. You can see it in my graff, too. That's what KUK is all about. Abhor, Sleaze, Sect, all these kids...we used to squat and shit...live in abandoned buildings...selling fake crack to buy our beers. Some people think you're miserable if you hate all the time. I don't understand how these people can love all the time. Who's really got love anymore? Hate is an energy, too. I got plenty of love. I give all my friends love, but if you ain't one of my friends you get my hate.Look at this world. You can look at it with jaded eyes and think it's all pretty. Hell, there's a lot of beautiful shit in this world. I'm not going to say the whole world is a fucking dump but for the most part it is.
People are more into fashion than anything else. Most of these fools change their shoes 10 times before they leave the house. Fuck all that shit. Just put your fucking shit on, get out there, and get up. I dig hiphop. I like it, but that's not my roots. I'm punk as fuck. I like hardcore and shit. All these hiphop kids...I fucking run up on 'em when I'm writing and shit...they can't fucking believe it, but here I am. Writing ain't all just about hiphop. It's about a lot of things. To me, it's like this: Life is a sport, and the sport is war. Slaughter is the intention. And the only winner is the one who is left alive."
The Rules of Graffiti according to SHAM
"For anybody out there who doesn't know the rules about graffiti, let me tell you: There are none. Some people will say, 'Well you can't go over this and that...'
Listen, if it's there, go over it. The more people I take out, the happier I am.
* * * * * * * * *
So there you have it. Straight from the orifice, a violent regurgitation of bullshit so twisted and laced with lies that no normal decent person could ever hope to understand it. But prosecute it the District Attorney will, and to the fullest. In fact, they'll probably even convict the little bastards because let's face it, everyone loves sticking it to kids. Especially 30-year old defendants acting like kids. The DA will force them to act their age by sending them to state prison. There they will live with murderers and rapists. They will be made to grow up and learn about adult things such as respect, relationships and sodomy. Perhaps then the DA office will begin to feel better about itself. Maybe they'll "get up" again and "tag" something bigger and more meaningful than graff writers. Hopefully they'll prosecute some corrupt cops.
