
NYC Graffiti Legend PART ONE (TDS) Reveals Subway Era Secrets | Whachuwrite Podcast
Graffiti royalty PART ONE (The Death Squad / TDS) sits down with the @whatchuwritepodcast live at The Graffiti Temple in Hackensack, New Jersey. Starting in 1971 in Spanish Harlem and Hell’s Kitchen, PART ONE became one of the most prolific and technically influential style masters in New York City subway history. In this episode, PART breaks down 50+ years of street culture: from building homemade markers from stolen school erasers to painting the legendary #1 and #6 trains, racking Rust-Oleum, Red Devil, and Krylon, climbing the third rail to hit top-to-bottoms, and his candid thoughts on Henry Chalfant’s iconic "Subway Art" book skipping an entire generation of writers. He also shares untold stories about painting Rome subways in 2009, his friendship with Stay High 149, and how original train writers get overlooked by modern spray paint sponsorships.🔔 Subscribe to Whachuwrite Podcast for deep dives with underground icons, graffiti legends, and hip-hop pioneersHit the 🔔 notification bell so you never miss an episode!---------------------------------------------------TIMESTAMPS / CHAPTERS:[00:00:00] Intro: Live from The Graffiti Temple with PART ONE TDS[00:01:07] Starting at Age 11: Homemade Markers & School Erasers (1971)[00:02:16] Discovering Fat Caps & The First Spray Paint Tags[00:04:01] Choosing the Tag "PART ONE": Origin of Adding Numbers[00:06:18] NYC Borough Wars: Did the Bronx Really Start Graffiti?[00:07:30] Silver Trains & The Blue Ribbon: The Golden Subway Era[00:09:07] In the Yards: Climbing the Third Rail & Painting Top-to-Bottoms[00:10:22] The Evolution of Arrows and 3D Letter Structure (Pistol & Flint 707)[00:13:50] The Racking Era: Krylon, Rust-Oleum & Lead-Based Red Devil[00:17:24] Crushing the #6 and #1 Train Lines (Spanish Harlem to Hell's Kitchen)[00:19:47] Documenting Trains: Photo Trades vs. Gatekeeping in the Culture[00:21:48] Joining The Death Squad (TDS) in 1976[00:23:56] The Truth About Henry Chalfant’s "Subway Art": "You Skipped a Generation"[00:26:39] Remembering Legends: Blade, Lee Quiñones & Average Writer Lifespans[00:28:26] Hitting Freights & Painting Rome Subways 3 Nights in a Row (2009)[00:32:50] The TDS Book Run & The Clean Train Era of the Late 1980s[00:35:48] Vintage Spanish Montana vs. Why Modern Paint Brands Pass Over Legends[00:39:54] Graffiti vs. Street Art: The Global Culture Shift[00:41:26] The True Anatomy of Style: From Tags to Full-Color Pieces[00:43:24] Surviving as an Independent Artist: Flipping Social Media Algorithms[00:47:13] Saluting Stay High 149, Padre, Billy 167 & Being a Lifer[00:49:51] Outro & Respect to PART ONE TDS---------------------------------------------------#PartOneTDS #TDS #GraffitiHistory #SubwayArt #WhachuwritePodcast #NYCSubway #GraffitiTemple #OldSchoolGraffiti #StyleWars #StreetArtNYC #HipHopHistory








