One night I came home and there was this man inside my sister Patricia’s room. She wasn’t there. I went inside to check him out and waited for him to introduce himself. After all, he was in my house. He didn’t though. He was in his thirties and well groomed and dressed like a homeboy with all new clothes and Cazels eyeglasses. He was funny looking with protruding eyeballs. He reminded me of an amphibian. I grew annoyed with his lack of respect.
“Who the fuck is this joker?” I asked myself out loud.
“Watch your mouth, kid. I’m Kano Tc5”
“Yeah right! You’re not down with Tc5!”
Tc5 was and still is a legendary crew that stood for The Cool Five. It’s considered graffiti royalty and has a certein mystique about it. To be down with the Five in graffiti is the equivalent of being made in the mafia.
“What? I should go in your mouth for disrespecting me like that!”
“I rob motherfuckers like you! You lucky I don’t take your shit right here in my own house.”
“You’re bugging. I’m from Brooklyn, son!”
At the time, Brooklyn kids were notorious for robbing kids from Manhattan. So much so that there was a saying:"Manhattan makes it and Brooklyn takes it.”
“I don’t care where you’re from. I’m a stick-up kid!”
“You ain’t no real stick-up kid!”
Right then Patricia came in from the store.
“Yo Vince, you met my new boyfriend Kano?”
She was wearing Kano’s Lee denim jacket. On the back of it was a Kano piece painted on it by the late Dondi C.I.A. Dondi was something of a living god in graffiti.
“Oh shit! Dondi did that?”
“You better recognize, kid. I don’t know who you think you’re fucking with.”
“I write. I write Psycho!”
“I ain’t never heard of you. You must be a toy.”
“Well, I just kind of started. But everybody knows who I am around here.”
“You know Eps?”
“No, but I’ve seen him up.”
“You know Nel-One?”
“No, but he lives on my friend Eddie’s block.”
“You ain’t shit. Stick with me though.”
From that night on, Kano pretty much lived in my sister’s room for the duration of their relationship. I went with him to his house in Williamsburg, Brooklyn so he can pick up some clothes.Dondi was ouside his building with his sister Marisol who was skinny and pretty like a model. They were in a on and off again kind of relationship and didn’t look happy. Even though I was star struck at the sight of Dondi, I didn’t show it when Kano introduced me to him.
“Psych, this is Dondi.”
“Oh word, what’s up? I said, looking around at the buildings.
“I really like this neighborhood.”
Kano’s room was like a graffiti candy shop. He had all sorts of markers, spray paint and poster art by Dondi and Phase 2 hanging up. He had a black and white autograph head shot of Maddona in her “Like a Virgin” phase. It read, “with love.”
“You know Maddona?”
“Maddona used to be my bitch. She used to love my ass!”
I didn’t believe him but then he produced some flicks taken in a photo booth and in one of them they were kissing. I thought to myself that he must of met her when she got out the bus from Detroit and she used him as a stepping stone.
“What happened?”
“I dumped that bitch and then she went with that faggot nigga Jellybean.”
I think I was right.
One day I went with Kano shopping on 8 th street in the Village and he ran into this gay man with glasses and curly hair. It was obvious that the gay man liked him and in my young ignorance, I thought Kano was way too friendly with him. After we moved on, I questioned him.
“What’s up with you and the homo?’
“Yo kid, that dude is famous. Don’t you know who that is? That’s Keith Haring.”
“Just because he’s famous doesn’t mean you have to suck his dick!”
“Yo kid, one of these days I’m gonna punch you in the face. You wait and see.”
I liked Kano a lot. He was always fun to be around. He smoked a lot of angel dust and introduced me to it. And then I started smoking a lot of it too. So did my sister Patricia. We were always dusted. Kano kept bundles and bundles of it in my freezer and I took daily liberties with his drugs. I smoked at least 5 bags a day.
Not only was Kano able to gain entry to just about every club in Manhattan, but he was able to bring in an entourage as well for free. It was almost as if he was a celebrity in the nightlife. He would just tell the doorman, “Kano plus ten” and we were all in. We never had to wait on line or be searched. I was only 14 and hanging out at the Roxy and Dancertia every weekend. It was at the Roxy that I met the guys from the Rock Steady Crew. I got along especially with Frosty Freeze and Rozzy Roz Tc5.
One night at Dancertia, Kano’s sister Marisol and I went to sneak off to smoke some dust I had stolen from him we were sitting on a staircase and started fooling around. She was 27, so this was a big deal for me. I wasn’t really getting girls yet. and here I was, 14 with a woman. Later on, I felt the need to show off and started making out with Marisol in front of Kano. Stupid mistake. Kano yelled at her.
“Yo, you can’t be kissing him. He’s like your little brother!”
“But he’s cute though. Come on, Kano.” she whined.
“You heard her, punk. I’m cute!” I told him.
Kano put a stop to our brief fling and made sure I never saw Marisol again after that night. I was mad at him and heartbroken for a few days.
Because of Kano, I got to enjoy experiences that no 14 year old should ever have. However, I was exposed to how exciting and diverse new York City really is with it’s nightlife, resturants, culture and personalities. I’ve been in love with this city ever since and made it my business to get out of Washington Heights every opportunity I got. I love Kano for that.
One day I came home and Kano was gone. I asked Patrica about him and all she said was, “Fuck that motherfucker! he could go to hell.” I was depressed by his absence for over a week, but it was all for the better for Both my sister and I. Our brains were being fried to mush from smoking too much angel dust.
Posted on October 10, 2007 at 07:51 AM | Comment (5 comments)
