Another graffiti pioneer, is Guatemalan born, Byron “Crase” Marquez who like Lamboy was just a teen when he started. “In 1980 I was going to school in Queens and as I was going to school, I met this kid that wrote his name,” said Marquez. “But I already started to notice it on the trains and on the buses, and on the streets. The first writings I saw were FTD 56, Clyde, Stay High 149, and Iz.”
Marquez remembers seeing the opening credits of the show Welcome Back Kotter and noticing the graffiti from Iz the Wiz. After that, Marquez saw a news special that featured other graffiti artists such as Crash, Daze, and Futura. “I remembered Crash because I saw his name on the trains,” said Marquez. It wasn’t until he saw his friend from high school tagging. The high school friend turned out to be Craze. Marquez thought it was cool and decided that he wanted to take part. Only one problem though; he didn’t have a name. It wasn’t until Craze recommended that Marquez use the name Crase with an “S” instead of a “Z”. Craze taught Marquez the ropes and the two would mostly street bomb.
“He was like my partner you can say,” Marquez says about the partnership formed between him and Craze. However, what really made Marquez step it up with his graffiti was seeing two artists do a throw up in front of him. “That’s what really turned on the lights,” said Marquez. “After that I started doing it every day and I wanted to do it every day.” As a result of this intense focus on graffiti more than school, Marquez was shipped off to Los Angeles by his parents, as a means to get him away from the graffiti scene; but what Marquez and his parents didn’t know was that he was heading right into a perfect opportunity.
One of the most rewarding moments in Marquez career as a graffiti artist was working on the film Breakin’. “It was an experience, not something I planned or looked for,” Marquez says with pride. “It was a beautiful experience where I was able to [ ] do something that I enjoyed a lot.”
The opportunity came after Marquez moved to California, he was invited by friends from the Shake City Rockers Crew, which Marquez was also a member of, to hang out at the legendary Radiotron, a place where B-Boys, graffiti artists, and DJ’s hung their hats. It was there that he would meet rapper Ice-T. “I was introduced to Ice-T. I spoke to him. He heard that I was into graffiti and that I was pretty good,” said Marquez. “He informed me about the audition (for Breakin’). He told me to be there at 3:30 and that he’ll introduce me to the people doing the casting call.”
Of course, he went. It would be crazy to pass up an opportunity like that. “After school, I went to the audition. Once I arrived, Ice-T introduced me to the people. They asked if I could do a piece on an 8×10 plywood canvas,” Marquez said, remembering the audition process. “I did and they liked it. A week later, I got the call that I got it. To be part of that movie was a big accomplishment.”
