Ever wonder what riding the train was like back in the day? Here’s what the Times Square station looked like 25 years ago. The footage was shot with a 16mm film camera in June of ’86, about three years before the MTA officially implemented its “clean train” policy and decided to no longer run subway cars that were littered with graffiti. Whats up with the signs for the “K” and “CC” trains? I  also really thought it was interesting how no one freaked out or questioned why someone was recording in the subway. The simpler times.

A graffiti writer in Brooklyn offers up some advice to fellow vandals and New Yorkers in general from a Williamsburg rooftop. I see this every morning while Im waiting for the M train at the Marcy stop in Williamsburg, and each and everytime, it reminds me to keep on pushing. Graffiti is a really funny thing. People either complain about it, or embrace it and when it is a inspiring quote or touching picture, it can mean so much more.

KATSU is creating havoc around New York City. The graffiti artist is back at it with his personal spin on Nike and MoMA ads, featuring the likes of Steve Jobs, Bill Murry, Jay-Z, a young Morrissey, and Kurt Cobain. The other day I was walking down East Houston and saw Lil Wayne with the MoMa tag line above it. I obviously stopped dead in my tracks, pulled out my phone, and checked to see if there was a Lil Weezy exhibit at the MoMa. At least he fooled me. Catch them if you can, they really are awesome.

This is Ron English‘s festive own contribution to the South Park tribute art show that he’s curating at Opera Gallery in NYC for next week. Being all up on the Jesus bandwaggon is really in right now, so English went with a biblical Last Supper theme sprawled over a very productive-looking Towelie. The characters are nightmarish and humanoid, just like we like our women. Kidding. Not really. This new chapter in his South Park art is a little less intense than when he killed Kenny. Damn Ron, give the guy a break. Fire. Really?

A sculpture of Muhammad Ali is on display this month at LA’s Nokia Plaza. Artist Michael Kalish built it using 1,300 punching bags, 6.5 miles of stainless steel cable, and 2,500 pounds of aluminum pipe to construct a 22-foot-high installation that took three years to complete.

Besides perhaps the Nevermind baby, the baby sporting a giant Afro and chilling in a diaper pictured on Notorious B.I.G.’s classic debut Ready to Die is the most iconic infant in album-cover history no questions asked. As the music world commemorated the 14th anniversary of Biggie’s death on March 9th,(..Cuz the GREATEST rapper of all time died on March 9th!) many fans began inquiring about the Ready to Die kid. Diddy simply told Rap Radar, “That was a baby we just found… We did a little casting for somebody that looked like Big,” and the Bad Boy offices had long lost any concrete form of documentation. That sounds pretty believable since Bad Boy wasn’t the multi million dollar empire it is today, and was just trying to get off the ground when Ready to Die dropped. The Daily News has uncovered the 18-year-old who claims to be the mini-B.I.G.: Bronx native Keithroy Yearwood.

That Yearwood was a paid model would come as a surprise to two people involved in the shoot: Designer Cey Adams and the cover’s photographer Butch Belair, both thought that the Ready to Die baby was the child of someone who worked at Bad Boy. Yearwood says he was paid $150 dollars for the shoot, but could have never guessed that by being on this cover, he will forever be linked to Biggie Smalls, the greatest rapper of all time, as well as having arguably the most famous baby photo ever.

Here’s a pretty interesting visual art and music experiment called JAM. This film is based on a very simple idea: the increasingly varied the sounds, the greater is the number of creatures. I’m pretty sure there is an inherent awesomeness in the nature of chaos. I watched this mofo like 5 times already and might have to give it another few viewings.

JAM from MIRAI_MIZUE on Vimeo.

Here is a pretty interesting set of posters done by Graphic Patrick, site found here. He did a little bit of research on mental health disorders and came across a few to visualize in a minimalist sort of way. Here they are, I am sure a few loony toons with these problems will really get a kick out of them.

The rest of the mental health disorders found below
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In a new project by New Orleans’ Candy Chang an abandoned building on Marigny and Burgundy gets some life pumped into it as a public chalkboard. The communal bucket-list now reads: Before I Die I Want To… “DANCE,” “Grow Old,” “Keep living in NOLA” and, our favorite, “be tried for piracey.” Anything that lets the community get involved is always a major hit with us, and this is just another example of how artists can really get the creative juices of the average person flowing. I really need to get on my bucket list. Riding an elephant and drinking snakes blood arent going to just magically happen, ya know?

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