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A Sit Down With -JHER-451*21 Questions on The Writer's Bench'2018

makindents
Jan 21, 2018
15 min read

When you think about Denver's Graffiti Scene as a whole, there are a handful of writer's that stand out in the city, that other writer's can say that have inspired them along their journey. This is one of those dudes. JHER 451, a True Denver Style Master. He's been steady buildin', inspiring, creating, crushing ART for decades here in Denver. A True Blue Hip-Hop Head, even blessing the beats and the rhymes. This Rebel Till Death came to shine! He's carved his name in the book's of Denver Graffiti with legendary battles and busy spots, with COPS Burners. He continues to be one of the most highly recommend graff and tattoo artists in The Mile High City. I met him around 1994, He was some type of inner city super hero to us young graff heads coming up trying to get a rep up.

RTD Crew was a infamous crew all through the 90's and still is heavy active crushin it. If you are apart of them, you have major skills and have no problem crushing the city. We grew a brotherhood throughout the years, through the rhymes, doing time in the cyphers. We saw each other at different house parties in the 90's . We were connected through mutual friends JESTER&AntOne. When I got kicked down with RTDS in the late 90's,I've always been honored to be one of the MC's right with my bros FLY Jedi,Url Gravy, COSMO (F9) in the crew among some incredible Graff Writer's, from coast 2 coast. Get your read on and dive in the mind and learn a lil something on my brother from another, JHER451, Feu!!!! Another Fresh sit down on The Writer's Bench.

1. DENT-Name and Crew's you rep!?

JHER-. What's up Dent! I write Jher451 from the Rebels Til Death Crew. I also rep DC5 from Chicago, that big LTS & KOG from Los Angeles, and The Creatures Crew from Pueblo.

2. DENT -City and State you're from!

JHER-I grew up in Vista, CA which is North County SanDiego. I officially moved to Colorado in the summer of 1991 to start 10th grade here. I always would come visit though, since I was like 5, because my dad lived here. I had to move because I got caught robbing vending machines and my mom thought I needed more guidance

3. DENT-You are consider a Legend in this city, What Got you into this graffiti game? How Did you Fall in Love with this ART Form?

JHER-Wow a legend? That's quite a compliment! I started getting into graff on the DL in Cali as a skater. I always remember seeing it since a young age and wondering what it was.. Like some sort of secret underground writing. I couldn't read it, but obviously some people COULD! My buddies and I had a little "skate team" in 7th and 8th grade, and we had our little tags. Mine was X-MAN lmao! We would just tag up the skate spots and stuff, but I remember writing "HI" on stuff even as a young kid hahaha then I moved up to "SKATE" or "SK8" sometimes.. But that was different. That just shows that vandalizing was in my blood at a young age.. The first cat I met that could really write was this dude Jeremy Deglopper. Him and his buddy from Oceanside. I was like "whoa you know how to write like that??" Haha so I started practicing my little tags and stuff, but I never took it very seriously until I moved to Colorado. I met Jester, Rase, and Nerve (Chase) and we all started actually going bombing and stuff. I wrote LAST or LASTED back then. We did our first production in May of 93 right where the parking lot to Elitch's is now.. It said "Furious Phour" aka "the Furious Ones", which was our crew FO, or later FOK. You could see it from I-25 and it was on the news! We were stoked. But going back to Vista and chilling with the Modern Hieroglyphics Crew was what really put me up on game. My best friend Chans who I knew since 5th grade brought me around.. It was him, Blame One (look him up on iTunes or YouTube), Disko, Koma, Dame (who is now in MSK), Rest, and Musek from SSK. They taught me the true essence of Hip-Hop. That's when I started freestyling and all that. We kicked it hard the Summer of 93, and that's when I came back with that Cali style.. Fools were jockin' and soon EVERYONE was doing them squiggly tagbanger S's.. But I was one of the first if not THE first one doing it out here.. And that's when I came back and really started crushing.. Lol I used to "bomb Feds" with the rest of them.. We really put it down around that time- me, Jest, Tuke, Love, Antik, Solve, Chase, Menis, Shewp, Mizer, Devo, and a few others. That was the FOK. We Repped SIN, or SYN, short for SYNDICATE too. That was one of Denver's original crews, which started in like '86 I believe.

4.DENT -How did you start making art?/Why do you make art?

JHER-I've always wanted to be an artist since as early as I could remember. Both my parents were artists, and both of my older cousins whom I looked up to were into drawing, so it was only natural. A lot of people think that being an artist came easy for me, but that's not true! I worked very hard to become good at drawing.. It never came super easy. To this day, I always try to push myself and strive for perfection; to be the best I can be at whatever I'm working on. Perhaps the creative side might come naturally for me, but the technical side is a perpetual challenge. I feel like that's part of why I do it. 1. Because it's something I'm good at, and it makes me feel good to do my best and inspire people, and 2. Because I feel like it's almost my duty. I know that sounds funny, but I guess I feel like God blessed me with these abilities, or at least the ambition to do these things that inspire people.. It would be a waste for me to do anything else. Also, I feel like creating beautiful or amazing artwork is my way of glorifying The Creator. It's my way of showing appreciation for being on this beautiful planet. I think I was born to do this!

5.DENT- How did you develop your painting/drawing skills?

JHER-Graffiti really pushed me to perfect my art and sort of made it "cool" to do art again.. Before I got into graff I was really into skateboarding. I had sort of fallen out of interest with drawing for a brief period, but at that point there were a lot of small skate companies that were doing their own graphics like Andy Howell with The New Deal and of course Mark Gonzales.. People like that. So I was in art classes and stuff, but graffiti always inspired me the most until I got into tattooing.

6.DENT- How would you describe your style? How does it stand out? Who influenced you coming up?

JHER-A lot of people say my stuff is very "organic". I guess I would agree. Especially in like the mid to late 90's, my stuff had a very organic feel. I've always been inspired by natural patterns (like in flowers and plants), and weird textures.. Like snails and octopuses and stuff.. Mold, algae, you know, stuff like that; trippy stuff. Then there's my use of color- many people remark on my use of color. I guess that's part of what sets me apart from others.. Sometimes I'll put colors together that you'd think never would work, but then I'll put em together like BAM!! Hahaha some of my biggest influences coming up were obviously all my friends whom I have already listed.. There was this dude POOCH who did a piece under this bridge in Oceanside that always blew my mind and it still rocks. Then there was CHARLIE DTK and the whole AOK RIS cats. Obviously SEEN, DONDI, ZEPHYR, and them.. Also ZODAK, RICH, MEAR, and RISK from the west Coast were huge influences. BATES, DELTA, MODE2, and a few other European writers always inspired me as well.

7. DENT-You are a very diverse artist- tell US your other techniques (tat2,graphic design etc.) does your other styles influence your graffiti? or vice versa?

JHER-Yeah I've been tattooing for over 18 years (since 1999) and I do other forms of artwork too- fine art, illustrations, some graphic design. I went to Metro for a couple years after high school and took some art classes and graphic design classes. I feel like that was crucial in teaching me a certain level of professionalism and helped with the presentation of my work. Obviously graffiti has always played a role in my style, but also tattooing has been huge in refining my style. If you ask me to draw an eagle now, it would look way different than how I would've done it back in '97. I like that. I like that tattooing has a certain aesthetic that just makes everything so tough. There are formulas you learn. Graffiti is exactly the opposite because there are no rules.. So there's no doubt that they influence each other constantly. I apply formulas from one or the other to its corresponding opposite all the time!

8. DENT- Explain the importance of being versatile as a artist.

JHER-To me versatility is key. I can't exactly say that it's the formula to success however, because there are a shitload of one-trick-ponies who are way more well known than I am. It's a bit discouraging at times, but whatever.. I just keep doing what I do. At the end of the day, my book will wind up being way more interesting! Hahahaha but I think versatility is important, because it keeps you from getting burnt out. It's easy to get bored doing the same thing all the time! I try to switch it up as much as possible.. There are no 2 JHER pieces that look the same. Maybe similar, but never the SAME.

9. DENT- What was your greatest graffiti experience?

JHER-My greatest graffiti experience? Hmmm that's tough. Thinking over 24 or so years.. Probably getting invited to the Estria battle in Oakland and doing well. I can't say winning 2nd place was best though, because the first year I went, I looked up while painting and saw Henry Chalfant taking pictures of me. That was quite an honor! Plus I got beat by VOGUE TDK and KATCH from Natural Koncepts; both artists I looked up to from way back in the day. The next year VYAL beat me and again, I couldn't complain. To place that well in the Bay Area is quite an honor in itself, because the Bay sticks to its own for sure!

10. DENT-You've done a lot of major art projects around the city, please give me a couple of contributions you've proud of pertaining to your art. Tell us about your shops and businesses.

JHER-Hmmm I always try to do little projects here and there with kids and stuff, just to try to be a positive role model. I used to do these graffiti classes with FATE GWT for troubled youth. I used to do classes for this lady that worked with the DA for some sort of Urban Youth Culture class. Some of those students were police cadets so it was fun to talk shit about cops and watch them get all mad. I've never had a great filter when it came to stuff like that.. I am also part owner of a tattoo shop called Landmark Tattoo at 609 E. 13th Ave. Denver 80203. Stop by and check it out if you’re in the area ever.

11. DENT- Any serious graffiti injuries while out on missions?

JHER-Never really sustained too many injuries, although once I slipped in human shit, and once I almost died in a brutal car crash from being in a high speed chase.. there was these dudes in a truck that saw us bombing on these trailers and they were following me so I tried to lose them and wound up hitting a pole at pretty high speed! I was with Chase and Love. We all got injured pretty bad. Chase got a really bad concussion and Love broke his collarbone. I broke 3 teeth in my mouth by putting them through the steering wheel. My teeth also went through my bottom lip and I separated my top lip from my skull.. the Dr said he could see my nose bone through my upper lip. That was pretty gnarly and I’m thankful we survived. The pole we hit was right in front of a church on 8th & Galapago and no doubt there had to be an angel looking over us or something because my car was DESTROYED.

12. DENT-What is your fav. paint you like to use?

JHER-I will use pretty much any paint that sprays, but my absolute favorite is probably Montana Gold. I like any Montana paint but probably prefer Hardcore over 94. I like Loop a lot too. Ironlak and Fresh Paint is not bad for the price point at all, and even Evolve is pretty good too although I haven’t used it in a long time.

13. DENT- Have you been able to travel outside Colorado to paint and show off your work?

JHER-Yeah I’ve traveled to a lot of places and painted in many cities. I guess I’ll just list them: San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Phoenix, Albuquerque, Rock Springs Wyoming, Grand Junction, Pueblo, Colorado Springs, Denver (obviously), Kansas City, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cincinnati, San Antonio, Santa Fe, New York City... and I think that’s it lol oh wait, I caught some tags in London and Bangkok too but nothing very substantial.

14. DENT- What are your thoughts about the current graffiti scene here in Denver?

JHER-Currently the graffiti scene is probably the best it’s been in like 15-18 years when LIFE crew and them were all rocking. There’s a lot of new guys getting out and putting in work with good styles and stuff, and there’s still all the usual suspects who have been in it for as long as me or even longer. It’s great to see Tuke back out there getting it in too. There’s a lot of “street art” going up too, which I don’t really have an opinion about. I mean it’s ok or whatever, doesn’t bother me, but it definitely helps to relax the laws on actual graffiti, or at least people don’t seem to mind it as much anymore..

15. DENT- If you could teach or tell the new generation of graffiti writers, what would it be?

JHER-Really all I would say to young cats just coming up would be just to learn your history and always have respect for those before you, and just be cool.. try not to let graffiti go to your head. Egos suck. And don’t take shit too seriously. Fighting is sometimes necessary but taking it any more seriously than that is overboard. It’s just graffiti. Ain’t nobody making any money off of it..

16. DENT-Any Good chase stories?

JHER-I got lots of good chase stories. One good one is I was with my homie Chase painting a train over by 6th and I-25. We used to paint that area all the time. Anyway, we decided to paint this car that was maybe 2-3 from the end of the train. There was a red light flashing on the last car and Chase decided to paint over so as to not draw attention to us (which eventually did quite the opposite in fact). Anyway I’ll never forget because it was when Krylon has just come out with a NEW! color line (I typed it that way because that’s how it was on the can). We had Grape, Purple, Emerald Green, Terracotta, and I forget what else but we were stoked because these were new colors and we were flossing em. So we were about 45 minutes in and just about done when a flashlight popped out around the last car and started running towards us! We just threw our paint down and climbed between cars to get away. We were running at top speed, we ran across the street and between these buildings, then ran through this open area between these warehouses.. when I broke left to cut between the warehouses, my shoe fell off and I had to stop and grab it lmao! I was running with one shoe the rest of the way. So luckily, there was a slot between buildings where we could continue to flee and then it opened up to the next open space. We had a slight lead on the guys chasing us so we decided to split up and hide. I climbed behind some bushes in front of the building where we were and Chase ran into this field that was like a hill facing where we were.. he couldn’t find anywhere to hide really so he hid under this big piece of plastic. When the bulls got to us, they knew we were hiding. They walked around the area with flashlights for like 20-30 minutes. They walked right in front of me but never shined the light into the bushes so I was safe. I watched them look around on that hill too, and they shined their flashlights right on Chase but didn’t bother to move the plastic around or anything (thank god). So once they left we both stayed hiding for like another 30 minutes at least then came out of hiding and walked out of there.. we were sort of lost too, but wound up over by Auraria Campus. I don’t remember anything else about how we got home or anything.. or going back to get our car, none of that. That was probably in 1995 or something. Long time ago lol

17. DENT-Please tell me about the OLD School JHER VS. Voice Battle back in the 90's? 2 Denver Legends! What was it about? And are yall Cool Now?

JHER-Yeah we are cool now. It all started because for whatever reason, Voice would always go over me any time we painted legal walls.. actually a couple other spots too. I got pissed because first of all, I looked up to Voice, and secondly, he was going over me! Lol but I think I was mostly mad because there were other toys (besides me) that were even worse that he could’ve went over, but he always seemed to go over me! So I called him out and told him to meet me at Jerry’s Market (or maybe it was Lee’s Market?) on like 44th and Shoshone or something. 1994. I was just about to go visit my mom in California for the summer, so I told him he had a month to get ready! Lol I wrote it all on a wall on Kentucky Market (down by Westwood) where he had gone over me. So when I went to California, I tried to learn as much as I could. I got some tips from my boy Coma (@playboycomatose) and the rest of the Modern Hieroglyphics Crue. I was drawing some ideas and I came up with a character with a big ugly mouth being choked by a smaller guy with an eyeball for a head standing on his shoulders and stretching his neck. The infamous quote that I wrote at the top said “Those who can see know a Voice is nothing if it cannot be heard”. When I painted it, it was like nothing anyone in Denver had seen.. my letters were hideous but the fill in was like a chalk body outline. I outlined it in avocado but it didn’t turn out how I had expected it lol That was basically what sealed my spot in Denver graffiti history for me at the time.

18. DENT -What's your Graffiti Art-world pet peeve?

JHER-My graffiti pet peeve is when fools are disrespectful. I also hate when toys talk to me about graffiti and act like we are on the same level.. like fool I was bombing highways when you were at home in a onesy watching Barney trying to figure out what the fuck your dick was.. gtfo with that! Haha like not to be on my own ego, but let’s be realistic here. We are worlds apart. Graffiti was a completely different universe back when I first started. Fools these days will never know what it was like to make those human connections and trade flicks via snail mail, and like writing each other actual LETTERS and shit, like having to seek out and find graffiti MAGAZINES and stealing caps off of cans in grocery stores or whatever.. just a completely different animal now.

19. DENT-What is the importance of graffiti/street art within society? Has it saved your life?

JHER-Graffiti is important in society because like StayHigh said, it’s basically the “Voice of the Ghetto”. I like that street art is finally sort of influencing graffiti in the aspect of like pushing dudes to do more artsy stuff with their backgrounds and shit. Like, pushing people to make more of a statement with their graffiti. Not like it was never that way before, I just feel like there’s more of a consciousness collectively nowadays and I like that. I think graffiti will always exist in its most rawest form; tags on highways and dumpsters, scribes on mirrors, fire extinguishers, etc... but I like that the artistic side is being more widely accepted. I think in turn graffiti as a whole will eventually be more accepted once future generations grow up being used to seeing it and actually liking it, not just allowing it or accepting it as being part of ‘city living’. Graffiti gives cities identities and character. Clean cities are pretty and feel safer I guess in a way, but graffiti makes a city look more ‘lived in’. I can’t say that graffiti has saved my life exactly, but it did give me a terrific opportunity to make a living as an artist.

20. DENT-Who's your favorite graffiti artist currently?

JHER-Lately I’ve been really digging this cat who writes Bacon. Also Musa from Spain I believe. I always like seeing Amuse and Merlot. Labrat143 is dope. My buddy Jick always kills it. My brother Fokes from LTS has been doing some phenomenal shit with Oilrig KOG that is like mind-blowing.. I’m really proud of my homie Kovet he has been doing some great stuff on freights and the productions Duble and him were doing together were super dope. Duble brings a whole new aspect to the freight game. His characters and backgrounds are so fresh! Gotta give a shout to all my Creatures fam, I really love all the stuff they’ve been doing, Vodka out in England does some great shit... let’s see.. obviously Trixter, Serval, Ewok Msk, Revok, Zes, Reyes, Arbe, Fishe, Versus, Sauter, Bates, Seen, Skeme, Delta, Ghost, Frame, Joker, Ces, Can2, Asend, Jash, Afeks, Omens, etc etc I could go on for days..

21. DENT-Any Last words? Shout out's?

JHER-Peace to anyone who makes it through this long ass interview and all the people who even gave a f**k to read it. Of course Rest In Peace to my young soldier Doher. Rip AntOne, Wisper, Rapes, and all the people out there who have touched my life or vice versa. Also peace to my crews, peace to SWS, DF, MDR, TKO, Guerilla Garden, MHK, LD, NPR, C2K, and all the crews in Denver who are actively putting in work. Love you all! One.