The election of Barack Obama is really just proof that we here at Ways and Means are truly ahead of the curve. We got ourselves a black president long ago.

I was on the phone a few nights ago, talking about the big picture with an old friend, who has found himself older and alone, unsure of which way to head in life. He said that he “Regretted spending his life writing graffiti.” This kinda stung a bit because he was one of the guys that came and taught us plenty of things about style back in the early days of my graffiti career. I got a little pissed off. I said to him that Graffiti is sorta like that scene in the Matrix in which Neo is given a choice, take the red or the blue pill. Once you spend a part of your life living outside the law and the norms of “civilian”life, you will never be able to just forget and get plugged back in. I am not talking about mural art. I am talking about taking tags, racking paint and doing illegal graffiti. He seems to be trying to choke that pill back up. Graffiti really is and is supposed to be a young mans sport. Just like any other young mans sport, your career is limited. I know a few grown men that are still out there doing theirs and I respect their ability to do it wholly for their own satisfaction, but after awhile the respect of a bunch of acne faced kids becomes less and less appealing. Rent and shit seems to take priority to late nights getting chased by cops.

The last friend of mine that got into it with Police ended up dying on the tracks. This is an R.I.P piece I did for him, and somehow I think it is also an R.I.P. piece for my graffiti career. Taking that pill has shaped us, and I am always quicker to relate to people who also went down that road, and I have found that the people that have gone down that tube, are generally more aware of their position and surroundings, and are always much quicker to take action.

This picture for me is where W&M begins, I was just starting to do Name Value, and Salah,and Pat (R.I.P.). Came out to Tokyo to visit.

NAME VALUE.

NAME VALUE was the first project that was a Ways and Means project. It was sorta Pre-W&M but was shaped by the same people with the same ideas, really about getting our people doing what they want to do and making that hard choice to not settle for a dayjob

NAME VALUE T-shirts

NAME VALUE photoshoot 2002

NAME VALUE photoshoot 2004

By 2004 we were doing everything from Basketball Jerseys to Leather down Jackets to Aloha Shirts, I was back and Forth between New York and Tokyo every three months.

RAYPOTES wears a Name Value aloha see more from ray at: HAMBURGER EYES

Brooklyn.

I eventually came back to NewYork fulltime, and Ways and Means really started to take shape, Salah had moved to Brooklyn and we ended up in the 260 Norman compound. Like all black presidents do, when moving into a new house, we got a puppy…(editor’s note: we got TWO puppies)

It was at 260 Norman that we expanded into other endeavors, Posters, Art direction,storyboards:

Longtime W&M alumni Pete Miser helped us with the LOP music of our friends

W&M first Poster

Artful Dodger, was a moment of weakness for me when I thought that maybe a dayjob was a realistic possibility. I have no Idea what is happening with it, Last I heard Jay-Z bought them.

ROATAN, HONDURAS

In 2007 we got a call from Chef extraordinaire Jason Vickers,The W&M Chief of Staff. So we packed our bags and left for Ghetto Paradise,

It was a Working Vacation, and it was decided there and then that We expand our endeavors, and eventually Jason made his way back east. With Jason,Salah, and yours truly finally under one roof in the new Crown Heights Location, a few new characters entered the stage in a way that would change us from a loose group of over the hill graffiti writers trying to get by, into a real workhorse of Fresh. Old skaters and old graffiti writers have the same thickness of blood, and if you ever need a transfusion, be sure that the red is from a similar vein. My good skate mate, and hetro fashion shopping partner from the older days of Las Chicas bartending. The one the only John Beullens (Professional Male Model), finally makes an appearance in NY.

In an unexpected turn of events, our favorite LA based Mad Mathematician, NASA algorithm designer, Ryan J Carney, after showing up in NY, getting in a tiff with his lady at her art opening, gets totally open, starts home with his lady’s friend, thinks better of it, crashes her Trackbike face first into a Williamsburg Bridge… blacks out… wakes up in a construction site… then finally shows up on the couch that was supposed to be John’s. (editor’s note. YES WE CAN!)

And so we arrive at the present…

Arm, Leg, Leg, Arm, Head

5 wheels work if you are making a Starship.

And the puppy, well I guess I gotta admit, she is a dog now, so time has past, but I have never felt more sure of the direction we are headed with W&M. We have made some very good projects, and even though we all struggle with creditors, or girls, or any of those small things… we have hope. And not just because we have a Black President, which we here have had for quite awhile, but because I know that for this group of guys the best days are ahead and we are not the type to spit that pill out. We will never be the guys that sit around and talk about how good it used to be, simply because it just keeps getting better.

Yours truly,

Maceo Eagle

(editor’s p.s. Just cause Bruce got kidnapped back to the 206 doesn’t mean he didn’t grow up too!)