JIDE

1:What do you write , how long have you been writing for (year started), and why did you get involved in it ?

Started in 99'...i got into graffiti after meeting my brother Jason Merino aka Merk HR from Corpus Christi Tx. Eventually I got down with HR crew and started drawing non-stop trying to devolope my handstyle, throwies and pieces ...had no idea that it would forever change the course of my life and I would still be doing it till this day....I have never been able to hang up graff completely...I love this shit...Fast forward to now, being apart of WKT has just made me want to go even harder ..i always wanted to be DUB....But Rip MERK a True Texas Legend and great friend..my brother always ..On Gawd i wouldn't be where I'm at today if it wasn't for him.

2:How did you get your name?

Lol I got my name on accident....I was watching GTV video intro on VHS in like 99'

and the word "VIDEO" in a handstyle popper up on the screen ...I thought it said "JIDE" and the "O" at the end was a halo...

I told my homies who were in the kitchen Yo... that dude Jide writes his name tightt...and they were like DAWG...that says video and were hella laughing at me ..I was like oh shittt lol ...so nobody writes JIDE tho?? and it was on from there.

3: Who were your biggest influences and why? SPEK BTC , MONE BFK, SENTO BFK,GHOST RIS, ALL OF A2M, KORN SMART CREW, NEKST, ESPO, ONOROK, SUPHER RTD, DIGET CIK, TERMS CIK. To name some...

But mostly the people that put me on and who were always around me SEN KSA,SEASE KSA, SKY DFL, DZIRE5 HR, KLARO CTS, DET CTS, SEEP, EPIK,DOZER,KOOP,ASTRO OAM...but most of all my brothers INK AND MERK HR crew.

4: What's your Favorite type of graffiti? Simple yet creative outside the box stuff...i love unique throw-ups, handstyles and letter structures.Its not what you do it's how you do it...So much stuff has been done already so my hat goes off to the people raising the bar and standing out not trying blend in..Like ONOROK, JEANS there's so many...Getting into graff I never wanted to be like everyone else or do what everyone else does ...I wanted people to stare at my stuff figure it out, realize what it says and be like Damn ok I see it that's different/clever. But shit idk...tbh being left-handed prolly does have alot to do with my creative process and approach....I say creativity and originality over everything.

5: Do you consider graffiti Hip Hop? and if not where did you pick it up from and what group do you think it falls in? Its one of the 4 elements of Hip Hip no doubt

6: What's your favorite type of music?

Ima huge 2pac fan....but I like east coast rap the most...growing up it just had a heavier influence on me ,sounded grimy....listening to Nas, Big Pun,Mobb Deep type shit. But being that I'm from the south ofcourse FAT PAT,SUC, MJG 8BALL,UGK,Liveola,5050 twin,CCC,Guerrilla Maab, DEA, and DJSCREW ALLDAY

7: What's the difference between Graffiti and Gang graffiti to you?

Style

8: Fruity pebbles or coco pebbles?

Gotta have my POPS

9: Are you in your prime as of right now? And if not, when do you think your prime was?

I believe so...What keeps me going is knowing I haven't done my best shit yet...These days i just stay pushing and keep trying to evolve by stepping outside my comfort zone.

10: What's your favorite city that you have painted and why is it your favorite?

OAKLAND for sure lol

11: What do you think of people getting jail time for graffiti ? It blows...Fuck jail

12: Do you still drink 40’s and if so what's your favorite brand to drink?

40oz Buzzball...nah jp. It depends...40oz Mickeys go kinda hard but it's rare for me... now that I'm OG

40oz water sounds better.

13: How do you feel about the graffiti trend and as well as being used for everything now a days (clothing,lunch boxes , hats , etc…..)

It is what it is...sometimes it's tacky.. sometimes its cool..

14: Do you have a chase story that people would like to hear one that you almost shit your self during?

Sheesh I have alot lol....but here goes..One time me and Merk were catching some fills in Corpus Christi in 2002 i believe...and a cop put his spot light on us got out the car and started running toward us saying "Get over here"...Merk was gone lol he hopped the fence so fast I didn't know which direction he went I was getting our paint...So then I hopped the fence i thought merk went thru and there was big ass dog on the otherside that hadnt barked lol so it chased me out the yard finnally hopped the next fence and was good....I ended up seeing Merk running towards a huge field at the end of the street... that was about a 1sq mile or 2. so i yelled at him yoo hold up ...then we both linked back up and just ran into it and layed down in the tilled dirt because by then the cops were shining their spot lights in the field looking for us from the main road far away.. There had to be like 6 cop cars that popped out...it was crazy cause our homie who dropped us off was driving around waiting for the opportunity to scoop us but the cops were driving up and down slowly....we were like fuckkk we thought they weren't gonna leave...so we started low crawling the whole way to the main road little by little after an what felt like an 1hr went by we ended up about a 100ft from the road and our homie scooped us up we tired af clothes were and shoes were all dirty but we were free.