CRACHEE: DARK TOFFEE CRUNCH

CRACHEE Started: Early 70s
Primary affiliations: TC5
Local orgin: Bronx, N.Y
Main lines: 2s 5s

One of the original members of The Crazy 5, Crachee was a true pioneer during graffiti's Golden Age, throwing up hundreds of pieces. He began bombing in 1972 with Vamm - another TC5 original - and decided early on to keep track of his work. So along with spray cans, Jif- foam nozzles and gloves, Crachee would carry a Kodak Instamatic camera to lay ups and train yards. When he was done, Crachee would snap away. As a result, he was able to document thousands of pieces between 1972-75 - a critical time when a writer's "name" was the design. Crachee was the first writer to paint a two-man, top-to-bottom whole-car cloud. He also was one of the first ones to use bubble letters. Lifelong friends, Blade and Crachee have known each other since kindergarten. They became hitting partners in 1973. Blade and Crachee were so close they formed a band in 1974, playing funk and disco and writing original songs. Their band - Bazay - played night clubs all over the New York City area. (One morning, Crachee and Blade even painted a piece honoring their band. By their names were images of Crachee playing the sax and Blade holding a bass). Crachee stopped hitting in the late 70s, and later moved to Chicago to pursue a journalism career. He reached the top of his profession in 2004 when he received the Pulitzer Prize for Investigative Journalism. A book based on his award-winning series - "Tiger Force: A True Story of Men and War," was published in May by Little, Brown & Co. It has received critical praise by major newspapers, including the Washington Post and Miami Herald. Crachee just finished his second book - The Crazy 5 - a coming-of-age novel about five friends growing up in a Bronx housing project in the early 1970s.

$3.50