ALI (graffiti artist)
Encyclopedia
ALI was the graffiti
name of artist and musician Marc André Edmonds, also known as J. Walter Negro, “The Playin’ Brown Rapper.” As ALI, he is best known as the founder of 'Soul Artists' and originator of the cult of Zoo York
. As "alter-ego" J. Walter Negro (a cynical take-off on the arch-commercialist J. Walter Thompson advertising agency), he is remembered as the lead singer/songwriter
of the proto-hip-hop-rap group 'J. Walter Negro and the Loose Jointz', who had some success with their 1981 release "Shoot the Pump".
in 1956 to an African American
father and Cherokee
mother, ALI attended public school on the Upper West Side
with future noted graffiti artists SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat
), Futura 2000
(Lenny McGurr), and COCA 82 (Pablo Calogero). He began street-tagging in 1970, and with his younger brother Michael, founded the early crew The Underground (UND). He went on to found The Soul Artists (SA) several years later, and became a respected subway artist well before the advent of “wildstyle
” graffiti art. ALI influenced and inspired fellow SA and UND member BILROCK-161 who started The Rolling Thunder Writers in 1976. (RTW went on to become one of the most famed and prolific of all of the NYC subway graffiti clubs. RTW membership included some of the best-known artists such as REVOLT, ZEPHYR, MIN-ONE, QUIK, CRUNCH, RICH2, PADE, REGAL 192, BOE, SACH, KEL 139,EL 3, IZ THE WIZ, and HAZE.)
ALI's works often contained a humorous political message, a trend which led to his establishing and publishing the comic-oriented “Zoo York Magazine” in the early 1980s (The premier issue, was first published in May 1979).
traincars in the lay-up tunnel between the 137th and 145th Street stations under Broadway, a number of spray-paint cans, lined up along what was mistaken to be a “dead” third rail
, suddenly exploded, enveloping ALI in flames. Futura got him out and to a local hospital, where he was laid up with severe burns for months. The fire left scars on his neck and jaw-line, but ALI’s wrists and hands took the worst damage. Doctors advised that his hands would have to be amputated, but his Native American
mother told them that he was an artist, and he would live or die with his hands attached. So shocking were his burns that a number of early writers were said to have "laid up their cans" after visiting him in the hospital; but ALI recovered completely, though he carried scars from that night for the rest of his life.
at the time, which became a haunt of early "old school" graffiti writers in the early 1970s. The tunnel's naming occurred one autumn night in 1971. Several members of The Underground, ALI, FINE, and CRUNCH, had just attended a showing of a new musical
-comedy
review called National Lampoon Lemmings at the Village Gate downtown. The show (which starred future comic notables John Belushi
, Chevy Chase
and Christopher Guest
) lampooned the Woodstock Festival
, which had taken place upstate two years earlier, calling it "Woodchuck" and equating the entire hippie
generation with lemmings bent on self-destruction. The crew of teenagers made similar comparisons between themselves and the residents of the nearby city zoo. Marvelling at the perversities of contemporary urban psychology, ALI proclaimed New York City
itself "not New, but a Zoo!"
" was a phenomenon not yet recognized outside major U.S. cities. ALI formed a band named “J. Walter Negro and the Loose Jointz”. Their first single, "Shoot the Pump," was released first under John Hammond
's "Zoo York" imprint, and was later produced overseas on Island Records
. A wild conglomeration of rap, hip-hop, Latin
funk
, and disco
rock, the song features ALI as “Negro,” vocalizing about opening up a fire hydrant
with a monkey wrench
, directing the water blast with a hollowed-out spray-paint can, and soaking passers-by "shooting the pump" at them. Cops arrive, see him reaching for something and "shoot the punk" – then close the hydrant and flee the scene of their crime. But crafty Negro lives, thanks to a bullet-proof vest, and he heads off to “shoot the pump” again.... They opened for Talking Heads
, Blondie
, and Kid Creole at The Peppermint Lounge
and The Mudd Club
. (The Loose Jointz had an occasional celebrity
guest in Jean-Michel Basquiat
; Pablo Calogero, co-writer of "Shoot the Pump,” would go on to record music for the soundtrack of Basquiat's film, New York Beat Movie Downtown 81
.)
addiction
in the 1990s.
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
name of artist and musician Marc André Edmonds, also known as J. Walter Negro, “The Playin’ Brown Rapper.” As ALI, he is best known as the founder of 'Soul Artists' and originator of the cult of Zoo York
Zoo York
Zoo York is a style and social philosophy inspired by the New York City graffiti art subculture of the 1970s. Its name originates from a subway tunnel running underneath the area of the Central Park Zoo...
. As "alter-ego" J. Walter Negro (a cynical take-off on the arch-commercialist J. Walter Thompson advertising agency), he is remembered as the lead singer/songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
of the proto-hip-hop-rap group 'J. Walter Negro and the Loose Jointz', who had some success with their 1981 release "Shoot the Pump".
Career
Born in ManhattanManhattan
Manhattan is the oldest and the most densely populated of the five boroughs of New York City. Located primarily on the island of Manhattan at the mouth of the Hudson River, the boundaries of the borough are identical to those of New York County, an original county of the state of New York...
in 1956 to an African American
African American
African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
father and Cherokee
Cherokee
The Cherokee are a Native American people historically settled in the Southeastern United States . Linguistically, they are part of the Iroquoian language family...
mother, ALI attended public school on the Upper West Side
Upper West Side
The Upper West Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, that lies between Central Park and the Hudson River and between West 59th Street and West 125th Street...
with future noted graffiti artists SAMO (Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
), Futura 2000
Futura 2000
Futura 2000 is a graffiti artist. He started to paint illegally on New York's subway in the early seventies, working with other artists such as ALI. In the early eighties he showed with Patti Astor at the Fun Gallery, along with Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Richard Hambleton and Kenny Scharf...
(Lenny McGurr), and COCA 82 (Pablo Calogero). He began street-tagging in 1970, and with his younger brother Michael, founded the early crew The Underground (UND). He went on to found The Soul Artists (SA) several years later, and became a respected subway artist well before the advent of “wildstyle
Wildstyle
Wildstyle is a complicated and intricate form of graffiti. Due to its complexity, it is often very hard to read by people who are not familiar with it. Usually, this form of graffiti incorporates interwoven and overlapping letters and shapes. It may include arrows, spikes, and other decorative...
” graffiti art. ALI influenced and inspired fellow SA and UND member BILROCK-161 who started The Rolling Thunder Writers in 1976. (RTW went on to become one of the most famed and prolific of all of the NYC subway graffiti clubs. RTW membership included some of the best-known artists such as REVOLT, ZEPHYR, MIN-ONE, QUIK, CRUNCH, RICH2, PADE, REGAL 192, BOE, SACH, KEL 139,EL 3, IZ THE WIZ, and HAZE.)
ALI's works often contained a humorous political message, a trend which led to his establishing and publishing the comic-oriented “Zoo York Magazine” in the early 1980s (The premier issue, was first published in May 1979).
Tunnel Fire
Late one night in the early seventies, while ALI and Futura 2000 were “bombing” IRTInterborough Rapid Transit Company
The Interborough Rapid Transit Company was the private operator of the original underground New York City Subway line that opened in 1904, as well as earlier elevated railways and additional rapid transit lines in New York City. The IRT was purchased by the City in June 1940...
traincars in the lay-up tunnel between the 137th and 145th Street stations under Broadway, a number of spray-paint cans, lined up along what was mistaken to be a “dead” third rail
Third rail
A third rail is a method of providing electric power to a railway train, through a semi-continuous rigid conductor placed alongside or between the rails of a railway track. It is used typically in a mass transit or rapid transit system, which has alignments in its own corridors, fully or almost...
, suddenly exploded, enveloping ALI in flames. Futura got him out and to a local hospital, where he was laid up with severe burns for months. The fire left scars on his neck and jaw-line, but ALI’s wrists and hands took the worst damage. Doctors advised that his hands would have to be amputated, but his Native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
mother told them that he was an artist, and he would live or die with his hands attached. So shocking were his burns that a number of early writers were said to have "laid up their cans" after visiting him in the hospital; but ALI recovered completely, though he carried scars from that night for the rest of his life.
"Zoo York"
A cynical social observer with a quick wit, ALI coined the term "Zoo York" to describe the absurdity displayed in the attitudes of New Yorkers during what he called the "Sick Seventies." It was the name he gave to a subway tunnel being built underneath the Central Park ZooCentral Park Zoo
The Central Park Zoo is a small zoo located in Central Park in New York City. It is part of an integrated system of four zoos and the New York Aquarium managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society , and is accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums .The zoo began in the 1860s as a...
at the time, which became a haunt of early "old school" graffiti writers in the early 1970s. The tunnel's naming occurred one autumn night in 1971. Several members of The Underground, ALI, FINE, and CRUNCH, had just attended a showing of a new musical
Musical film
The musical film is a film genre in which songs sung by the characters are interwoven into the narrative, sometimes accompanied by dancing. The songs usually advance the plot or develop the film's characters, though in some cases they serve merely as breaks in the storyline, often as elaborate...
-comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
review called National Lampoon Lemmings at the Village Gate downtown. The show (which starred future comic notables John Belushi
John Belushi
John Adam Belushi was an American comedian, actor, and musician, best known as one of the original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live, The Star of the Films National Lampoon's Animal House and the The Blues Brothers and for fronting the American blues and soul...
, Chevy Chase
Chevy Chase
Cornelius Crane "Chevy" Chase is an American comedian, writer, and television and film actor, born into a prominent entertainment industry family. Chase worked a plethora of odd jobs before moving into comedy acting with National Lampoon...
and Christopher Guest
Christopher Guest
Christopher Haden-Guest, 5th Baron Haden-Guest , better known as Christopher Guest, is an American screenwriter, composer, musician, director, actor and comedian. He is most widely known in Hollywood for having written, directed and starred in several improvisational "mockumentary" films that...
) lampooned the Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Festival
Woodstock Music & Art Fair was a music festival, billed as "An Aquarian Exposition: 3 Days of Peace & Music". It was held at Max Yasgur's 600-acre dairy farm in the Catskills near the hamlet of White Lake in the town of Bethel, New York, from August 15 to August 18, 1969...
, which had taken place upstate two years earlier, calling it "Woodchuck" and equating the entire hippie
Hippie
The hippie subculture was originally a youth movement that arose in the United States during the mid-1960s and spread to other countries around the world. The etymology of the term 'hippie' is from hipster, and was initially used to describe beatniks who had moved into San Francisco's...
generation with lemmings bent on self-destruction. The crew of teenagers made similar comparisons between themselves and the residents of the nearby city zoo. Marvelling at the perversities of contemporary urban psychology, ALI proclaimed New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
itself "not New, but a Zoo!"
"Shoot the Pump"
A decade later, in 1981, “hip-hop” was just emerging as a new style of street music, and "rappingRapping
Rapping refers to "spoken or chanted rhyming lyrics". The art form can be broken down into different components, as in the book How to Rap where it is separated into “content”, “flow” , and “delivery”...
" was a phenomenon not yet recognized outside major U.S. cities. ALI formed a band named “J. Walter Negro and the Loose Jointz”. Their first single, "Shoot the Pump," was released first under John Hammond
John P. Hammond
John Paul Hammond is an American blues singer and guitarist. The son of record producer John H. Hammond, he is sometimes referred to as "John Hammond, Jr.".-Background:...
's "Zoo York" imprint, and was later produced overseas on Island Records
Island Records
Island Records is a record label that was founded by Chris Blackwell in Jamaica. It was based in the United Kingdom for many years and is now owned by Universal Music Group...
. A wild conglomeration of rap, hip-hop, Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
funk
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in the mid-late 1960s when African American musicians blended soul music, jazz and R&B into a rhythmic, danceable new form of music. Funk de-emphasizes melody and harmony and brings a strong rhythmic groove of electric bass and drums to the foreground...
, and disco
Disco
Disco is a genre of dance music. Disco acts charted high during the mid-1970s, and the genre's popularity peaked during the late 1970s. It had its roots in clubs that catered to African American, gay, psychedelic, and other communities in New York City and Philadelphia during the late 1960s and...
rock, the song features ALI as “Negro,” vocalizing about opening up a fire hydrant
Fire hydrant
A fire hydrant , is an active fire protection measure, and a source of water provided in most urban, suburban and rural areas with municipal water service to enable firefighters to tap into the municipal water...
with a monkey wrench
Monkey wrench
The monkey wrench is an adjustable wrench, a later American development of eighteenth century English coach wrenches. It was popular in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries but is now used only for heavier tasks, having been mostly replaced by the lighter and sleeker shifting adjustable or...
, directing the water blast with a hollowed-out spray-paint can, and soaking passers-by "shooting the pump" at them. Cops arrive, see him reaching for something and "shoot the punk" – then close the hydrant and flee the scene of their crime. But crafty Negro lives, thanks to a bullet-proof vest, and he heads off to “shoot the pump” again.... They opened for Talking Heads
Talking Heads
Talking Heads were an American New Wave and avant-garde band formed in 1975 in New York City and active until 1991. The band comprised David Byrne, Chris Frantz, Tina Weymouth and Jerry Harrison...
, Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
, and Kid Creole at The Peppermint Lounge
Peppermint Lounge
The Peppermint Lounge was a popular discotheque located at 128 West 45th Street in New York City that was open from 1958 to 1965. It was the launchpad for the global Twist craze in the early 1960s, and also where Go-Go dancing originated....
and The Mudd Club
Mudd Club
The Mudd Club was a TriBeCa nightclub that was opened in October 1978 by Steve Mass, art curator Diego Cortez and Anya Phillips, a figure in the downtown punk scene...
. (The Loose Jointz had an occasional celebrity
Celebrity
A celebrity, also referred to as a celeb in popular culture, is a person who has a prominent profile and commands a great degree of public fascination and influence in day-to-day media...
guest in Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat was an American artist. His career in art began as a graffiti artist in New York City in the late 1970s, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting.-Early life:...
; Pablo Calogero, co-writer of "Shoot the Pump,” would go on to record music for the soundtrack of Basquiat's film, New York Beat Movie Downtown 81
Downtown 81
Downtown 81 is a film that was shot in 1980-1981.This film, directed by Edo Bertoglio, written and produced by Glenn O'Brien with post-production in 1999-2000 by Maripol, is a rare real-life snapshot of ultra-hip subculture of post-punk era Manhattan...
.)
Death
Marc André Edmonds died from cocaineCocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
addiction
Substance dependence
The section about substance dependence in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders does not use the word addiction at all. It explains:...
in the 1990s.