Interview Conducted by Mike Mesa.

MM: You've been a familiar face so to speak in the California graffiti scene for awhile now. How do you think graffiti has changed around you over the years?

TL: I've seen so called kings of L.A. come and go. I've seen tagbangers and big piecing crews come and go. The only way you can say in the game here is to be tough and true to the streets. Graffiti in L.A. is a rough, full contact sport. If you don't have the balls or the stomach for it you will die out. It truly is the land of the scandless!

MM: It's truly hard nosed street graffiti. I've never had the chance to head to California to see what the scene is like in different cities, but it seems to have all colours of the spectrum so to speak. Alot of people doing different things. You have alot of street cred and at the same time can rock hot burners, do you feel its essential for writers to be versitile, or is there fame in perfecting one side of the craft? What do writers in LA generally think about whats going on in the rest of the world?

TL: I think you have to be very versitile from tags, freights, burners and throwies. To be a true king you must hold it down in all ways even fighting comes in to play. How can you be in a street thing like graffiti and be a pussy? Any fool can take you out by just punking you to stop painting. Me myself will never stop and no cop, no one can ever stop me. they got to kill me to stop me and I am ready to die for mine. I have no idea what writers think about the rest of the world I can only speak for myself from what I've seen. I don't think of myself as just an L.A. writer, or a west coaster. I think of myself as a bomber of all walls everywhere.

MM: So do think that guys that come from rural areas painting freights or legal pieces can call themselves writers? Or is it the true street painting and vandalism that should define someone under this catagory? I find people in Ottawa are a weird mix of street bombers and then theres alot of individual artists that spend hours on a piece in a park downtown. There always seems to be alot of people saying your not "real" if your not out wrecking stuff, but it seems that graffiti has evolved into many different sub catagories and seems hard to define. I myself have been painting for ten years but honestly haven't been street bombing since I was a teenager. I still tag and paint illegal peices, but I can't say that I'm not as up as I used to be. Its definatly a different story up here than where you've grown up, where you have to stay tough to survive.

TL: Everyone thinks of graffiti in there own life stories they think of graffiti only in how they lived it. In my life I think a graffiti writer should be tough because of all the shit they go through but thats just my life. Everyone has their own way of looking at it. I don't trip off of any of that shit I just paint. I don't do it for any fame or financial gain.

MM: So that being said, do you think that TKO still has a strong grip on the LA scene? I've seen the war dvds and the moneytalks vid that you were a part of, and it seems like you guys are all still going strong. Is there going to be a point in your life where graffiti is put on the backburner or are you going to run hard till the end? Is it more of something that you feel you are obligated to keep up or is it the passion that ignites the flames and youll be a smiling 80 year old still rocking?

TL: When I go out I meet all kinds of people from women that work at starbucks to fools at homedepot. Crips, bloods, cholos, cops, pimps, hoes, all kinds of people and they all know about TKO. So I think the point of graffiti is to get up and TKO did just that; when soccer moms know you and your crews name, you did it. As far as putting graff on the back burner, graffiti is what I do its what I am; I don't think I can stop. I'm a vandal till death.

MM: It's definatly a staple in the graffiti community, I think it was the first crew I had heard of outside of my city. I had bought While You Were Sleeping's Bedtime Stories And saw a bunch of stuff you guys were crushing. What brands of paint are you rocking with most? Do you have any tips or tricks that give you a better result?

TL: I'm all about Belton Molotow. It's the best paint. I'm not just saying that because they give it to me for free, and they're sending me to Germany... I really, really like it. I rock belton and good old rusto.

MM: Haha, yeah we just picked it up to sell again, its definatly the best I've came across. Rusto was good in the 90's for freights I found, but they discontinued it up here and you can only get it in these shitty blue cans. Any last words before your out?

TL: Yes. Graffiti has fucked up my life but my life would be fucked up with out it. "TKO LA CRUZ NEGRA" 1988 TILL DEATH.

You can see more of Toomer on war42.com and his myspace page, http://www.myspace.com/toomerone.