Photo by David Greene
The following is an extended version of the story that appears in our latest print edition.
A second memorial event was held in Norwood in November for counter-culture icon and artist, Michael Tracy, 65, known as “Tracy 168,” a native of Kingsbridge who many regard as the father of modern-day graffiti. Tracy was discovered unresponsive inside a Bronx Wendy’s restaurant on Sept. 3, and died reportedly of a heart attack.
About 50 friends, fans, and graffiti artists gathered outside Norwood’s Valentine-Varian House, located at 3266 Bainbridge Avenue, on Saturday, Nov. 18, to remember the local artist. Organizers said the location, home to The Bronx Historical Society, was chosen due to its proximity to the Williamsbridge Oval park, where Tracy spent much of his youth.
Longtime friend of the artist and Bedford Park resident, Terry Mangeo, arranged both gatherings following Tracy’s death. The first was held a few weeks ago on Nov. 4, which Mangeo said she had attempted to cancel at the last minute due to two unrelated deaths in her own family. Of Tracy, Mangeo told Norwood News, “We grew up together as kids.”
She said they both attended Wildwood Junior High School 143, which, we understand, is now The New School for Leadership and Journalism, located at 120 West 231st Street in Van Cortlandt Village.
Photo by David Greene
Mangeo continued, “Our teachers allowed him to come in and talk about graffiti, how to do graffiti, and where and how it started.” She explained that although Tracy was still a student at the time, he would be invited to different classes to talk to students about his work on the then-still emerging artform which coincided with the prevailing emergence of Hip Hop.
The poignancy of losing Tracy during the year when Hip Hop celebrates its 50th anniversary is not lost on his friends. According to a story by The New York Times on Oct. 26, Tracy’s work was later featured in exhibitions at the Brooklyn Museum and at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles.
Photo by David Greene
Mangeo said of the vigil in Tracy’s memory, “I just felt we owed Tracy this because he gave us his best artwork growing up and it was something for us to look at, and I just felt I had to do this for him.” According to an obituary published on rockthebells.com, a website and “preeminent voice for classic and timeless Hip Hop,” which focuses on honoring the culture and the core elements of Hip Hop i.e. MCs, DJs, breakdancers, graffiti artists and more, Tracy was born on Feb. 14, 1958 in The Bronx.
According to the article, as a kid, he spent three days a week in Manhattan with his Puerto Rican grandfather, and four days with his Irish mother in The Bronx. Although Mangeo, herself, was not “a writer,” a term graffiti artists use to describe themselves, she said, “I just hung out with all of them.” She added, “I went to Junior High School 80 [in Norwood] and then I went to 143 so yeah, we played hooky in that Oval.”
Photo obtain via social media
One graffiti writer from Woodlawn, who declined to be identified and who also attended the memorial event, was asked about the writer’s signature “Wild Style” graffiti style for which Tracy was known. “That’s his clique, Wild Style,” he said. “You had to have Wild Style letters to go into his crew. You couldn’t be just a regular graffiti writer; you had to be Wild Style.”
Patrick AKA “Styx 1,” a former member of the “X Vandals” and former Norwood resident, said of Tracy, “He painted his first mural down there on Webster [Avenue] back in maybe ‘78 at French Charley’s Bar. He painted that. I watched him paint the whole thing. That’s how I first met him.”
Photo by David Greene
Although the Nov. 4 gathering was cancelled, nearly a dozen people showed up anyway. One-time graffiti artist and Norwood resident, Jerry Landon, now a member of the 52nd Precinct Community Council, recalled knowing Tracy. “It’s interesting to me because he was the original guy… but a lot of people don’t know about him,” he said.
Also, at the Nov. 4 gathering was William Hightower, AKA “Dollar Bill,” a former graffiti artist and break dancer who met Tracy in 1974. He recalled hanging out with Tracy at the trainyard at West 205th Street. “I was the lookout, and I had to stay on top of the fence while they went down, and I could see everything,” he said.
Photo by David Greene
Reflecting further on his graffiti painting days, Hightower told Norwood News, “I remember in the beginning, starting out, I was lookout, you know? You don’t just start hitting the train up. You’ve got to work up to do the outline [of the artwork], and you’d be blessed to be the outline, and to be able to color, you’ve got to be able to color inside good.”
Hightower was asked about the similarities between Tracy’s life and the life of a character in the 1983 film, “Wild Style.” In an undated Associated Press article, Tracy was interviewed and told the reporter he would offer to paint anyone’s name on a New York City Subway Train for $25.
Photo by David Greene
In the ‘Wild Style’ movie, a journalist follows a graffiti artist around who paints an amphitheater before a Hip Hop concert. Hightower replied, “A lot of us were not compensated; there’s a lot of graffiti writers. There’s a lot of B-Boys [break dancers] who haven’t been compensated.”
Tracy’s son, Sean Tracy, is expected to hold a traditional wake for his father at the Casey Funeral Home at 350 Slosson Avenue on Staten Island between noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 2.
We did not get to speak to his son on the day of the latest memorial in Norwood. Speaking to Norwood News afterwards by phone, he said, “I was there. I said hello to a bunch of different people and gave an interview to a videographer. I was involved in the releasing of the balloons. We walked, and after the balloons, they lit some candles. It was lovely.”
Photo by David Greene
Of his father, Tracy added, “He and I are artistic in different ways; he was obviously gifted with art and color and things like that. I work in the film industry so that’s kind of where I express myself. I knew of his art over the years. I’ve seen it from time to time. He was very talented and I’m very proud of him.”
We asked Tracy about a rumored storage room filled with his father’s artwork. He said, “I’m in contact with anybody who has his belongings and I’m working with lawyers to make sure they come to me, his direct heir. That’s all I’m going to say at this point.”
Joseph Pando, 55, AKA “Wave-A-Pop” of Marble Hill Projects said of Tracy, “He was very popular because ‘Wild Style’ was his. That was his patent. He was the first person I’d seen doing storefronts and murals. When Blind Master passed away, he did the mural at Tony’s Pizza Shop over there on Kingsbridge, just a little east of Jerome Avenue.”
Photo by David Greene
Coincidentally, “Style Wars 40th Anniversary” a PBS 1983 documentary film on the artform will be spotlighted at the Museum of The City of New York on Thursday, Dec. 7, and will feature “Lady Pink” and Ken Swift.
According to the museum, “In the fall of 1983, PBS premiered the documentary Style Wars, which chronicled New York City’s youth culture through the world of graffiti and breakdancing. The brainchild of director and producer Tony Silver and producer Henry Chalfant, the film tackles the conflict between graffiti artists and the cynical officials as the New York they know vanishes around them. This film is an invaluable record of both the city’s history and the early days of Hip-Hop as we celebrate the genre’s 50th anniversary in 2023. Style Wars is required viewing for students of NYC history and fans of graffiti and b-boy and b-girl culture alike.”
For more information, click here.
*Síle Moloney contributed to this story.
