ONEK, a member of NM, TDT and WIN Crews is a name known as being synonymous with Manchester Graffiti and as a major pioneering influence in the scene.
Having first experienced graffiti in 1984 at the age of 13, ONEK, met with other like minded youths who were attracted to the deeply underground , US Rap sound, and BBOY / Graffiti culture, coming across the Atlantic, from New York City, which he embraced along with his peers, who searched for fame by writing their chosen names and, began to form their own community with its own rules and traditions.
It was during his early years, that the reign of the first Manchester Graffiti Crews were established , such as CIA, TMB, TBB, UK and FWA ‘*the Sunday Rovers’ ( *A name taken by the writers using the Sunday rover day bus passes to decorate Greater Manchester bus routes with tags, on a day when traditionally people would stay at home and the shops were closed) The movement began influencing each other and increasing the crew footprint and the scene grew to include writers from across Greater Manchester, young people started seeing buses travelling from one side of the city to the other covered with names and the top decks quickly became a place daubed with the egotistical identity’s of infected youths all trying to out do each other to see who could go ‘All City’.
Having started out tagging buses in 1985 it wasn’t until the early 90’s that ONEK truly entered onto the scene , under a number of alias’s and crews including TRW and BHC the first of the crews recognized in Manchester’s history for completely destroying the city in the early 1990s – a new era and a time when the city had been cleaned and the vast majority of 80s graffiti writers had stopped.
BHC were noted for bringing back bus tagging in a time when that scene was a distant fairytale – crew members Merges and Tasle shared a heavy west coast American influence in they’re styles due to Merges and Chop spending time in SF and LA.
During the 90’s and early 2000’s, ONEK, by now, was an active train writer, representing the infamous NM Crew ( Northern Monkeys) and had conducted a 20 year campaign of extreme painting and decorating
ONEK’s style has developed from years of painting pieces for maximum impact, he gains a large amount of influences from outside graffiti including architecture, film and music. Watching ONEK paint he puts a large amount of importance on quality of paint application.
Catch up with one of our City’s Graffiti legends, as he shares his knowledge of the scene including recommendations and tips, for young people starting to paint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2VG2vSoUZHE
You can see more of ONEK’s work on @instagram pasjepas
or follow him on twitter
Disclaimer..Spray painting on public property is illegal unless permission has been granted. If you have viewed this Film and intend to spraypaint we recommend you do so safely.
Legendary names mentioned there. Big respect to the likes of DCSK (who were the kings of the 80s/early 90s): LUC CELL WISE* LET RARE FREE CHILE SEK
* Props to Wise who was both a slicker and a hood.