The Galaxy of NJ took a hit last month. We lost a powerful artist and poet in Jerry Gant. He was laid to rest this week. His coffin was adorned w/ the stylized signatures of Graf Royalty in attendance. 780 miles away, all I could do was watch. 

I was working on a process video when I first started seeing the pics. It was stirring. I mean...I am a NJ native and a Graf writer...but I never met him. I ran w/ plenty of artists that did but I personally didn't. Means little. I was influenced by his work like so many w/ eyes to see and a mind to consider. First being, the 2 Nasty Nas blocky at the base of the curvy hill leading into (the old) Orange Park from Orange Ave. As a child I used to marvel at how perfect the 2 was and wonder how he wrote his name inside the tail of it so damn neat. It would years before my cousin Jep would gas me up to start writing. The order of influence is a fact though. JG was the Graf I could walk up to and study as a kid in Irvington. 

He also projected a good deal of philosophy and wisdom onto whomsoever took the time to read his writing on the walls. Gantalism. It transcended the visuals while never abandoning them. Honestly, the OGs I came up under like J Star and Jeyrue (RIP) didn't separate the art from the philosophy either. The combination was like a stargate. More so if you read it sequentially in a black book. I got that reference from them...but I never met JG...who was apparently a master at it. 

So...after I saw my Brother Milton in a pic by the coffin, I made my mind up. After I saw my Brother Dase AWC do his memorial piece, I knew I couldn't take a knee on this. At 2 am I started this piece for 2 Nasty Nas. At 2 pm it was done and I felt accomplished. Not happy or relieved. Accomplished b/c the Graf made me confident w/ my style of Illustration but the philosophy is what allowed me to learn how to manipulate software to make me that much more powerful in regards to creation. Creation for the sake of affecting mindstates for the positive and constructive as opposed to the negative and destructive. The latter is what ppl believed of Graf artists. Vandals. Hoodlums. JG repurposed the popular opinion and represented us as Valedictorians of streets designed to kill us and Heirlooms of a culture built to amplify our voices...visually.