Most of you already know that in the first issue of our magazine we did an article on CLOWN the founder of  T.I.T.S crew.  When we put the issue together, we had a lot of east coast content and we wanted to do something on a west coast writer. CLOWN immediately came to mind.  Everyone here at the mag referenced him as a major inspiration, especially since most of the staff was heavy into graff during the time period where CLOWN was out there pushing TITS crew really hard.  I recently contacted CLOWN again to see if I could do an interview with him about the clothing line.  It was at that point that I found out the real story behind the brand.  TITS (the original graffiti crew) sent over this article and asked if I could post it up, so here you go.

Those Tits are Fake!

1995 was the year.  The graffiti writer known as “Clown” was looking to draw some attention to his name.  In a joking manner, the four letter word “Tits” was brought up.  Bang! A light bulb popped into the heads of a few other fellow graffiti writers of the time and after a few months, “Tits Crew” was born.  It took only a short time to form the crew which originally consisted of 10 members.  Soon after, Tits Crew was a smooth running graffiti organization.  At the time there weren’t many other groups who had four letter monikers to represent their crew, let alone four letters that even spelled out real words.  This excited the new group of graffiti artists because they all had a common goal, destroy and this new name for their crew was going to grab attention.  Original meanings for the acronym of the crew were brainstormed quickly.  “Time is too short”, “Terror in the streets”, “Thunder in the sky” and “Clown’s original, “Two in the shirt”.  It was genius.

“In other words, he stole the name of the crew and started to profit from it .  Marek never had any contact, any arrangements or any approval from Clown or any other member of Tits Crew.”

Clown, the crew leader of Tits was a natural at his position.  He was a motivator and a visionary.  The Crew never just walked up to the wall and started painting.  He instilled in the Crew to always approach the wall with a sense of perception, concealment and disguise.  He had taken these eastern philosophies from literature he had studied and lived by such as The Art of War, Thunder in the Sky and The Book of 5 Rings.  The crew would huddle up and pile into cars to find the best freeway spots California had to offer.    It didn’t matter what city or town they were in, the tags, throw up’s and pieces were flowing at a high volume. Using these methods, Tits Crew had made themselves well known by 1996.

In 1997, Clown proposed the idea of traveling cross country and getting up in every state so that you could travel just about anywhere in the U.S. and see a piece of Tits Crew.  Along with his fellow crew member and main partner in crime at the time, Clown and Kadie embarked on this adventure and got up in every state in the U.S. except for Alaska and Hawaii.  After two months of night and day bombing and practically living out of a Greyhound Bus, they returned home feeling accomplished knowing that the goal had been fulfilled.  Tits Crew was now known across the U.S.  In 1998, crew members Clown, Mews, Paydirt and Diet were on to a new endeavor.  This time, traveling to Europe to bomb and get the crew name out on a world wide scale.  Tits crew was now setting up new branches in unfamiliar cities and drafting new painting partners from other crew’s as well as new members for their own crew.  Tits Crew had already etched their mark in the underground graffiti scene.  Kadie and Leson moved to San Francisco and Clown, Necro and Slie all moved northwest to Seattle, WA.

“This article was put together by members of Tits Crew to inform as many people as possible that Tits Crew is not supporting and will never be affiliated with Tits clothing.”

One member in particular from the Seattle days of Tits Crew seems to stand out in a major way.  That would be “Mack”, also known as Marek Grubel.  Marek was brought into Tits Crew in 1999 by Slie and became his painting partner and running mate.  Marek’s entry into the crew was received with mixed reviews and emotions from members.  Some were concerned that Marek’s loyalties were to himself, not the crew.  They could not have been more right about this.  In 2002, Marek quit doing graffiti .  He had a baby on the way and was feeling like it was time to get things together.  He had lost contact with all of the existing members of the crew and was flat out forgotten about.  Marek’s short stint with Tits Crew was over.  He was no longer considered a graffiti writer by many or any member of Tits Crew.  Nobody heard anything about Marek until three years later.  A member of Tits Crew caught a link that brought them to a website for a clothing company using the Tits Crew name to help launch it, as well as the trademark “Two in the Shirt.” Apparently, Marek had came up on some money and copyrighted the acronym “Tits” and the phrase “Two in the shirt”, in which he made into a clothing company.  In other words, he stole the name of the crew and started to profit from it .  Marek never had any contact, any arrangements or any approval from Clown or any other member of Tits Crew.  It was all composed behind the backs of the guys who constructed this crew from the ground up.  This was a man who spent countless hours, creating lifelong memories and building trust over a 2 and a half year period with this crew.  And to now take a name that belonged to a group of men who worked years to bring it up and make it something, it was just unbelievable.

The point of this article is to expose the truth about Marek Grubel and his so called creation of the phrase “Two in the Shirt.” In a recent interview on www.senseslost.com he was interviewed saying that “Two in the Shirt” came about while “Drinking 40’s and eating macaroni salad from 7-11.” He went on to say that “It’s probably the expired mayo that sparked the think tank? I had no idea, I just know that I have a rare talent which is being able to be creative and also have a business ethic all in one brain.” The proof is there, the lies are ludicrous.

After 3 years of Marek pushing something that didn’t belong to him, Slie finally said screw it and put out a shirt with Marek. The only reason he did this is because he wanted to make sure the public knew that the real Tits members could drop conceptual clothing just as good if not better than Marek. Slie is dropping his own line soon with friend and partner Zack Stover called ‘Butter ‘N’ Bacon’.

This article was put together by members of Tits Crew to inform as many people as possible that Tits Crew is not supporting and will never be affiliated with Tits clothing.  Every week, someone from Tits Crew get’s a call, text, email or has to engage in some conversation about Marek’s t-shirt Company. If you are supporting Tits Brand Clothing, know that you are not supporting Tits Crew and you have been misled.

Money and greed are notorious for the dissolution of relationships and bonds. They can easily turn friends into foes and make people do downright crazy things.  Members of Tits Crew today are still active in the graffiti scene as well as moving forward in many ways of their own.  We all wish Marek Grubel the best, it’s just a shame that without our consent he took something sacred to us and turned it into another clichéd, embarrassing porn t-shirt brand, with no creativity of his own.

TITS CREW: Clown, MoneyShot, Mews, Paydirt, Necro, Drane, Slie, Kolage, Nots, Potna, Deas, Retro, Jaws, Deal, Guido, Pear and Plus (RIP).

Written by: Michael Tzimbal

www.jonbookerart.com

www.facebook.com/seventysevengallery

slieandco@gmail.com

www.butternbacon.com