Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat
Never Question Cops

Jean-Michel and I were doing tags on doorways as we walked south on Christie Street, in the Lower East Side, on our way to Kai Eric's apartment. Kai Eric was one of Jean-Michel’s close friends, a bass player, and well known as a powerful club DJ. Jean-Michel was writing his now famous tag “Samo” and the Tee-Pee symbol, and I, although I rarely tagged, was writing High Priest, my DJ name, hitting every door as we headed downtown.

Suddenly, a dark ominous sedan came out of nowhere and screeched to a halt. Two big white men jumped out of the sedan. They yelled, "Hey you, what the hell are you doing?" Then they grabbed the markers out of our hands and asked us for our IDs. As we stood there, I said, "How do we know you're the police? You just jumped up on us. By the way, can we see your badges?" After I said this, they became very irritated with us. Viciously throwing us against the car, bouncing our heads off the hood, one of them took his shield and shoved it in my face and said, "Here's my badge, you piece of street trash!"

After a pregnant pause, with our heads on the trunk, we heard their radios getting busy. Before they sped off with our markers, one of them said, "We better not ever catch you around here again." Jean-Michel later lectured me, wanting to know why I asked them for their badges. “You should never question cops,” he said.


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