Piece of the Week: Aper, Bank, Castro

While passing through Cote-St-Paul this weekend on a flick mission I came across this solid blockbuster on top of one of the old industrial buildings in the area. Not generally the most accessible of spots and certainly a mission that demanded a lot of the writers who did it.

These guys have been regulating the rooftops in this area for years so it was a pleasure to see them tackling this one. This blockbuster was pretty expansive and easily a few stories high so points to them for pulling it off. My only issue is the Manr at the left end of it. I`m not knocking Manr for the spot or the letters or anything, just that it seems off from the rest of the letters for the blockbuster. I`m not even sure if I saw it up there prior to this flick, which is why he`s not credited, and props to him for getting up there too, but l think it would have looked much nicer bigger and more in line with the others. Regardless, this definitely made my afternoon for flicks and deserves a spot in my weekly updates.

Piece of the week: BNB Tribute by A'Shop

This is partly a tribute post and a shout out to Fluke, Zek, Axe, Phile, and Oser from A'Shop for their great work on the BNB tribute wall right off the corner of St. Catherine & Clark. Aper & Saer also contributed to some of the lettering when they stopped on through at some point over the weekend too. I wasn't able to make it out the weekend that they were their painting as I was flying back in from out of town, but I made a point of it to catch fresh flicks of the wall when I got back.

This was a finely executed mural combining wild letter styles and a portrait of the late BNB playing the harmonica he was so well known for. The purple-blue-green letters made for a nice background to the BNB logo that pops right out at you in the center. This is another production that I think used the wall space quite well, and has a nice flow from the letters over to the portrait of BNB in a signature brown suit and hat. From the other side it's almost as if the wave of colorful letters is pouring from the masterful tunes from his harmonica.

Image source: www.514smoke.biz 

For those who don't know of Bad News Brown, his early street busking and metro playing, music success, and even some acting before he passed, then here's a little background. Originally from Haiti, BNB -Paul Frappier -came to live in Montreal with an adoptive family at the age of ten. He quickly became a local celebrity for his harmonica playing in the streets and metros, and for contributing to other local shows and hip hop events. He had opened for Snoop Dogg, Kanye West, 50 Cent, Soulja Boy, and shared the stage with Ice-T, Cypress Hill, and De La Soul. In 2009 he released his first solo album called "Born 2 Sin" with a title track of the same name. You can check it here on YouTube. He was really starting to come into his career before his untimely death, murdered at the age of 33, just this passed February. Police are apparently still searching for leads.

Image source: www.ctv.ca

The death of Bad News Brown was a serious blow to the local hip hop and music community. His family, friends, and fans paid their respects and laid his remains to rest at his funeral on February 21st at St. Zotique Church in St. Henri. A candle light vigil was also set up at the park in front of the church later that night where about a hundred people showed up to remember the man who said to have left a mark on everyone he ever met.

RIP Band News Brown, a true grinder and icon of the local Montreal music scene.

Piece of the Week: KidPQ, Beast, & Quidam

I've was out of town for a little bit so I wasn't able to update for piece of the week until now. Considering I missed a couple of weeks I decided that I'd put up one of the nicest productions I came across recently. Well, the first week of July, which means I have another piece of the week to drop soon too. Anyway, this prod by KidPQ, Beast, and Quidam was put up about a week or so ago and really caught my eye. I really liked the way KidPQ pulled off a nice reversal of his letters, Quidam took up the opposite side with a solid set of his own, and Beast brought the whole thing together with a nicely done clown-like character.

I really liked the color scheme, lettering, and the addition of the character that hooked the production together. These guys did a great job in using the entire wall space and the background did well to bring the pieces to the forefront. Even though the lettering for both pieces are not the same, this production still holds its own symmetry and comes across as genuinely appealing.

I'll have more up from TA soon and some stuff from the Rosemont area soon too.

Stay posted.