{"id":1643,"date":"2010-10-05T19:48:48","date_gmt":"2010-10-06T00:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/?p=1643"},"modified":"2014-04-21T20:46:04","modified_gmt":"2014-04-22T01:46:04","slug":"buddyesquire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/interviews\/buddyesquire.htm","title":{"rendered":"An Interview with Buddy Esquire \u201cThe Flyer King\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Winter of 2010<\/h3>\n

Introduction by Sureshot La Rock. <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s no secret the birth of hip hop was sparked by a desire for New York’s inner city youth to lift their voices above the noise of their environment and be heard by the rest of society.\u00a0 It started with the DJs — Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, Breakout, Bambaataa, Flowers, Pete DJ Jones, and Hollywood.\u00a0 Then MCs entered the game forming crews like the legendary Cold Crush Brothers, Furious 5, Funky 4, Fantastic Romantic 5, Crash Crew, Magnificent 7 and the Treacherous 3.\u00a0 And while much is known and continues to be uncovered about hip hop’s musical pioneers, little has been written about its visual kingpins.\u00a0 No, not graffiti artists — their story is being, and continues to be, documented effectively by the graf community.\u00a0 What we’re talking about here are the creative minds behind hip hop’s first currency.\u00a0 The flyer kings. Flyers are among the most elusive of all of hip hop’s old school artifacts.\u00a0 Their importance that cannot be overstated.\u00a0 They were the visual manifestation of the block’s word-of-mouth.\u00a0 On any given day in the early 80s, you might have heard, “Yo, you hear Cold Crush is going to rock Harlem World tonight?”, but it was the flyer that promoters used that would get the word out.\u00a0 Artists, venues, dates, times, locations, directions, damage — it was easy enough to list all of the information on 3×5 postcards.\u00a0 To have a REALLY fly party, though, a flyer had to have flavor… Style.\u00a0 It had to scream out, “DON’T MISS THIS JAM!”.\u00a0 That much is obvious.\u00a0 Dig a little deeper into the evolution of their style and production techniques and you’ll find a tale as engrossing as those told by hip hop’s first DJs and MCs.\u00a0 Who were the artists?\u00a0 What were they trying to convey?\u00a0 How did they define their look?\u00a0 Why are they so hard to find?\u00a0 The questions go on… and on… and on… and…One of the answers to the first of these questions is the subject of this interview — Buddy Esquire.\u00a0 Widely known as “The King of Flyers”, Buddy’s uncanny ability to marry form with function took flyer artistry to unprecedented heights.\u00a0 Take one look at his work and it’s fairly easy to see why he was one of the most sought-after and, ultimately, prolific artists back in the day.\u00a0 But it’s more than just clean lines and a dynamic flair that define his contribution to hip hop.\u00a0 In Buddy’s masterpieces, you’ll find the soul of hip hop.\u00a0 You’ll see a young man’s desire to lift his voice above the crowd.\u00a0 And here are his words for all to be heard…<\/p>\n

– Sureshot La Rock.<\/em><\/p>\n

Troy- Thank you brother Buddy Esquire for this opportunity to interview you. First things first where were you born and raised?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- The Bronx New York. I grew up in Monroe Projects. We moved in the projects when they were first built, back in 61.<\/p>\n

Troy- Any pioneers of hip hop or athletes grew up with you in the projects?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well there was one that I use to play ball with name Eddie Pinckney.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- My man smooth Easy Ed that played ball at Villanova and won a championship. Real nice guy. Dam, the two of you guys looked like you could have been brothers.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Possibly, but we were never mistaken.<\/p>\n

Troy- Yeah I hear you he was a real tall brother.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes that he was.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you guys played ball together?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes all through the 70’s up until he went to college in the early 80’s.<\/p>\n

Troy- so what were the schools you went to?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I went to P.S. 100 on Taylor and Lafayette then I.S. 131 on Bolton and Story. For a year I went to Clinton High School. I later went to Stevenson and I graduated. Tony Tone of The Cold Crush went to Stevenson with me.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- When did you first hear Hip hop?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- That would be around 1976 and it was D.J. Mario who I heard first and then Bambaataa. I went to a lot of outside jams and later on I got caught into the sounds of Break Out, and then I started going to the jams in doors.<\/p>\n

Troy- \u00a0During this time did you ever try your hand at d.j.ing and m.c.ing because so many people were liking it and wanted to be a part of it?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well D.J.ing maybe a little bit, but m.c.ing nah, I never had the gift of gab, so to speak.<\/p>\n

Troy- Where you trying to work out on the turntables through guys like Tony Tone ect.?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Nah I met Tony Tone through graffiti, he liked my style and he thought I would be able to do flyers.<\/p>\n

Troy- So when did graffiti start for you?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- That started around late 1972.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you have been doing graffiti before hip hop even started. So you were one of the earliest graffiti artist in New York?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No, there are others like Phase 2 and etc and so on.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Troy- So what was your first name you tagged or you did you always use the same name?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No I tagged different names but by the time I got to the train I was on my third of fourth name. I ended up with the abbreviation of Esquire. (ESQ) Shade 2 was one of the early pioneers of writing that I met and I learned style from, he is not with us today.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you run with any crew while doing graffiti?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No I always ran solo.<\/p>\n

Troy- Many people say that graffiti is a part of hip hop and I am not a graffiti writer. I ran with dudes that wrote but I didn’t have the hand for it. And I have to say I don’t see the connection of Graffiti and Hip hop. So I was hoping you could make the connection between graffiti and hip hop.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Oh boy that’s going to be a difficult one for me. Basically I can say it like this, there can be a relation and then it’s not! It all depends on who was doing the writing. Because if you talk to a white writer he wasn’t into hip hop. A Spanish writer maybe he was, maybe he wasn’t. Now with the brothers….see that’s a hard question.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Troy- I always looked at it this way, if hip hop was really connected I thought you would see something like people writing tagging on the walls and trains Cold Crush’s name or Caz name or Fantastic’s name even if they weren’t members of the crew, but just because they liked them so much. Like, “I am getting ready to go to this party so let me give props to these dudes that I dig and I am about to see.” But Kool Kyle the Star Child told me there use to be graffiti writing all up and down the walls in the stair cases and bathrooms of The T- Connection as well as him being a writer also.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- The only connection I could see is Rap and Graffiti are both from the ghetto! A lot of the original writers from back in the days came from the ghetto, so maybe that is way they can identify it as such. But also since every writer is not from the ghetto not every writer is going to associate themselves with that.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what was your reason for writing on the trains and walls. Some people say it’s a message to the establishment or something like that and others will say I just wanted to put my name up to be seen!<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well I fall under the order of I wanted to be seen. A friend of mine got me into it. He was writing first and he use to show me so I started to do it also. From there I started going out tagging with him on trains and at the yards. It was to be seen for me, because any message didn’t come from the first generation it didn’t come until afterwards. Because the most political writer back then was a cat name Mico. Other than that everybody else was about tagging and getting their names up the best way possible. I say it that way because everybody wasn’t neat back then, we had a couple of sloppy guys too.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Right but they still got their name up. I remember a brother that use to write Chris 217.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes he use to hit the 1 train.<\/p>\n

Troy- Ah man this dude was all over the place, but he was so basic and not so neat.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Sloppy, you right, but he did his thing. I know every time I was on the 1 train I would see his name in a big fat drippy marker.<\/p>\n

Troy- Exactly. So you have been doing this since 72.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I started in 72, then after I got arrested, my mother put me under punishment, which basically took the desire out of me for a while. And I didn’t actually get arrested I got a note sent to my house and I got put under punishment for half a summer, which wasn’t fun<\/p>\n

Troy- Nah, I know about those punishments in the summer time! I remember only being allowed to go to the store and brothers use to ask “Yo when are you coming out side? I don’t know stop asking me!” (We both start laughing.)<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yeah that’s the only time I went out too, was to the store and I would take my marker with me and go tagging. (Troy starts laughing)<\/p>\n

Troy- I hear you I guess after a while you couldn’t hold on any longer.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- See as far as writing graffiti you can have it really bad to where it becomes like a disease.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well let’s talk about that disease, that urge.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well I like to think that I am cured from it. during that time it was like an anxious feeling. But at that time when the police busted me my mother and father didn’t take all my markers because they didn’t know where they were all at. And see back in the days the police would come to your house and look for your spray cans and markers and take them.<\/p>\n

See when I got busted that particular day I wasn’t writing but I was hanging with some writers. Let’s just say I was guilty by association, at least that is what the cops told me when they busted me. The police then took me to the station and wrote me up and then they sent a letter to my house. I didn’t know when it was coming to the house but when my mother got it. I knew because that’s when I got it. (We both start laughing.) Moms and Pops broke on me, they weren’t very pleased with the situation. They couldn’t find the stash of markers so they hid my comic books. But as far as the obsession, it’s like an itch a drive to want to do it to want to get better, to want to work hard at it. Sometimes you do it on a couple of pieces of paper sometimes you just want to go out and write.\u00a0 When that time came and I graduated to the trains and I use to hit the Bay Chester layup. It was a crazy rush tagging inside and outside of the trains. By the early 80’s I was finished.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Troy- So you can say you were fully detoxed from writing?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- As far as going out and writing yes because I felt like there was no need for me to write because I was making flyers, people will see my name with that.<\/p>\n

Troy- Would you say you have done over 300 flyers?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Yes that would be about right<\/p>\n

Troy- So how did the first flyer come about?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Buddy Esquire- The first flyer I did was for a block party in the summer of 1977. It
\ncame out all right. The second one I ever made in my whole life which was in November of 1978 came about because Tony Tone told me that the crew that he was with which was Break Out at the time needed somebody to make their flyer. When I look at it now I feel it’s a piece of crap. But I did it for Breakout because they were having a jam at 131. What got it all started was in 1977 I started painting stuff on peoples cloths. Like names on jeans.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you were doing this before the flyers?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how did this come about being as you didn’t go to any Art and Design type of school!<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well around the middle 70’s my style was getting kind of decent so I thought I would maybe be able to draw letters. So what happen I went to the library and I took out a book on fine painting, where they talked about letters, proportions and lay outs and stuff like that. Now I am talking about how a sign goes, not a flyer!<\/p>\n

Troy- I understand.<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Buddy Esquire- So I took a look at the book and I tried drawing some of the letters that were in the book and I said to myself hey I can do this stuff. So now what made me go to the library was because when people would put paint on jeans and stuff it was either graffiti or some kind of sloppy looking hand writing. So I was like figuring let me do it this way and that will make my stuff noticeable. And my way was doing it with the letters straight out drawn like on this Maxell box you have here. You know letters like that nice straight even letters. So I started doing it like that. People seen what I was doing and started wanting me to paint for them. After awhile Tone mentioned the thing about the flyers and I told him I would give it a try. So the first one I did they liked. After that I made flyers for them for about 2 years straight.<\/p>\n

Troy- What was the amount of time to make a flyer?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- For some of them I would say about 6 hours because it took work. Some a little less time because of less information. And see you can’t really give a flyer a couple of days because soon as you get the information it’s a time limit involved from when you have to get that flyer done. I wouldn’t take more than 2 days to finish a flyer and that’s really pushing it.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So during this time you was making your first flyer was any one else making flyers in hip hop?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well Phase 2 was making flyers for Flash.<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So was Phase 2 actually making flyers before you?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- You can say that, yes! We were about a month a part and he may have been first.<\/p>\n

Troy- As far as the painting on the pants the way you did it, would you consider yourself first with that?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes I like to consider myself to be the first person to do it the way I had it done. The way you saw Funky 4 and Rodney Cee’s jacket that was me that did that first.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\" \"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- My man, so that was you that did that! That whole thing was nice how you did it. So what about Breakout’s Dune Buggy, did you do any painting on his Buggy as well?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yeah I painted his name Breakout on the side of the Buggy.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you and Breakout were pretty cool then?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- We were cool, yes we were.<\/p>\n

Go to Page 2<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Troy- So how did you feel about Phase 2’s work?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Buddy Esquire- I was very impressed by it, in fact I like his work more then I like my own. So believe me and it was very hard but I tried to do stuff that was equal to his work. Sometimes\u00a0 I touched it sometimes I didn’t, what can I say. (Buddy chuckles.) The good thing about it is we were friends. Sometimes we would meet up at the Ecstasy Garage, sit around and talk about flyers, what he liked about my work and what I liked about his. What’s going on in the club and out, stuff like that.<\/p>\n

Troy- There is a web site that is up with your flyers along with Phase 2 what made you guys do this web page or blog?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- I might have seen it but I had nothing to do with making it. Someone else put that together.<\/p>\n

Troy- So when did your brother Eddie Ed start making flyers?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well he started making flyers after me. I use to make flyers for Bambaattaa but he use to want a lot of stuff on his flyers and after a while I got tired of making them. So I figured hey I could get my brother to do this.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy-\u00a0 I seen a flyer that said no more rats Esquire! What did that mean?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Buddy-\u00a0 Well around that time if I can remember the date right that was November 1st of 1980. I did a flyer with these two mice on it and then he did a flyer for the same event and I guess that was his way of being funny! ha ha ha. Troy have you ever seen that flyer?<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Yes I have seen the flyer but I didn’t know it went together with another flyer.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well it had nothing to do with our present definition of a rat. (A Snitch.)<\/p>\n

Troy- Right, I get what you’re saying but I didn’t know what it meant when I first seen it. I didn’t know it was your brother I just thought it was some other dude being sarcastic as if he was your competition.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well my brother was being sarcastic.<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy starts laughing.) O.K. I got you. Alright and I got another one “A Eddie Ed, Poo 2 flyer production” is that your brother also?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Yeah, that was my brother and this guy I use to work with. He drew the pictures and my brother did the letters.<\/p>\n

Troy- Was there and competition from any other flyer makers?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- There were guys like A Riley who was alright. Then there was Danny Tongue who use to do flyers for Flash also, and he was more like an illustrator I think. Then there was Cisco Kid who ran with The Herculords, he made flyers for Charlie Chase.<\/p>\n

Troy- What about the comment that was made on a flyer from a Vega Ray who wrote “To my man Buddy Esquire are you ready?”<\/h5>\n

Buddy- (Buddy laughs.) I don’t really remember it too much but it was like o.k. he was just someone else that thought he could compete with me, but a lot of people leaped and fell! But I remember him back in the days.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do you remember Straight man who also called himself The King of Flyers.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Yes I remember him and I will say this “I am the King of Flyers! Period.”<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy laughs with Buddy who says the remark in a serious tone.) Yes you are the King of the flyer game! That’s why me and you are talking right now. It is no doubt about that.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- (Now Buddy laughs.) I hate to put it like that but facts are the facts.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do you recall a flyer for the “First Annual Hip Hop Anniversary” show Mike & Dave threw back on Friday, December 11, 1981? It looks like a Phase II flyer, but he didn’t put his name on it<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well I think I do remember that party but what happens a lot of times is Phase would make flyer that he wouldn’t put his name on for some reason but a lot of times you could look at it and you could tell it was him. At least I know I could look at it and tell it was him.<\/p>\n

Troy- All right I am going to give you some names of flyer makers, give me from a 1 to 10 what you think they deserve for their work.<\/h5>\n

Your brother Eddie Ed?<\/p>\n

Buddy- (Buddy starts laughing again.) Oh my goodness. I would give him a 7.<\/p>\n

Troy- What made you laugh so hard?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Because he isn’t into art anymore. He paints for me occasionally because back in the days he use to help me paint the pants and jackets.<\/p>\n

Troy- Next up Straight man?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well I would give him an extra 2 points for his quote unquote boarders. I would give him a total of 6!<\/p>\n

Troy- Cisco<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Cisco gets a 9 for good artistry as well as good press type.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- Next up Danny T.<\/h5>\n

Buddy-\u00a0 Danny T was nice. He was good at illustration from what I remember. But he needed some work on his boarders and his choice of press types could have been better. So I would give Danny Tongue an 8 because he was very good at illustration.<\/p>\n

Troy- A. Reilly?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- A. Reilly, the guy that did the Notorious L Brothers flyers. I will also give Reilly an 8. His illustration was good, his lay out wasn’t too bad and his press type was pretty good. So I will give him an overall 8.<\/p>\n

Troy- o.K. Next up Vega Ray<\/h5>\n

Buddy- He didn’t even make all that many flyers but I will give him a 5.<\/p>\n

Troy- O.K. Phase 2<\/h5>\n

Buddy- He gets a 10 from me of course. what can I not say about him. He had a good lay out, as well as his back grounds. He was very imaginative. That was the one guy I would say is better than me. I have no shame in admitting that.<\/p>\n

Troy- How would you rate yourself.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- (A long pause.) I would give me a 10 too, why not.<\/p>\n

Troy- Was there any type of different styles that you used? Like would you tell the buyer alright I am going to give you the block style and another person “I will give you the Chinese style or the graffiti style,” etc?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well I would never make a flyer using the graffiti style, that’s one of the things I tried to get away from when I started making flyers. the reason why is because I felt I already did that and graffiti is only presentable in but so many ways and for so many purposes I just decided not to use that style. It took some time but I eventually created my own style.<\/p>\n

Troy- What did you call that style?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Back then I didn’t have any name for it, but today I would call it Neo Deco, and you know the word Neo means new!<\/p>\n

Troy- Right.. o.k. how many crews did you make flyers for other then Funky 4?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well after a while I started doing flyers for the promoters and all these different crews would be on it.<\/p>\n

Troy- When making these flyers did you get paid in advance or at the end of the show like many m.c.s and d.j.s?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well sometimes I would be lucky enough to get the money when I gave them the flyers, other times some people would say, “I have to pay you after the party.” I use to hate that sitting around after the party…that wait wait wait until everything is over. A lot of times the party wouldn’t end to 3, 4 o’clock in the morning.<\/p>\n

Troy- But some people would pay you in advance or didn’t you say, “give me my money up front,” like people do today!<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well what would happen is I would try and get the money up front
\nbut Breakout use to say wait until the party is over.<\/p>\n

Troy- So it wasn’t one of those type of things were you would just come and pick up your money the next day?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- (Buddy Esquire laughs.)<\/p>\n

Troy- You laughing, it was on some get it while you can?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes get it when and while I can, yes. That was the basic reason for even going.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how do you do the whole process? How do you make the flyer and after you make the flyer, as far as the mold, how do you make the copies?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- O.K. Oldschool Flyer 101!<\/p>\n

Troy- Yes sir, my man (We both laugh.)<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- O.K. this is what I would do first, I would select the letters. See back in the days they had these letters that came out on plastic sheets called Prestype. So I would proportion the letters and\u00a0 I would draw them on the paper. Well this method became too time consuming, So what I did was try another way and that was putting the letters down and then concentrate on drawing the back ground around the letters. I did one like that in 79 but as time went by that was the way I saw to do it.<\/p>\n

So I would choose the style of letter that I want to, pick the appropriate size for the appropriate names on the appropriate spots on the flyer. I would do all this on one separate piece of paper. Then on another piece of paper would be the back ground. I would take the letters and I would cut them out and I would take a ruler and measure them and I would then glue them on the piece of paper where I would want them. Once everything was glued down on the paper I would then draw the back ground around the letters. Phase 2 would do it a different way. he would do his back ground first and then his letters.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did you and Phase 2 ever work on a flyer together?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No but I did work on a flyer with Cisco Kid, and we made about 3 together for Charlie Chase and The Cold Crush Brothers.<\/p>\n

So now the flyer 101, what was next was just always trying to do a different back ground every time and that takes imagination you know!<\/p>\n

Troy- So what would you use for inspiration magazines, books, cartoons?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- The crazy thing is I am more inspired by what I see now then what I seen back then. Back then I wasn’t really looking at anything other than Phases flyers. I used his style basically but I tried to it my way, I tried to make it my style and I feel like I succeed to an extent. No, I feel like I succeeded.<\/p>\n

Troy- I believe you did as well.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Oh thank you.<\/p>\n

Troy- You have some classic good stuff, I enjoy looking at your work as well as millions of others, but it’s always good to see your name on the side of your flyers. Your probably the most recognizable name of all names on flyers.<\/h5>\n

Now were there certain things like the Flintstones, Jetson’s or Yankee’s that you might incorporate? I know I am picking randomly but anything other than a party atmosphere?<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Buddy Esquire- Oh yeah well I am a big comic book fan from back in the days, but the wild thing is if comic books had inspired me more I think I would have been making better flyers I say that because Jack Kirby was really doing some imaginative things with his Fantastic Four characters.<\/p>\n

See although Kirby was doing some good stuff I wasn’t into looking into comics to see what elements I could take and put into a flyer, which was a mistake because he was really doing some intricate work especially the machinery he use along with his characters and if I would have used his style I think I would have been doing some much higher graded work.<\/p>\n

Troy- Right I understand what you are saying him and say Stan Lee I figured were of an influence to you because we were all one time or another big fans of the comic books. So in the comic book situation what were your favorites?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Buddy- Well I like a lot of Jim Lee stuff.\u00a0 \u00a0He has been my favorite artist since 1990. when I was a kid I liked guys like Jack Kirby, Bernie Wrightson, Mike Kaluta who’s work also had influence over me. Vaughn Bode, Barry Windsor- Smith …I mean I can go one for days.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well it appears your more or less interested in the writer and the artist oppose to the actual comic book characters (Superman, Batman, Spiderman etc.) story?<\/h5>\n

Buddy-\u00a0 I am more into the artist, Yes Troy.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what’s the next step once you have made the flyer? You take the master downtown or somewhere to get pressed?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I would give it to the promoter that wanted the flyer and he would take it to a printer and have it printed up.<\/p>\n

Troy- So you give your master to the promoter. Have you ever taken the master yourself downtown to have a few hundred done up?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I use to but I stopped because I got tired of that. When I did do it I use to take the master to this place in Baychester the Bronx over on Tiemann or Tillotson ave. Those days a mimeograph machine was used.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

After that we started using a process called photo off set. That’s when the pictures started coming out really clear.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So now once you get the flyers from Baychester then you would take it to the promoter!<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes I would give him his flyers and take back my original copy.<\/p>\n

Troy- Now here goes the question did the promoter give you the money to get those flyers done, or did you have to come out your own pocket and get all the flyers done, deliver them to him and wait until the end of the night of the show for your money?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No, if\u00a0 he wanted those flyers he had to pay.<\/p>\n

Troy- So how many flyers would you buy coming out of Baychester?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- It depends but it’s always more than a thousand.<\/p>\n

Troy- So have you ever gotten stuck holding flyers because these guys didn’t have the money for it yet?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well let’s say I never got caught holding any flyers because they know they needed them.<\/p>\n

Troy- So what was the going rate for making a flyer in the early days?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- 40 to $45 in the early days. Then after that it started to die down I was only getting but so much money.<\/p>\n

Troy- What’s the most Flyer masters you would make in a week?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- 3 jams a week.<\/p>\n

Troy- What was the best year for you where flyer making was very consistent for you?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I would say like 1981 to 82. I was doing a lot of work for Armstrong!<\/p>\n

Troy- So you were doing this for Armstrong when he was at The Ecstasy Garage or after he left and he was doing parties up and down the East Coast?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Mostly Ecstasy, and I did a few for him after he left. I made some flyers for him when he did jams in say Yonkers, Connecticut and Jersey. Those are some of the places that come to mind.<\/p>\n

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<\/p>\n

Troy- So the high point of making flyers for you would be say 80, 81 and 82.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yeah around that time my back ground style was really getting good.<\/p>\n

Troy- So now you have changed your style also?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes by this time I am trying\u00a0 asymmetrical designs but I was sort of having mixed feelings about it but now if I ever do anything else it is going to be symmetrical.<\/p>\n

Troy-\u00a0 Can you break down the difference for me and the reader!!!<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Oh but of course! A Symmetrical flyer is going to be whatever is on one side of the flyer is going to on the other side of the flyer, that means symmetry, to make it even. Asymmetrical design is going to be something that does not conform to symmetry. In other words whatever is on one side is not going to necessarily be on the other side, it could be something totally different.<\/p>\n

Troy- So would The symmetrical type be the type that looks like a movie poster and has a very \u201cmechanical” feel to it?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well I wouldn’t necessarily say a movie poster because a lot of times you would have a movies poster you would have like a big picture and a few words on the side of it, some stuff on the top and a lot of text on the bottom. See my flyers have a lot of design on the sides of it, and actually more design on the side and the top. Today they use a lot of photography for movie posters.<\/p>\n

Troy- I would guess that the asymmetrical type is the one that is \u201cuneven\u2019 and has a picture to the side. That picture is usually artwork and depicts a sexy or classy lady or a classy couple dancing or something like that.<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Buddy- Yeah well that sounds like the definition of an asymmetrical design to me.<\/p>\n

Troy- Would you say you didn\u2019t he like the asymmetrical ones although they\u00a0 appeared to show more of your artistic side.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well what happen was, this was around the end of 1982 I was getting into that. To be honest I was trying to see what I could do with a different type of design, because I, and I know I shouldn’t say this but I felt I mastered symmetry and it was time for something different and by the time that experiment started it was over.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- I got you. Well in regard to the symmetrical type or the ones that look like movie posters it can probably be done real easily now, but the mechanics of it must have been difficult for a teen back then. How did you know how to go about it way back then, because the symmetrical flyers are leaps and bounds away from what a \u201cgraph\u2019 artist would have been doing on a wall. It looks very professional like.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Well me and you talked about this earlier I just wanted to get away from the like sort of graffiti style type of flyers that I had seen and I admit to being a writer and I still love the art but at the same time and this could cause X amount of controversy right here, but I did not feel that graffiti art was really a good presentation for what I was doing.<\/p>\n

Troy- I understand what you are saying. To be honest I think you are very right about that because it was only a phase as far as the hip hop crowd were concern. The graffiti thing is like an acquired taste.<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Yes that it is if you really get deep into it, it’s really only for the writers and when I mean is when you get a little wild with your letters and your shading and all that.<\/p>\n

Troy- You right a lot of that art looks very nice and bright and intricate at times but a lot of times I don’t know even know what it is saying, as far as the letters or\u00a0 what’s the writers name is!<\/h5>\n

Buddy- Yes it is a definite acquired taste, because I have been into it since 1972 and to be honest I have seen stuff now a days that I can’t even read.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- It’s almost similar to as if you were a Mason, you would have to be a part of that culture to be able to understand what is being said and written.<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Buddy- Oh definitely yes I would have to agree with you on that. It is not for everyone.<\/p>\n

Troy- O.K. can you remember the biggest show you ever did a flyer for. Example Cold Crush vs. Fantastic, Moe vs. Busy Bee, Anniversary’s or birthday parties?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well I did a few, I did the battle between Flash and Breakout at The P.A.L.<\/p>\n

Troy- Are you referring to the battle between Furious 4 and The Funky 4 when Rahiem left to join Furious after the battle?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yeah I did that one. It was The Brothers Disco and the return of The Furious Four. And what happen was I did a big roman numeral four on the flyer and nobody in Breakouts group liked it because they felt it was too big and it was as if the emphases was on Furious. I did Funky Four’s like I usually do it and it wasn’t as big as Furious 4’s so they didn’t like it.<\/p>\n

Troy- So did you have it written as an actual battle?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No it wasn’t listed or designed or anything to look like a battle.<\/p>\n

Troy- But you knew it was going to be a battle?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes that was what people expected<\/p>\n

Troy- So why didn’t you put it as a battle, what made you keep it simple?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I just decided to do it that way at the time I guess because no one requested me to put it as a battle and I really didn’t want to lean it towards either group and it turns out I did it anyway, unintentionally.<\/p>\n

Troy- So who asked you to make the flyer?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- It was Breakout, I always made flyers for them.<\/p>\n

Troy- Did Ray Chandler come to you about it?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Nah, I didn’t meet him until years later.<\/p>\n

Troy- But you have made flyers for the Furious right?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yeah<\/p>\n

Troy- So who came to you about doing flyers for Furious?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- It was Armstrong, but a lot of those shows they didn’t show up for him. And this is after Ecstasy and they were out of state. I never did any flyers for Furious in the early days.<\/p>\n

Troy- What is your favorite flyer that you have done that is your favorite of all time?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I don’t have one favorite because there are so many of them. and what made it my favorite is the design and it had to interest me before I could make it interest someone else. What gets me is it has to look neat, clean and the lines are straight even.<\/p>\n

Troy- What about your worst?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well I guess I can say it now because it’s over 20 years later. When you have people pester me when I am trying to work (Troy starts laughing.) then I just give them garbage. See usually a promoter will give me everything they want put on the flyer and then they just leave me alone. That was the best way to deal with me. Because no one was going to tell me to lay it out this way and that. Any lay out was going to be done by me.<\/p>\n

Troy- Well what was that about how were they pestering you, would they be standing over your back as you are making it?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes,<\/p>\n

Troy- Well give me an example of someone standing over you like a vulture?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Man dip lite<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- I remember Mandiplite he use to run with The Crash Crew and I heard from Bistro that Mandiplite was a promoter for a short time. So he was standing over you I guess you didn’t do too many for him!<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I’ve made enough because I was tired before I was through and he finally got the point, “Leave me alone until I am finish instead of stand right over me thinking that’s going to make me work faster!”<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"
\nSandwich, Man Dip Lite
\nCrystal, Kim and Lavern<\/p>\n

Troy- Basically no one really played you close like that because they gave you the option of how you wanted it done. All they really did was just give you the date, location and who was going to be there, everything else was up to you am I right?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes, basically.<\/p>\n

Troy- You tried to make every flyer different from the last one?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yes every one and it wasn’t easy.<\/p>\n

Troy- I can imagine. So how are you treated today about your flyers from the fans of flyers and the media?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Good question<\/p>\n

Troy- I ask you that because people today that do stories include your name or your flyers a lot.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I say I get X amount of respect, not as much as I like, but I get enough. I have been given props in Yes Yes yall and Born and the Bronx books as well as an interview about my flyers in a magazine known as Wax Poetic.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"\"buddyesquire\"\"buddyesquire\"<\/p>\n

Troy- So do you and Phase 2 still get together and talk about flyers and hip hop?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Well we mostly talk about writers.<\/p>\n

Troy- So do you still write on walls that are sponsored or conventions of graffiti artists in front of crowds of people?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Nah, but occasionally I will go to where they are painting a wall or if I hear something about an event.<\/p>\n

Troy- Do you still write in your tag book?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- Yeah I got it with me right now.<\/p>\n

Troy- (Troy laughs.) My man. In the year 2010 do you still make flyers?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- If they want to offer me some decent cash I will do it. Off and on I have made flyers over the years but presently I am not interested. If it comes it comes, if not I don’t go looking for it.<\/p>\n

Troy- How do you feel about hip hop today and do you have any favorites in the game?<\/h5>\n

\"buddyesquire\"Buddy Esquire- (Buddy Esquire starts laughing.) It could be better. Well to be honest with you I don’t listen to the radio, and I haven’t really heard any one that impresses me. I am sure there are some good guys out there. The last guy that I was really feeling was Ludicrous. But I haven’t really heard anything from him lately.<\/p>\n

Troy- So back in the days of you being a big fan of The Funky 4 is there any other crew, m.c. or d.j. that you was digging?<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- I liked The Cold Crush. I use to hear them every week I was going to the Ecstasy Garage.<\/p>\n

Troy- What is his opinion of where flyers are at today. I am referring to those glossy type expensive looking ones with the stripper on it or sometimes might only be an ad for a barber shop, but still look like they spent a million bucks on it?<\/h5>\n

Buddy- To me they are colorful but they lack imagination and arrangement.<\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"
\nD.J. Jazzy Jay and Buddy Esquire The Flyer King.<\/p>\n

Troy- To my brother Buddy Esquire thank you very much.<\/h5>\n

Buddy Esquire- No problem Troy thank you for the time.<\/p>\n

I like to thank my man John from the stationary store over by Columbaa University for putting me back in contact with Buddy Esquire. John along with our homie Bruce, they are the real Flyer Kings when it comes to collecting them today. peace family. <\/em><\/p>\n

Thank the Lord for my very beautiful wife India and my two sons Shemar and Troy Jr. and one on the way.<\/em>
\nPraise God and God Bless you. <\/em><\/p>\n

\"buddyesquire\"<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Winter of 2010 Introduction by Sureshot La Rock. It’s no secret the birth of hip hop was sparked by a desire for New York’s inner city youth to lift their voices above the noise of their environment and be heard by the rest of society.\u00a0 It started with the DJs — Kool Herc, Grandmaster Flash, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1673,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[39,17],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1643"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1643\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1673"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1643"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1643"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.oldschoolhiphop.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1643"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}