Words: Sterling Royce
Photo: Shane Nash
Like sloppy patty melts, clipped anti-theft cables and thick tire tracks, ink marks are always a comforting sign that people are getting their hands dirty. For the last few years, Shaun RFC has been hard at work bringing booming colors back to blocks and tracks. A native of Harlem, he started writing 15 years ago. Though Shaun waned off writing over the years, he always enjoyed the craft of making markers and inks. When he moved to Brooklyn in 2003, Shaun got back into graf and started seriously working on enhancing the aesthetic of the inks he saw growing up. Now living in Harlem, Shaun has a lab of weird science, where, through trial and error, chemical hunting and research, he’s perfected his brand of ink called Do Em Dirty. It’s available in two types, the Outdoorsman and Inside Job, both which will withstand many moons—and nice tags never go out style. So while sculptures of locked up, stripped bikes grow on poles around the city, up above on the sign, your tag will endure. Get wet at doemdirty.com
Talk about the tagging scene that you remember.
When the trains ran, the inside of the train was always destroyed with markers. Then in my era, you would still see stains. [On] the 4, 5, 6, you would see red birds [old trains] and every now and then, you would see stains and that shit always intrigued me. Most people were using shoe dye at that time.
What kind of ink do you make now?
I have two sorts of inks. I have one called the Inside Job and then I have the Outdoorsmen. The Outdoorsmen, that one right there does not fade in the sun. The difference between those two inks is that the inside job could be compared to like Garvey [ink]. You know how Garvey will stain the shit out of something, but in the sun it just bleaks out? That’s how mine kinda works. I have three colors of the Inside Job: Super Black, Oxblood Red and Blue Black.
What’s the difference between Blue Black and Super Black?
The Blue Black, it’s a really, really super-dark blue. When you use it, you might not even be able to tell the Black from the Blue looking at it in the bottle. But when you use it on the wall, you’ll see the difference. It’s really, really black but has a really dark-blue hue to it.
Will it change color over time?
When it’s sitting in the sun, yes, it’s gonna turn colors. It’s gonna fade-out and turn more blue and then eventually maybe disappear.
It’s like some Hypercolor shit.
Yeah, but it has a lot of pigment in it. The Black is ill because it’s so dark. It withstands the sun much better. The Inside Job black will works in the streets, it won’t fade out. The Blue and the Red will, but those shits stain like nobody’s fucking business—it’s insane. The Oxblood Red is a really, really dark burgundy. It can even look brown at times.
How do you make it? Do you like, mix it in a cauldron and wear goggles and a smock?
Actually, I need a smock [laughs]. Right now my process isn’t so big that I’m making like 100 gallons at a time. I’m not there yet. The most that I’ve had to mix-down in one night was 16 gallons. And it took a while, but I mixed it down on a gallon-by-gallon basis, where I keep all the measurements right. And then I gotta test it to make sure all the consistency is right and that’s it.
Does it go all over the place when you write with it?
It does go all over the place. Both of those inks, when you catch a tag with like a Kiwi mop, it’s dripping to the floor. From wherever you write on the wall it’s going to the floor…It’s gonna happen.
So wear fucked-up sneakers.
Yes [laughs]. This is not sneaker-friendly ink [laughs].
