Graffiti movement in Klaipeda,Lithuania started in 1994-95 along with the hip hop culture itself which was on the peak in 1995. The first artists were very talented because some of them studied architecture, design, etc in various institutions or were just skillful without real practice. This was the beginning of graffiti movement in Klaipeda, the third largest city. The first artists’ names were Linas, &Rew(Andrius), Genys and Tomz. Genys was probably the first tagger in Klaipeda and you can still see his tags all around the downtown. But he quit in 1996 and now he is a very famous and professional dj known in Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, Belgium, etc. Tomz was a very impressive and talented writer. Some time ago he visited Berlin graffiti camp and had a great experience there which was delivered to other writers including me. He made some great pics and eventually quit, because he simply moved to the USA where there were other problems. Linas and Andrius quit for other reasons: studies, skateboarding and just fun. All these four people made an immense input into hip hop culture of Lithuania.
Graffiti scene is growing here, of course not so massively as in Poland or Czech Republic, but still it is. Apart from “Fat Cru” which is not so active anymore as it used to be in the beginning when it was the only one graffiti crew, there are much more teams now and about 10 independent people who create and keep graffiti scene alive here in Klaipeda. And naturally much more bastards who spoil walls and make a negative reputation of self-respected artists who don’t do shit. “Fat Cru” has changed its name because it is specializes mostly on bombings now, but still the name remains for any other activities. Other worth noticing crews: “The Blood Brovaz”(TB2) containing of about 12 people is probably the most active crew in Klaipeda these times, “TMA” crew, “PHC”, “WPC”. The names of independent artists: Burin, Smart, Rash, Edvis and others. We know it ain’t lots of people, but the city is small itself. We still have no graffiti shops and cans Abro, Multona are purchased from local market and Montana, Belton-- in Poland.
Speaking about “Fat Cru”, there are two members left instead of three and we mostly do chroms and other kinds of bombing style. We did two train panels which were washed out next day. To the present we did about 50 legal and illegal works in Lithuania. We try to bomb in the dark to avoid being seen, 'cause there are lots of cops in Klaipeda, so many that you can't imagine, although they don't even know what graffiti vandalism is. They are pretty @#$..#. Anyway, we are not planning to quit graffiti painting, 'cause it's really our way of life. Now we are working with the third member-Crashead who brings this shit (webpage) to the masses. WORD!