RIFF170 Canvas

Riff 170
“G-Force”
Canvas 11” x 14”.
Rare Abstract painting with letters, a subway and a bboy, circa 2014

RIFF 170’s place in the history of the subway writing movement is almost unprecedented.. He holds two very distinct honors. What most people know of RIFF is that he was famous for being a chameleon, RIFF’s the guy that other writer’s point to and say – ” I don’t know if I ever saw a RIFF piece, I saw a kick ass CONAN piece with cracks in it, I saw this mad DOVE 2 “top to bottom” with that little worm charecter; didn’t he do those FLIP pieces with the 3-D on top? How crazy were those? I remember the CASH and WORM pieces, I remember an R that lead into an improvised profile; it coulda’ said RIFF”. At a time when getting up was at a premium and your name is what got you fame RIFF wasn’t interested in that, he wanted to play with new names. He wanted to take comic logos and pop imagery and weave it into his work, and he wanted to do it in a high contrast proffessional way. Speaking of names, CHAIN 3 sites RIFF’s wordplay as the blueprint for the Death Squad. TDS, like the IND’s, wanted the best style masters, they also wanted names that flowed and worked together – this was a true extension of RIFF’s work. RIFF 170 is one of the five most important figures in the subway movement. He rarely gives interviews and Subway Outlaws is thrilled to be able to give you the real story in RIFF’s own words!