Squat Dead Face Speaks on Graffiti and Hip-Hop Culture in Australia
WORDS WITH WORD$ INTERVIEW #5: Squat Dead Face
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Yo, it’s the Pope, 1000WORD$.
Myself being from the Bronx, where hip-hop was born, I would like to bring you an interview from the other side of the world. This is a conversation with a legendary Australian artist named Squat Dead Face. He is a graffitist and painter whose unique style have landed his work on the walls of many, as well as many album covers.
Squat Dead Face currently resides in Western Sydney, Australia. He has done artwork for the likes of Westside Gunn, Smoke DZA, Hus KingPin, Stove God Cooks, DJ Muggs, Project Pat, Scarface, and Freddie Gibbs. Squat Dead Face has also fulfilled his dream of doing three shows in the USA, including one at Tuff City in The Bronx. His inspiration comes from the people he sees, the music he loves, and the work he has seen other people put in.
Squat Dead Face describes his style as “chaotic,” busy, and passionate. He receives orders for his work from all over the world, including Israel and Belgium, and he recently put on a private show with Rome Streetz in Montana. Squat Dead Face plans to keep doing what he's doing and have another show in Australia and maybe get over to the USA for another show.
THIS IS WORDS WITH WORD$.
1000WORD$: Yo, this 1000WORD$, this is WORDS WITH WORD$, I'm here with my man Squat Dead Face, man. Squat, let the people know where you at right now, and what's going on?
Squat Dead Face: Western Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Out of New Penrith, no one knows but that's where I am.
1000WORD$: Let's get straight to it, my brotha. For the people that don't know, and for the people who are going to read this for the first time, I want you to give them an introduction of who you are as an artist and what are some of your accomplishments so they could get familiar with you, off rip. What are some of the highlights of your artistic work?
Squat Dead Face: I've had a couple lifetimes within this art shit so I'd say as for Squat Dead Face my highlights should be the album covers that I've done for Westside Gunn, Fly God is an Awesome God, [my] work with Smoke DZA, Hus KingPin "Coming of Wave," Stove God, DJ Muggs, Project Pat, Scarface, [and] Freddie Gibbs. The list is extensive and it goes on. As far as accomplishments and achievements I've fulfilled some dreams coming on over there, did three shows in [the] USA. You know I haven't done a show as Squat Dead Face in Australia but I've been over there in Philadelphia, Montana, did a show at Tuff City in The Bronx, which is... That's bucket list shit, man.
1000WORD$: Facts. To see you and my brother Tony Caves for Squat Dead Caves, you guys really showed out and really painted all that. That print that you guys dropped, you brought it to life on a wall in The Bronx.
Squat Dead Face: That's all we do, you know? We went back and forth over the digital medium and then brought it to life at a grand scale. Like that walls gotta be, what? 20 foot by 15 foot or something? It's a big deal!
1000WORD$: Knowing that you from Australia and knowing that you did that in The Bronx, how do your peers see you now? You're going back with all this like, "Dude, you painted in the Bronx, bro!"
Squat Dead Face: And to paint at Tuff City, man. I don't know how many Australians had to show there. I don't think anyone, but you know we painted the wall, but anyone can paint the wall.
1000WORD$: What's sad about that is Tuff City's gonna close prolly this year, bro.
Squat Dead Face: Yeah, man. I was talking to Sin about it. He was showing me where they're moving down the road and you can see the wall on the roof, I think. So, I heard about that. As far as my peers go, Australia's sleeping, man and I'm pretty proud of my achievements and the stuff that's been accomplished, I can say worldwide because it is. Australia's sleeping, man. Although a few heads know but I don't think [the] majority understand.
1000WORD$: Now, early on in Squat's world, What did you go by as as your graffiti moniker?
Squat Dead Face: Yeah, so my graffiti moniker was Heroe. Without saying too much shit man, we got busy. You know, I lived that life. That was 15 years of my life dedicated to the culture. It's a love hate relationship, but it saved my life and it brought a lot of drama to my life too.
1000WORD$: Is graffiti frowned upon in Australia?
Squat Dead Face: I think it's kind of partially frowned upon everywhere.
1000WORD$: I know, I'm just talking about as far as the laws. Is it strict? Like I get the laws is the laws but I'm saying ...like [Brittney Griner] got arrested for smoking a little vape pen and she was about to do nine years in Russia. You know what I'm saying?
Squat Dead Face: That's wild, man. I know a few heads that have been raided. They've got [tickets], fines, and people done time over it. So yeah, it's pretty freaky. You get caught in the train yard they start pushing terrorist shit upon you. You gotta get in there. You getting in there with false keys, you're stiffing your way in, they don't know what you're doing up against those trains.
1000WORD$: What inspires you? Cause I sometimes see you on social media, like you just wake up and just paint your wall white and then just paint a picture that you saw that you liked or you'll just create a whole different thing. What inspires you? Like, how do you wake up and you're like, fuck it, Imma paint today? Or is that something you do every day?
Squat Dead Face: There's a couple reasons. You know, so it's discipline, that discipline is in wanting to get better and and constantly pushing, trying to evolve and just constantly painting because I know, you paint 10 pieces that you don't like, you're still gonna get better, you know? As far as the inspiration I consider myself in some small regards... I liken myself to stuff that you do. You know we're just creating art. We're creating a visual element and aspect of the culture that's needed. And I'm just inspired and I'm inspired by the by the music I love, by the people I see, by the work that I seen people put in.
1000WORD$: What are some of the people you listening to right now?
Squat Dead Face: Music wise, man, so an album, like a guilty pleasure of mine has been Vince Staples's "Ramona Park Broke My Heart." Can't stop listening to the album. Yesterday I was listening to RLX, "Dali," the new one with MichaelAngelo. The RLX dude, always listened to a little bit of Estee Nack, always listened to Griselda, older stuff. Yeah, man, that's about it.
1000WORD$: Now, how does an artist get in the steady rhythm of dropping prints, like how often do you drop prints?
Squat Dead Face: As in proper limited prints, what I consider my bigger prints that I drop, I don't drop them regularly, maybe five-six times a year. But, as far as always keeping my site and my store stocked, you know, I always rotate stock. I keep stuff up for a couple of weeks, [and] move on. I've [got] thousands of pieces of artwork, so it's not hard for me to throw up a new bunch of 10 prints to get done. I keep the stock maintained so new people who are just familiar with me can go and cop some and then trying to aim base to this sort of more traditional fans with the stuff that I know that they'll love.
1000WORD$: How do you describe your style?
Squat Dead Face: Chaotic, man. Chaotic me, busy, passionate, you know, like I've found a way to intertwine multiple loves. Hip-hop, hip-hop graffiti, and I scaled it down into small scale on to paper illustrative work, so yeah, I think that's an explanation.
1000WORD$: What was the first project that you got where your artwork [is] on the vinyl? What did you physically get and you was like, "Whoa. Like, wow, this is true."
Squat Dead Face: I think I cried, man. It was "Coming of Wave" Hus KingPin I didn't even know is going to be a cover. He put up some[thing]. He's like, "All artists send me some art" and I scribbled on a shitty piece of a4 paper sent it to him and he's like, "That's going to be my cover." I was listening to "Cocaine Beach" heavily at the time. And he's like, "I'm gonna use it, man" and he sent me two covers. I didn't ask for nothing, [he] just sent them to me. You know what it's like, man, what was it like when you got yours?
1000WORD$: I mean it's like a full circle moment. You know, it's somethin' like that. And wherever you are in the world, no matter your situation, no matter how it is, if you see your work or something like that, It's a feeling that, man, this shit exist. You know what I'm saying?
Squat Dead Face: It's immortalized too, That shit's forever, man.
1000WORD$: Yeah, facts, like “Yo it exists like it's out there.”
Squat Dead Face: Yeah, people underestimate, they undervalue what physical product is and that shit's forever.
1000WORD$: You dropped these art books right? What inspires you to drop a book like that? Cause I see the way you package your stuff is amazing too. How does that all formulate, and how do you get all of that together?
Squat Dead Face: I guess it comes from having direction. I need direction now, you know? So, I've pumped out a quantity of artwork over the years and now I need direction, I need to know where I'm going. I can't just be dropping, I still do it, you know? It's my cup of freestyles and I'm now making albums. I seen them, I draw them or bring them out, I get the product made. All they are is just a direction. These are me dropping my albums, they might be mixtapes, not proper albums, but to me, that is my mixtapes and they're forever. You know, they're not just a piece of paper that might get sold or whatever. They're tangible products that will last the test of time.
1000WORD$: Who are some of your art inspirations? Who did you grow up inspiring to be like?
Squat Dead Face: My inspiration are all my close homies. I was lucky enough to be around some incredible artists and all these guys were better than me. I was a shit guy in the crew, so I only had up to go. My inspiration are all my old crew. So you know, Smug, Enes One, Ihu, Obas, the people looked up to in the neighboring cities. Idiot, Sayno, Pearl, Weisk, Rahs... like these are all graffiti guys. I didn't look into the art world, I looked at the people in my backyard to inspire me.
1000WORD$: Did you go to any art museums growing up? I know they got art museums in Australia. Like have you been to one?
Squat Dead Face: No. I mean, I've been to a couple but it's just like I could go to a local train and then walk for a kilometer and look at and that's my gallery you know. Both sides of the walls are all painted. So, in a traditional sense, no, I didn't go to galleries but I had my own galleries. My peoples galleries type thing.
1000WORD$: Who are some of the local rapping legends in Australia?
Squat Dead Face: Local rapping legends? So I'm kind of out of the scene. The Australian Hip Hop scene kind of moved, it's more drill based. Locally here Western Sydney, ONEFOUR really doing thier thing. Mitchos the Menace, Def Wish Cast, Brad Strut, Hilltop Hoods, Downsyde, After Hours, Hyjak & Torcha, Pegz, KK, Lyrical Commision, Lazy Grey, Crossbred Mongrels, Tremonei, could go on I could go on
1000WORD$: How did the music from this side of the world get to that side of the world? What outlets [did you have] over there to know what was going on over here? Where would you be able to buy a Wu-Tang CD?
Squat Dead Face: The way that I received music was a little outdated. I heard Wu-Tang Forever before I heard "36 Chambers." I heard "It Was Written" before "Illmatic" because they were accessible. Back then we didn't have the internet, man. So you need CDs , you need to know somebody who went overseas came back with the CD, came back with a tape, for you to buy. When the internet came that was a big help. But as far as before that, Rage was like a music program that would go from 11pm at night till six in the morning. And if you're lucky, they might have a hip-hop segment, which would be 20-30 minutes of hip-hop. And that was my introduction to like, I'm trying to think, first time I seen "If I Ruled The World" by Nas was like, three in the morning and I taped it on VHS. I still got the VHS here somewhere, too.
1000WORD$: Legendary.
Squat Dead Face: We received music differently.
1000WORD$: Now that you was able to get that on VHS, when you got the internet what were the things that you was like, okay, boom, I know about Nas? Who did you discover after that, who was you listening to frequently?
Squat Dead Face: Downloading all the mp3s, the real audio files, shit like Jedi Mind Tricks. I remember when sound bombing came out. We're going back, like 1999 I remember when Eminem came out before he dropped anything, real early.
1000WORD$: How do you feel, now? What are your plans for 2023?
Squat Dead Face: 2023, so, last year I pulled back on product a little bit because I was coming over there and I was trying to drive a little bit of the demand up for the work because I was coming over for the shows. This year I just got my foot on the gas, man. Just product after product after product. I've got a couple projects that I'm going to be a part of that's coming out. I want to do another book, I want to do another show, I actually hit you up about trying to get over there for a show, recently. For me, I don't know. Just keep doing what I'm doing. Have another show here in Australia. Maybe get over there and have a show.
1000WORD$: What countries have you mailed your work? Anywhere interesting?
Squat Dead Face: Everywhere but fucking Australia. Let's say 80% of my work, if I'm selling 10 works, eight of them are going to America. But man, like Israel, Belgium, all through Europe. Everywhere in America, all through Canada. Israel there's a dude just bought a few pieces from me out there and he still buys and it's crazy to me that I got people that want to support the arts in Israel. You can never imagine it.
1000WORD$: How was it doing that art gallery with Rome Streetz?
Squat Dead Face: Oh shit. Yeah, man. So, that was like, Rome was out there for a private party.
1000WORD$: In Montana, right?
Squat Dead Face: Yeah man, Montana, weird right? Weird place to be. But my man Clams brought me out there so he had Rome coming out there for a private party. We tied my show into it, he brought some of his people out and it was crazy, man. I had a piece of Rome and me and Rome got to chill in Montana and he came to the show. He was there, peace was there, and he was sitting down and people walking past, is that you? that you? Yeah man, it's like a dream come true, you know?
1000WORD$: That was your first time meeting Rome?
Squat Dead Face: Yeah, man, we picked him up from the airport and yeah, first time meeting.
1000WORD$: That's legendary, bro.
Squat Dead Face: Yeah, man his big fucking ring, right? It's like a brick on his finger.
1000WORD$: It's like a Football Super Bowl ring. Yeah, you get a Squat one, right? You need to get one of those shits.
Squat Dead Face: 100% I wish.
1000WORD$: Squat, man. I wish you the best thank you so much my bro for your time and this conversation you know what I'm saying we gon keep continue doing dope shit, bro.
Squat Dead Face: 100% man, takeover, right?
1000WORD$: Thank you, bro. Any words for the people?
Squat Dead Face: SQUATDEADFACE on Instagram, YouTube, SQUATDEADFACE. Just out here man, just out here trying to work.