Trane, king of the railway

Some say he’s twelve years old, some say he’s two meters tall, some say he’s a gipsy, some says he robbed X and Y, some say he comes from Marseille... Let’s stop there with the gossips which the graffiti scene loves so much.

Trane is none of the above, Trane is all of the above, and so much more than that. If there were only one last man standing, it would be him. By the way, he’s the only one left, the others are at Agnès B., in jail, or on internet forums running in the virtual world after a title that they have long missed a long time ago.

Snitches are no use, Trane has bled France so much that he could go behind bars for 10 years and still return with his crown. Never seen before. Every era has its stars heavy-hitters from Boxer to O’clock, but nothing comes even close to the what Trane achieved. Nothing, nobody. Alone, he puts any crews to shame. Inevitable. Drive your car to the french countryside, find the closest railway station, there will be a piece by Trane. His detractors talk about his absence of style:«He always does the same thing ». How funny that in a scene where the last trends are imitated so easily, one reproaches to the last of the Mohicans to play it old school and repeat the same thing over and over: T.R.A.N.E. You can tell you don’t get it, in your face, see what separates you from the throne. If you think it sucks so bad, go ahead, get in the game, but watch it, the turnament won’t last only 15 days, the time to find something else to copy. With Trane, there is no golden goal, the matches goes on in the locker room...do not count on the referee to help you...

Yep, Trane plays in the best team. In the UV TPK, defensive midfield make Gatuso look like a kitten, Fuzi plays number 10 and distributes to his Padawan. Not classy, not appreciated by the scene, not hype, but always decisive, always in the place to be, while the others mess up their rare occasions. Trane transforms everything. His production makes it impossible to write any kind of biography. No matter the crews he left, the names he used, the times he fell. In the end, there will be 5 chromium letters carved on a shop, on a roof, on a wagon, a memory.

No need to wait for the death of a French Academy member to celebrate him. He’s already there, immortal, permanent "marked", carved "à la Altona" in the minds of all those who once looked up from their newspapers in the public transports, all those who showed interest in graffiti, all those who take a look around, those who saw their environment change as the rats were leaving the subway stations to dirty the city.

Words by Olivier Catin taken from somno & himself's great blogspot.

Big up to Gil (Nordik Ninja, VOK Crew) who gave me a hand on the translation.

I wanted to leave you with this great track from Rage against the Machine to illustate this post about the biggest writer the french grafiti scene ever had.

RATM - Bombtrack -

Peace fellaz....