Graffiti artists are gathering in Newark this weekend to remember Tame One.
Tame, the Newark rapper and graffiti artist born Rahem Brown, was 52 when he died earlier this month.
He rose to fame alongside El Da Sensei as a member of hip-hop group the Artifacts in the early ’90s.
From the beginning, graffiti was part of his artistry.
The Abington Walls Instagram page announced a tribute project for Tame Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 27 at 166 Abington Ave. in Newark (starting at noon both days).
“All are invited to come out and paint a Tame One piece,” the notice said.
Tame, leader of the Boom Skwad crew, started writing graffiti in 1980.
“Freshman year of Arts High School, I bombed the school so hard,” he told blog The Kool Skool in 2010. “I single-handedly caused the banning of the marker as a medium, for any artists from 9th grade through 12th!!!”
“I record for fame,” he said in the interview. “I do graffiti for me.”
The Artifacts’ debut album “Between A Rock and a Hard Place” arrived in 1994 with the song “Wrong Side of Da Tracks,” featuring lyrics about writing graffiti and the sound of spray paint cans.
After the Artifacts split up following the release of their second album, “That’s Them,” with DJ Kaos in 1997, Tame released several solo albums and collaborated with other artists, including hip-hop supergroup the Weathermen.
The Artifacts reunited this year for the album “No Expiration Date,” produced by Buckwild of New York’s DITC Crew, who worked on their first album.
Tame’s mother, Darlene Brown Harris, said her son died after “his heart simply gave out” when he took six hospital-prescribed drugs “combined with the weed he smoked.”
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Amy Kuperinsky may be reached at akuperinsky@njadvancemedia.com and followed at @AmyKup on Twitter.
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