Atlanta Style Writers Wall Jam – The Inaugural of 2022

After 35 years, The United Kings were seen in public for the VERY FIRST TIME!  

What: ATL Style Writers Wall Jam
When: November 4-6, 2022 
Where: Lee + White (1020 White St SW, Atlanta, GA 30310)

First, let’s start with the Atlanta Style Writers Association (atlantastylewriters.com), a style writing exhibition that showcases the evolution of Atlanta’s style writing culture. Featuring some of the founders of Atlanta’s style writing scene, which dates to the early 80s when the hip hop movement came to Atlanta. The ATL JAM will bring together roughly 40 style masters from the years 1984 to the mid-2000s to paint walls at Lee + White. Free and open to the public, this event aims to show appreciation to the first generations of individuals who painted on public walls here in the city.  

The line-up included: 

• The United Kings Crew. Established in Atlanta in the early 80s, The United Kings Crew was part of the first wave of the hip hop movement when it came to Atlanta in the early 1980s. Now in their late 50s, these men are still relevant and a huge part of the Atlanta-style writing culture. 
  
  
• Doctor Dax. Doctor Dax migrated from Miami to Atlanta when he was 9 years old in the 1980s and was immediately drawn to the names that were painted on the walls by The United Kings Crew. He has gone on to represent Atlanta in many fashions and is a known associate of Dungeon Family and Outkast. He started painting in the late 1980s and is still painting to this day.  
  
  
• Save. Alongside Dax, Save played a vital role during the second wave of Style writing culture here in Atlanta. He would ride MARTA and see the writings on the walls and would hop off to watch and study. He has been painting since 1990 and is an important pillar of the Atlanta-style writing culture.
  
  
• Totem. Considered to be one of the most talented style writers of the present day, Totem was from the north side of Atlanta and used to come down to the city to express his name on the walls in the early 1990s. Now he does corporate jobs, painting private schools, working with the BeltLine, yet he continues to push the limit, unlocking new techniques and styles through his creative journey while staying true to the fundamentals of letter structure. He is one of the biggest inspirations in style writing the city has to offer. 

This event is presented by the Atlanta Style Writing Association, Atlanta BeltLine, Inc.’s Arts & Culture Department, and Lee + White.  

Source: Atlanta Beltline, Inc. – Celebrating Atlanta’s Style Writing History 

In 2022, the Atlanta Beltline Association sponsored its first-ever Historical Street Art festival, called the ATL StyleWriters Wall Jam, featuring Rodney, aka “RAD1,” reunited with The United Kings. L-R: DEQ, Eskem2e, GCRad1, JustOne, Eskan – the original founding members of The United Kings. 

The public witnessed who these artists painting together for the first time after 36 years! This has become an annual event and has rekindled the artist’s spirit, pushing Rodney and crew to create a new collection of canvases showcased at “City Of Kings,” a first group show (in a gallery) for The United Kings, during the 2024 ATL Style Writers Wall Jam.

 

ALWAYS AWESOME TO RECONNECT WITH THIS MAN! DOUG “DOUGY-D!” DeLoach • Who is and why is Doug DeLoach standing in the middle of The United Kings?!?!?! He is practically a member! First, Doug is an Atlanta native, has been covering music and the arts in Atlanta and beyond for four decades. In the early ’80s, “Listening Post,” his music column, debuted in Creative Loafing, where he has been writing features and commentary ever since. Doug has gone on bombing missions with us in the early 80s and has written stories about us for Creative Loafing and Open City. https://www.artsatl.org/author/doug-deloach/

 

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