1 00:00:00,160 --> 00:00:03,480 Speaker 1: This episode contains content that may be disturbing to some listeners. 2 00:00:03,840 --> 00:00:08,600 Speaker 1: Please check the show notes for more information. Disgraceland is 3 00:00:08,640 --> 00:00:25,240 Speaker 1: a production of Double Elvis. The stories about Jean Michel 4 00:00:25,360 --> 00:00:30,880 Speaker 1: Basquiat are insane. His graffiti in Lower Manhattan was mistaken 5 00:00:31,120 --> 00:00:34,760 Speaker 1: for a CIA operation. He was the toast of the 6 00:00:34,800 --> 00:00:39,440 Speaker 1: New York art world while sleeping on floors in squalid apartments. 7 00:00:40,200 --> 00:00:43,760 Speaker 1: He sold his first painting to Blondie's Debbie Harry for 8 00:00:43,800 --> 00:00:46,960 Speaker 1: two hundred dollars. In less than a year later, his 9 00:00:47,120 --> 00:00:51,640 Speaker 1: paintings would sell for more than twenty thousand dollars. As 10 00:00:51,640 --> 00:00:55,440 Speaker 1: a young, self taught artist in a world built on pedigree, training, 11 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:58,600 Speaker 1: and experience, he was held at arm's length by the 12 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:03,280 Speaker 1: upper crust, missed as a passing fad, but he was 13 00:01:03,360 --> 00:01:08,600 Speaker 1: no fad. Jean Michel Basquiat made great art, art that 14 00:01:08,720 --> 00:01:13,319 Speaker 1: was inspired by great music, from jazz to industrial to 15 00:01:13,400 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: hip hop. Unlike that loop I played for you at 16 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:20,480 Speaker 1: the top of the show that wasn't great music. That 17 00:01:20,640 --> 00:01:24,039 Speaker 1: was a preset loop for my melotron called Turtle Rock 18 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:29,120 Speaker 1: MK two. I played you that loop because I can't 19 00:01:29,160 --> 00:01:32,119 Speaker 1: afford the rights to roll with it. By Steve Wynwood 20 00:01:33,240 --> 00:01:35,960 Speaker 1: and why would I play you that specific slice of 21 00:01:36,440 --> 00:01:39,040 Speaker 1: back in the High Life Cheese? Could I afford it? 22 00:01:40,440 --> 00:01:44,240 Speaker 1: Because that was the number one song in America on 23 00:01:44,319 --> 00:01:47,720 Speaker 1: August twelfth, nineteen eighty eight, And that was the day 24 00:01:47,800 --> 00:01:50,360 Speaker 1: that the life and career of one of the most 25 00:01:50,480 --> 00:01:54,040 Speaker 1: original and sought after artists in America came to a 26 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: sudden and tragic end. On this episode, New York City 27 00:01:59,880 --> 00:02:05,560 Speaker 1: squalor Cia Operations self taught artists, the gatekeepers of the 28 00:02:05,680 --> 00:02:11,280 Speaker 1: art world's upper crust, and Jean Michel Basquier, I'm Jake Brennan, 29 00:02:12,160 --> 00:02:41,200 Speaker 1: and this is Disgraceland. Debbie Harry was freaking out. The 30 00:02:41,280 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: lead singer of Blondie paced back and forth under a 31 00:02:44,000 --> 00:02:48,679 Speaker 1: lamppost on New York's Lower east Side. Behind her, two 32 00:02:48,720 --> 00:02:50,800 Speaker 1: dude spray painting went to work on the wall with 33 00:02:50,840 --> 00:02:53,760 Speaker 1: a few cans of paint. A man dressed as Uncle 34 00:02:53,800 --> 00:02:57,359 Speaker 1: Sam and another wearing a Native American headdress stood there 35 00:02:57,400 --> 00:03:02,320 Speaker 1: staring at Debbie, waiting. They're all waiting. She checked her 36 00:03:02,320 --> 00:03:08,400 Speaker 1: watch again. Where the hell was flash? Debbie Harry and 37 00:03:08,440 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: her Blondie bandmates weren't actually on the Lower east Side. 38 00:03:12,120 --> 00:03:14,280 Speaker 1: There were a few miles uptown on a sound stage 39 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:18,239 Speaker 1: meant to look like the Lower East Side doing something radical. 40 00:03:18,400 --> 00:03:21,720 Speaker 1: For nineteen eighty one, they were shooting a music video, 41 00:03:22,720 --> 00:03:26,840 Speaker 1: a video for the song Rapture, a song that continued 42 00:03:26,880 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: the group's sonic push into a radical new direction far 43 00:03:30,600 --> 00:03:33,920 Speaker 1: from their early days at CBGB's. They wanted to create 44 00:03:33,960 --> 00:03:37,920 Speaker 1: an equally radical video to accompany it, one that would 45 00:03:37,960 --> 00:03:39,840 Speaker 1: give the rest of the country a taste to that 46 00:03:40,120 --> 00:03:43,280 Speaker 1: Lower east Side blend of the art nightclub in hip 47 00:03:43,280 --> 00:03:48,320 Speaker 1: hop scenes currently inspiring them. That song it owed a 48 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:51,400 Speaker 1: huge debt to one of the graffiti artists currently decorating 49 00:03:51,480 --> 00:03:57,960 Speaker 1: the set, Fab five. Freddy Freddie connected worlds. Freddie brought 50 00:03:58,040 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 1: uptown street art into downtown allies. Freddie brought downtown musicians 51 00:04:02,840 --> 00:04:05,440 Speaker 1: to hear a new sound emerging uptown in the Bronx. 52 00:04:06,280 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 1: He brought Debbie Harry to a show at Webster Hall 53 00:04:08,760 --> 00:04:12,200 Speaker 1: in the Bronx, and that's where Debbie saw the future. 54 00:04:13,120 --> 00:04:16,679 Speaker 1: A DJ armed with a pair of turntables laying waiste 55 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,279 Speaker 1: to the packed house. It was like watching Jimmie Hendricks 56 00:04:20,279 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: for the first time. The DJ seamlessly stitched together snippets 57 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:27,440 Speaker 1: of beats and melodies in an ever evolving loop. He 58 00:04:27,480 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 1: played the turntables behind his back, with his elbows, with 59 00:04:30,839 --> 00:04:34,560 Speaker 1: his teeth. He was a master, but not just any master, 60 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:40,400 Speaker 1: Grandmaster Flash. After the show, Debbie told Flash that she 61 00:04:40,440 --> 00:04:44,679 Speaker 1: would write a song about him, Rapture, and that song 62 00:04:44,880 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 1: paired debbie sultry vocals with a slinky bass line and 63 00:04:47,880 --> 00:04:51,320 Speaker 1: a heavy hip hop inspired drum beet, and famously ends 64 00:04:51,360 --> 00:04:55,480 Speaker 1: with Debbie delivering a surreal three minute rap outro. It 65 00:04:55,560 --> 00:04:58,480 Speaker 1: might seem a little corny now, but in nineteen eighty one, 66 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:03,479 Speaker 1: that rap, that song blew people's minds, as did the 67 00:05:03,560 --> 00:05:06,560 Speaker 1: music video, which was supposed to feature the band's main 68 00:05:06,680 --> 00:05:11,000 Speaker 1: source of inspiration, grand Master Flash. But as the cameras 69 00:05:11,000 --> 00:05:14,320 Speaker 1: were about to roll on set, Flash was still missing. 70 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:18,600 Speaker 1: Debbie looked at her watch again. They had less than 71 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:21,839 Speaker 1: two hours to finish. She had no choice but to 72 00:05:21,880 --> 00:05:25,919 Speaker 1: replace him, but with who She looked out into the 73 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: crew of friends pressed into service and saw a familiar face, 74 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:33,880 Speaker 1: a young artist hanging next to Freddy skinny Kid, half Haitian, 75 00:05:34,120 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: half Puerto Rican, barely nineteen awfully quiet but handsome as hell, 76 00:05:39,680 --> 00:05:43,359 Speaker 1: a lot of charisma, and even though he was young, 77 00:05:43,760 --> 00:05:46,599 Speaker 1: the kid was already a fixture on the scene, hair 78 00:05:46,720 --> 00:05:49,440 Speaker 1: shaved into a mohawk, playing in noise rock bands at 79 00:05:49,440 --> 00:05:52,880 Speaker 1: the Mud Club, selling his art postcards in Washington Square Park, 80 00:05:52,920 --> 00:05:56,279 Speaker 1: where Debbie sometimes saw him sleeping on park benches. He 81 00:05:56,360 --> 00:05:59,880 Speaker 1: hand painted thrist store clothes and resold them to hip botiques. 82 00:06:00,880 --> 00:06:06,080 Speaker 1: And then there was his graffiti. It seemed to appear overnight, 83 00:06:06,680 --> 00:06:09,480 Speaker 1: and it was outside every gallery, every bar, every night 84 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:15,320 Speaker 1: club in Lower Manhattan, samo as an sam for the 85 00:06:15,360 --> 00:06:19,119 Speaker 1: copyright symbol at the end, same o as in Same 86 00:06:19,160 --> 00:06:22,960 Speaker 1: old Shit, Or at least that was the original idea. 87 00:06:23,680 --> 00:06:28,279 Speaker 1: That was the tag graffiti, so omni President and so inescapable. 88 00:06:28,640 --> 00:06:30,400 Speaker 1: The people in New York began to think it was 89 00:06:30,440 --> 00:06:34,560 Speaker 1: part of some covert CIA operation. I'm not kidding, I'm 90 00:06:34,560 --> 00:06:37,680 Speaker 1: dead serious. The Village Voice even ran a story on it. 91 00:06:37,720 --> 00:06:40,479 Speaker 1: At the time. Rumor had it that the US government, 92 00:06:40,800 --> 00:06:44,200 Speaker 1: in order to curb unwonted street art, was covering up 93 00:06:44,240 --> 00:06:46,839 Speaker 1: all the empty canvas space in the city and tagging 94 00:06:46,880 --> 00:06:49,960 Speaker 1: it same oh, perhaps a callback to the ways in 95 00:06:50,000 --> 00:06:52,240 Speaker 1: which modern art was once used as a weapon in 96 00:06:52,279 --> 00:06:56,200 Speaker 1: the Cold War, or so the story goes. Because these 97 00:06:56,240 --> 00:06:59,560 Speaker 1: tags weren't elegant like Fab five Freddys. They were just 98 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:02,560 Speaker 1: quick scrawls with a felt tip marker or a spray can, 99 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:06,960 Speaker 1: but the words left an impression. SAMO as an end 100 00:07:07,040 --> 00:07:10,920 Speaker 1: to the Neon fantasy called life. SAMO as an alternative 101 00:07:10,960 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: to playing art with the radical chich on Daddy's funds. 102 00:07:15,040 --> 00:07:18,600 Speaker 1: SAMO as an alternative to bullshit, fake hippie wack cheer. 103 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:23,880 Speaker 1: SAMO as an alternative to God Star Trek and Red 104 00:07:24,000 --> 00:07:29,720 Speaker 1: Dye Number two. It didn't take long for the truth 105 00:07:29,800 --> 00:07:32,760 Speaker 1: to come out. This nineteen year old kid here on 106 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:37,440 Speaker 1: Debbie Harry's set was the same O Mastermind. Debbie knew 107 00:07:37,480 --> 00:07:41,560 Speaker 1: his real name. It was Jean Michel Basquiat. She knew 108 00:07:41,560 --> 00:07:43,840 Speaker 1: it from filming a low budget movie a few weeks prior. 109 00:07:44,360 --> 00:07:48,480 Speaker 1: Downtown eighty one was created to showcase the city's rising 110 00:07:48,520 --> 00:07:52,160 Speaker 1: no Way of Music scene. Jean Michelle played the lead role, 111 00:07:52,760 --> 00:07:56,240 Speaker 1: a homeless artist bouncing through Lower Manhattan who tries to 112 00:07:56,280 --> 00:07:59,280 Speaker 1: sell enough artwork to get back into his apartment. The 113 00:07:59,440 --> 00:08:03,280 Speaker 1: role was not a stretch. When Jean Michelle Basquiat wasn't 114 00:08:03,320 --> 00:08:06,400 Speaker 1: sleeping on park benches in Washington Square Park, he was 115 00:08:06,400 --> 00:08:08,680 Speaker 1: crashing on the floor of the film's dank bunker of 116 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,520 Speaker 1: a production office or with friends in grimy tenement apartments 117 00:08:12,520 --> 00:08:15,120 Speaker 1: in the rough section of the Lower East Side. He 118 00:08:15,160 --> 00:08:18,720 Speaker 1: was a painter too, and not just graffiti. But he 119 00:08:18,760 --> 00:08:23,120 Speaker 1: didn't paint on canvases like some sophomore at the Pratt Institute. 120 00:08:23,280 --> 00:08:27,920 Speaker 1: He painted on clothing and doors and walls. It wasn't 121 00:08:28,000 --> 00:08:30,520 Speaker 1: until the Downtown eighty one movie that he painted on 122 00:08:30,520 --> 00:08:34,040 Speaker 1: one of his first real canvases, and Debbie Harry liked 123 00:08:34,040 --> 00:08:37,240 Speaker 1: it so much that when shooting rapped for the film, 124 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:41,120 Speaker 1: she bought that painting for two hundred dollars. And now 125 00:08:41,280 --> 00:08:44,720 Speaker 1: Debbie Harry had a new opportunity for Jean Michelle Basquiat 126 00:08:45,720 --> 00:08:49,240 Speaker 1: stepping in for the absent Grand Master Flash on Blondie's 127 00:08:49,320 --> 00:08:54,679 Speaker 1: video shoot, and within months, Americans were unknowingly getting their 128 00:08:54,720 --> 00:08:58,319 Speaker 1: first look at Jean Michelle on MTV with the Rapture video, 129 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:00,560 Speaker 1: not only the first hip hop video show on the 130 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,440 Speaker 1: brand new cable channel, but one of the videos selected 131 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:07,040 Speaker 1: for the network's first rotation block. This was happening at 132 00:09:07,080 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: the same time that Jean Michelle was feverishly working on 133 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: a dozen pieces for his first solo gallery show. But 134 00:09:15,400 --> 00:09:18,280 Speaker 1: he wasn't listening to Blondie while he worked, and he 135 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:20,959 Speaker 1: wasn't listening to the hip hop currently dominating his home 136 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:27,120 Speaker 1: neighborhood in Brooklyn. He was listening to jazz, specifically to 137 00:09:27,200 --> 00:09:32,960 Speaker 1: the alto saxophone of Charlie Parker. Charlie Parker aka Bird, 138 00:09:33,480 --> 00:09:37,640 Speaker 1: reminded him of childhood, a scribbling on scraps of paper 139 00:09:37,720 --> 00:09:41,240 Speaker 1: while lying on the floor, his father in an armchair, 140 00:09:41,640 --> 00:09:46,880 Speaker 1: his mother smiling before her trouble started and she was institutionalized, 141 00:09:47,280 --> 00:09:52,080 Speaker 1: and before his father remarried. Jean Michel Basquier left home 142 00:09:52,120 --> 00:09:55,320 Speaker 1: at sixteen, but no matter where he was sleeping or 143 00:09:55,520 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: how he was scraping by, he always found a way 144 00:09:58,559 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 1: to listen to Burt. Jean Michel wanted to paint the 145 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: way that Charlie Parker played the saxophone. Charlie Parker played 146 00:10:09,400 --> 00:10:12,960 Speaker 1: his way, setting fire to the rules of jazz harmony. 147 00:10:13,600 --> 00:10:17,000 Speaker 1: He wove bits of melodies from spirituals, show tunes and 148 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,200 Speaker 1: Stravinsky into his playing, and then he shifted keys and 149 00:10:20,559 --> 00:10:23,920 Speaker 1: bent them into something new. He played hard, and he 150 00:10:24,040 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: lived hard, and he gave everything to his art. That's 151 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,920 Speaker 1: the way Jean Michelle would paint Bird blue, sweet and 152 00:10:32,040 --> 00:10:35,720 Speaker 1: Jean Michel had long strokes of bright yellow acrylic across 153 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:39,800 Speaker 1: the canvas. Bird's horn picked up its pace, and Jean 154 00:10:39,880 --> 00:10:43,240 Speaker 1: Michel sketched a quickyardbird on the center of the canvas. 155 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:48,680 Speaker 1: That Charlie Parker bird was wailing now, and Jean Michel 156 00:10:48,800 --> 00:10:52,120 Speaker 1: felt the energy surge from the speakers toward his canvas. 157 00:10:53,040 --> 00:10:56,920 Speaker 1: He didn't think, He just let the feelings wash over him. 158 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:02,080 Speaker 1: Swirls of notes filled the studio, then his canvas, then 159 00:11:02,400 --> 00:11:06,079 Speaker 1: the whole city, all the way home to Brooklyn, waking 160 00:11:06,120 --> 00:11:11,680 Speaker 1: the dead in Greenwood Cemetery. Jean Michel scrawled Paramora to 161 00:11:11,880 --> 00:11:16,679 Speaker 1: Die across the canvas and laid down his brush. He 162 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:24,080 Speaker 1: was finished. He called it Bird on Money. Like Charlie Parker, 163 00:11:24,679 --> 00:11:28,440 Speaker 1: Jean Michelle set fire to the rules. He gave everything 164 00:11:28,440 --> 00:11:32,800 Speaker 1: to his heart. He lived hard and worked hard. It 165 00:11:32,960 --> 00:11:36,000 Speaker 1: was nineteen eighty one, less than seven months since he 166 00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:40,719 Speaker 1: painted his first canvas, less than seven years before he 167 00:11:40,760 --> 00:12:06,760 Speaker 1: would paint his last. The music was so loud it 168 00:12:06,880 --> 00:12:10,080 Speaker 1: vibrated through his bones, and the club was hot tonight. 169 00:12:10,360 --> 00:12:14,199 Speaker 1: The bodies were sweaty, writhing to the rhythm of disco basslines, 170 00:12:14,480 --> 00:12:17,120 Speaker 1: lights catching a disco ball, and sending shards of color 171 00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:21,480 Speaker 1: splashing in every direction. It was magical, especially if you 172 00:12:21,520 --> 00:12:25,439 Speaker 1: were on angel dust or cocaine. Wait was it both? 173 00:12:26,440 --> 00:12:31,360 Speaker 1: Didn't matter, whatever it was. Jean Michel baskyat was feeling incredible. 174 00:12:32,080 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 1: Everyone and everything in the room looked like a work 175 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:36,640 Speaker 1: of art. He couldn't wait to get home and put 176 00:12:36,640 --> 00:12:39,920 Speaker 1: it all on a campus, but for now he had 177 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:42,120 Speaker 1: his arm around the hottest piece of art in the building. 178 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,640 Speaker 1: Even her name sounded like a painting, Madonna, and they 179 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:48,520 Speaker 1: were in the middle of the dance floor at the Roxy, 180 00:12:48,920 --> 00:12:52,719 Speaker 1: the Hippus knight spot in Chelsea. Madonna already with a 181 00:12:52,720 --> 00:12:55,200 Speaker 1: few club hits under her many many belts and a 182 00:12:55,440 --> 00:12:59,680 Speaker 1: greatly anticipated debut album about to drop, and Jehn Michelle, 183 00:13:00,000 --> 00:13:02,319 Speaker 1: who had gone from an extra in a Blondie video 184 00:13:02,600 --> 00:13:04,800 Speaker 1: to one of the hottest new contemporary artists in the 185 00:13:04,800 --> 00:13:07,920 Speaker 1: world in the space of just one year. They were 186 00:13:07,960 --> 00:13:12,440 Speaker 1: the perfect pair. Everyone in the club agreed, everyone except 187 00:13:12,440 --> 00:13:17,679 Speaker 1: for one person. Jean Michel's girlfriend, Suzanne Maluk, watched her 188 00:13:17,760 --> 00:13:20,520 Speaker 1: guy and the pop singer grinding against each other on 189 00:13:20,559 --> 00:13:23,960 Speaker 1: the dance floor, and she could hardly believe it them 190 00:13:24,480 --> 00:13:30,320 Speaker 1: together in public. Here at the roxy. After everything she 191 00:13:30,400 --> 00:13:33,800 Speaker 1: did for Jean Michel, working double shifts waitressing so he 192 00:13:33,800 --> 00:13:37,000 Speaker 1: could focus on his art, cooking for him, putting up 193 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:39,559 Speaker 1: with his drug use, and with the other women as well. 194 00:13:40,360 --> 00:13:44,080 Speaker 1: But this was too much. Suzanne was seeing red, and 195 00:13:44,200 --> 00:13:47,080 Speaker 1: not just from the colored lights swirling above her. She 196 00:13:47,120 --> 00:13:49,920 Speaker 1: didn't want to think about it anymore, so she didn't think. 197 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,920 Speaker 1: She acted. Suzanne elbowed her way through the crowded dance floor, 198 00:13:55,200 --> 00:13:58,040 Speaker 1: and she shoved skinny party girls aside and cleared a path, 199 00:13:58,520 --> 00:14:02,240 Speaker 1: a bee line, straight toward that Madonna had her back turned. 200 00:14:02,600 --> 00:14:05,600 Speaker 1: Jean Michel was in a completely different world than they 201 00:14:05,720 --> 00:14:09,680 Speaker 1: never saw it coming. Suzanne went straight for Madonna's bullshit 202 00:14:09,760 --> 00:14:12,200 Speaker 1: want to be Debbie Harry pixie cut. She grabbed a 203 00:14:12,280 --> 00:14:15,560 Speaker 1: huge handful of blonde hair and pulled down hard, and 204 00:14:15,600 --> 00:14:18,640 Speaker 1: Madonna cried out in pain, but in a crowded disco 205 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: with a throbbing beat, no one can hear you scream. 206 00:14:21,760 --> 00:14:24,200 Speaker 1: Madonna went down to the floor and Suzanne jumped on her, 207 00:14:24,480 --> 00:14:28,080 Speaker 1: wailing at her with her fists, slapping her face, screaming 208 00:14:28,080 --> 00:14:30,840 Speaker 1: at her to stay away, stay the fuck away from 209 00:14:30,920 --> 00:14:36,400 Speaker 1: Jean Michel. Jean Michel stood frozen. With the cocaine and 210 00:14:36,440 --> 00:14:39,200 Speaker 1: the angel dust in his system, everything was moving in 211 00:14:39,280 --> 00:14:43,560 Speaker 1: slow motion. It all seemed so far away, like he 212 00:14:43,680 --> 00:14:48,040 Speaker 1: was watching a fight on television. Then slowly it began 213 00:14:48,080 --> 00:14:51,480 Speaker 1: to down on him. This wasn't TV, this was happening 214 00:14:51,520 --> 00:14:53,880 Speaker 1: right in front of him. He stepped in to pull 215 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 1: the two women apart, but by then Suzanne had mostly 216 00:14:56,640 --> 00:15:00,000 Speaker 1: were out of steam. Jean Michel looked over at Susan 217 00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:05,600 Speaker 1: and his peopils dilated wide, and he left. He couldn't 218 00:15:05,600 --> 00:15:10,560 Speaker 1: help it. The whole thing was just too surreal. Damn, 219 00:15:10,600 --> 00:15:13,360 Speaker 1: he said, you beat her ass like a Puerto Rican girl. 220 00:15:14,240 --> 00:15:16,920 Speaker 1: And just to be clear, that's a Jean Michelle quote, 221 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:21,320 Speaker 1: not mine. Suzanne may have won the fight, but Jean 222 00:15:21,400 --> 00:15:26,200 Speaker 1: Michelle went home with Madonna. By nineteen eighty two, home 223 00:15:26,320 --> 00:15:28,720 Speaker 1: wasn't a park bench in Washington Square Park or a 224 00:15:28,760 --> 00:15:31,040 Speaker 1: two hundred and fifty square foot tenement on the Lower 225 00:15:31,040 --> 00:15:36,240 Speaker 1: east Side. Now home was an enormous soho loft. The 226 00:15:36,320 --> 00:15:40,520 Speaker 1: fridge was stuffed with caviar and cristal. Jean Michelle hadn't 227 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: changed a bit. Sure, he wore Armani suits, but he 228 00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 1: splattered them with paint as if he caught them at 229 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,000 Speaker 1: the Salvation Army. He was selling paintings for ten or 230 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 1: twenty thousand dollars a pop. But he didn't even have 231 00:15:52,520 --> 00:15:55,040 Speaker 1: a bank account. He just stuffed the money under the 232 00:15:55,080 --> 00:15:58,160 Speaker 1: couch cushions or in between the pages of books. Sometimes 233 00:15:58,160 --> 00:15:59,920 Speaker 1: he just left cash out on the living room table 234 00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:02,680 Speaker 1: her friends, right next to a huge amount of Columbian 235 00:16:02,680 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: cocaine that was also free for the taking. Because in 236 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,480 Speaker 1: nineteen eighty two, drugs and work went hand in hand 237 00:16:09,520 --> 00:16:14,400 Speaker 1: for Jean Michel. Usually they worked great together until they didn't. 238 00:16:16,760 --> 00:16:20,040 Speaker 1: Madonna woke up with a start. She looked at the clock. 239 00:16:20,440 --> 00:16:23,360 Speaker 1: It was four am. She reached over to the other 240 00:16:23,440 --> 00:16:25,280 Speaker 1: side of the mattress, the one that was on the 241 00:16:25,280 --> 00:16:28,680 Speaker 1: corner of the floor Jeam Michel's loft. He was gone. 242 00:16:29,600 --> 00:16:33,320 Speaker 1: She quickly sat up. Sick with worry, she got up 243 00:16:33,360 --> 00:16:35,800 Speaker 1: and made her way around the wet canvases, paintbrushes, and 244 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: coffee mugs littering the floor. She frantically scanned the room, 245 00:16:40,400 --> 00:16:43,160 Speaker 1: remembering the last time she woke up like this. She 246 00:16:43,240 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: found him convulsing on the floor, halfway to death, overdosing. 247 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:51,200 Speaker 1: Somehow he pulled through, but still every time she woke 248 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:56,000 Speaker 1: up to find him gone. It terrified her tonight, though 249 00:16:56,440 --> 00:16:59,760 Speaker 1: she didn't have any reason to be scared. Jean Michel 250 00:16:59,880 --> 00:17:01,520 Speaker 1: was standing on the other side of the room with 251 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:04,679 Speaker 1: a paint brush in his hand. His face was inches 252 00:17:04,720 --> 00:17:08,560 Speaker 1: from a large canvas. He was working fast, moving, almost 253 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:11,480 Speaker 1: like he was in a dream, adding tiny splashes of 254 00:17:11,480 --> 00:17:15,119 Speaker 1: bright color to a pitch black background, replaying that scene 255 00:17:15,160 --> 00:17:17,960 Speaker 1: from the roxy earlier in the night, over and over 256 00:17:18,040 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 1: again in his head. He sped it up, and he 257 00:17:20,800 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 1: slowed it down. He chopped it to pieces, working like 258 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:27,119 Speaker 1: grand Master Flash at the turntable until he found the 259 00:17:27,160 --> 00:17:31,120 Speaker 1: perfect beat. The percussive boom of the fight. You beat 260 00:17:31,160 --> 00:17:33,520 Speaker 1: her ass like a Puerto Rican girl, the sparkling highs 261 00:17:33,560 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 1: of the cocaine sugar coates warning product contains desk and desk, 262 00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:43,399 Speaker 1: the dark nightclub and the flashes of colored lights, and 263 00:17:43,480 --> 00:17:52,120 Speaker 1: himself watching. He painted himself as a bird flying free 264 00:17:52,160 --> 00:17:55,440 Speaker 1: above the fray, a three pointed crown above his head, 265 00:17:55,760 --> 00:17:58,320 Speaker 1: while the battle raged between the two goddesses in front 266 00:17:58,320 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 1: of him. In nineteen eighty two, every experience was inspiration 267 00:18:05,640 --> 00:18:09,080 Speaker 1: for Jean Michele Basquiat. He completed dozens of pieces in 268 00:18:09,080 --> 00:18:11,280 Speaker 1: the lead up to one of his biggest shows yet, 269 00:18:11,600 --> 00:18:15,200 Speaker 1: a solo exhibition at fun Gallery the Punky Upstart space 270 00:18:15,240 --> 00:18:19,159 Speaker 1: in the East Village. Before that, he became the youngest 271 00:18:19,280 --> 00:18:22,320 Speaker 1: artist ever to appear at the major contemporary art show 272 00:18:22,440 --> 00:18:26,080 Speaker 1: Documenta in Germany, and he made a new friend, not 273 00:18:26,280 --> 00:18:30,520 Speaker 1: just any friend, but one of his idols, Andy Warhol. 274 00:18:32,680 --> 00:18:35,879 Speaker 1: In the early nineteen eighties, Andy Warhol was at the 275 00:18:35,920 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 1: lowest point of his career, but like many younger artists, 276 00:18:39,640 --> 00:18:43,080 Speaker 1: Jean Michele still revered him, not just because of his work, 277 00:18:43,640 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: because Andy inspired him personally. Jean Michele still remember the 278 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:49,399 Speaker 1: day as a teenager when he sold one of his 279 00:18:49,440 --> 00:18:53,520 Speaker 1: little art postcards to Andy. Before then, Jean michel always 280 00:18:53,520 --> 00:18:56,439 Speaker 1: thought that his stuff was good, but after that he 281 00:18:56,520 --> 00:19:00,000 Speaker 1: knew it was true. So when they hit it off 282 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,280 Speaker 1: over Launch in October of nineteen eighty two, Jean Michele 283 00:19:03,359 --> 00:19:06,320 Speaker 1: couldn't believe it. Andy had someone stamp of polaroid of 284 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:10,600 Speaker 1: them together. Jean Michele grabbed the picture and disappeared. Two 285 00:19:10,600 --> 00:19:12,800 Speaker 1: hours later, Andy heard a knock on his front door. 286 00:19:13,320 --> 00:19:16,399 Speaker 1: Jean Michele's assistant was standing there holding up a canvas 287 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:21,400 Speaker 1: still wet Jean Michele's own interpretation of that polaroid. Then 288 00:19:21,400 --> 00:19:25,160 Speaker 1: the gesture kicked off of friendship. But it was also 289 00:19:25,280 --> 00:19:29,280 Speaker 1: clear that just as Andy needed Jean Michelle, Jean Michelle 290 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:34,160 Speaker 1: needed Andy. Because despite all of his success, the upper 291 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,800 Speaker 1: crust of the art world still held Jean Michel Basquier 292 00:19:37,040 --> 00:19:40,920 Speaker 1: at arm's lank. As a young black, self taught artist 293 00:19:41,000 --> 00:19:44,440 Speaker 1: in a world built on pedigree, training, and experience. Critics 294 00:19:44,440 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: dismissed him as a fad pop phenomenon, not a real artist. 295 00:19:50,840 --> 00:19:53,640 Speaker 1: Jean Michele hoped the connection with Andy Warhol would give 296 00:19:53,680 --> 00:19:57,760 Speaker 1: him art world credibility, and Andy Warhol hoped Jean Michele 297 00:19:57,840 --> 00:20:00,600 Speaker 1: would inject some youthful energy and excitement to his work. 298 00:20:02,040 --> 00:20:04,440 Speaker 1: For better or for worse, it was a connection that 299 00:20:04,520 --> 00:20:10,040 Speaker 1: would last the rest of their lives. The connection with Madonna, 300 00:20:10,119 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 1: on the other hand, did not last. The material girl's 301 00:20:14,040 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 1: career was heating up and Jean Michel's drug use was 302 00:20:17,560 --> 00:20:20,560 Speaker 1: getting worse. She dreaded the day that she would wake 303 00:20:20,640 --> 00:20:23,200 Speaker 1: up again at four am, this time to find him 304 00:20:23,200 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 1: dead on the floor. They went their separate ways just 305 00:20:26,320 --> 00:20:28,919 Speaker 1: as Madonna's debut album began to make it slow and 306 00:20:29,000 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 1: steady climb up the charts. In nineteen eighty three, Jean 307 00:20:34,119 --> 00:20:38,320 Speaker 1: Michel moved on fast. He demanded that Madonna return all 308 00:20:38,359 --> 00:20:40,840 Speaker 1: the paintings he made for her, then he covered them 309 00:20:40,840 --> 00:20:44,119 Speaker 1: all in black paint. He moved on to other women. 310 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: He moved on with other musicians, producing the classic hip 311 00:20:47,720 --> 00:20:50,840 Speaker 1: hop single Beatbot and jamming with David Byrne of Talking 312 00:20:50,880 --> 00:20:53,160 Speaker 1: Heads for a project they were going to call famous 313 00:20:53,200 --> 00:20:58,160 Speaker 1: black athletes, and like his hero Charlie Parker, he moved 314 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:03,360 Speaker 1: on to heroin. His old girlfriend Suzanne moved on too. 315 00:21:03,600 --> 00:21:05,920 Speaker 1: She didn't cover the paintings Jean Michelle made for her 316 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:09,560 Speaker 1: in black paint, though she burned them. Then she found 317 00:21:09,600 --> 00:21:12,919 Speaker 1: someone new, a man with striking good looks, just like 318 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:18,240 Speaker 1: Jean Michelle, also an artist like Sean Michelle, skinny with 319 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:23,040 Speaker 1: his hair and long braids, again like Jean Michelle, and 320 00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:27,159 Speaker 1: just like Jean Michelle, he too would die young because 321 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:30,560 Speaker 1: despite their efforts to move on, a tragedy was about 322 00:21:30,600 --> 00:21:38,840 Speaker 1: to link Suzanne and Jean Michelle forever. We'll be right 323 00:21:38,880 --> 00:21:51,919 Speaker 1: back after this word. We're We're September fifteenth, nineteen eighty three, 324 00:21:52,400 --> 00:21:56,399 Speaker 1: two am. He stepped out of the East Village drag club, 325 00:21:56,600 --> 00:21:59,760 Speaker 1: lit a joint and took a hit. He headed for 326 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:04,280 Speaker 1: this subway station. He was young, skinny, one hundred and 327 00:22:04,359 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 1: forty pounds, soaking wet, long braids sticking out in every direction. 328 00:22:09,640 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: As he made his way down the steps and into 329 00:22:11,600 --> 00:22:17,280 Speaker 1: the subway station, he looked around. It was deserted. He 330 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:19,840 Speaker 1: grabbed a felt tip marker from his pocket and found 331 00:22:19,840 --> 00:22:24,040 Speaker 1: a blank space on the wall, the perfect canvas. Because 332 00:22:24,080 --> 00:22:27,439 Speaker 1: Michael Stewart wanted to be an artist, he studied it 333 00:22:27,440 --> 00:22:30,040 Speaker 1: at Pratt But he knew that real art was made 334 00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,240 Speaker 1: in the street. He knew that's how Jeah Michel Basquiat 335 00:22:33,320 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: got to start. Michael knew this because he was friends 336 00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: with Jean Michel, and once more he was now dating 337 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:43,800 Speaker 1: Jeah Michell's ex Suzanne. What he didn't know was that 338 00:22:43,840 --> 00:22:46,160 Speaker 1: the city's war on graffiti had ramped up a lot 339 00:22:46,240 --> 00:22:49,160 Speaker 1: since the days of Same Oh, But he was about 340 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:52,520 Speaker 1: to find out. He flicked open the cap of the 341 00:22:52,520 --> 00:22:54,879 Speaker 1: black marker and raised it to the wall, and he 342 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 1: began to draw. A voice rang out, hold it right there. 343 00:23:00,840 --> 00:23:03,960 Speaker 1: Michael froze, the tip of the marker resting against the wall. 344 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,000 Speaker 1: He looked over his shoulder to see a pair of 345 00:23:07,080 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 1: transit cops walking towards him. He raised up his hands 346 00:23:10,880 --> 00:23:13,840 Speaker 1: and he knew he was caught. All right, man, you 347 00:23:13,920 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: got me. And then he put his hands behind his 348 00:23:16,640 --> 00:23:19,960 Speaker 1: back and the cops didn't cuff him. They searched his 349 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:24,879 Speaker 1: pockets and found an unlit joint shit. One of the 350 00:23:24,920 --> 00:23:27,359 Speaker 1: cops radioed for a transit man and began to walk 351 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,280 Speaker 1: Michael up the stairs. He was going to jail. At 352 00:23:31,320 --> 00:23:33,880 Speaker 1: first he was calm, but then he began to think 353 00:23:33,920 --> 00:23:36,840 Speaker 1: about his parents. They would be furious when they found 354 00:23:36,880 --> 00:23:40,880 Speaker 1: out he was arrested, and not just for graffiti. Dope. 355 00:23:41,160 --> 00:23:43,719 Speaker 1: He had to get the hell out of here. Halfway 356 00:23:43,760 --> 00:23:48,200 Speaker 1: up the stairs, he bolted. The cops followed in hot pursuit. 357 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:50,400 Speaker 1: That Michael had a step on him, and he turned 358 00:23:50,440 --> 00:23:52,920 Speaker 1: the corner to head back into the street, back to freedom, 359 00:23:53,119 --> 00:23:55,920 Speaker 1: back to the safety of the East village. He made 360 00:23:55,920 --> 00:23:57,439 Speaker 1: it all the way to the top step before one 361 00:23:57,440 --> 00:23:59,959 Speaker 1: of the cops clipped his back foot that Michael staggered 362 00:24:00,160 --> 00:24:03,960 Speaker 1: forward and then down. His face smashed into the pavement. 363 00:24:05,000 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: Just then the transit van pulled out and two more 364 00:24:07,600 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: cops nightsticks. He felt once slam into his ribs, knocking 365 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:14,399 Speaker 1: the breath out of him again and again, and Michael 366 00:24:14,440 --> 00:24:17,600 Speaker 1: screamed out, laying there on the ground as the beating continued. 367 00:24:18,080 --> 00:24:21,119 Speaker 1: Screamed so loud that students from the nearby Parsons School 368 00:24:21,119 --> 00:24:24,000 Speaker 1: of Design later testified that they could hear it, the pain, 369 00:24:24,160 --> 00:24:28,639 Speaker 1: the fear, the weed. Michael was overwhelmed, panicking, fighting for 370 00:24:28,680 --> 00:24:31,680 Speaker 1: his life, when suddenly a cop set a baton under 371 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:34,639 Speaker 1: his neck. His screams were cut silent as his windpipe 372 00:24:34,680 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 1: pinched shut and the officer pulled tighter, and Michael Stewart 373 00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,200 Speaker 1: stopped moving and stopped screaming, and then he slipped into 374 00:24:42,240 --> 00:24:48,240 Speaker 1: a coma. Suzanne visited him in the hospital. She took 375 00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 1: pictures of his beaten and bruised body and gave them 376 00:24:50,880 --> 00:24:55,639 Speaker 1: to the press. She organized vigils and fundraisers. Madonna performed 377 00:24:55,680 --> 00:24:59,400 Speaker 1: a benefit concert at Dance Atteryria, and Jean Michele donated 378 00:24:59,520 --> 00:25:05,280 Speaker 1: artwork to a cause. Thirteen days later, Michael Stewart died. 379 00:25:07,160 --> 00:25:10,840 Speaker 1: His death haunted Jehn Michelle. It could have been him. 380 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: He was once Michael Stewart holding a felt tip pen himself, 381 00:25:15,200 --> 00:25:18,399 Speaker 1: not to a canvas, but on the street, just like 382 00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:22,280 Speaker 1: Michael in the East Village. Most in the East Village 383 00:25:22,320 --> 00:25:25,919 Speaker 1: saw Jean Michel as an artist, but institutions like the 384 00:25:26,040 --> 00:25:30,000 Speaker 1: NYPD would always see him as a criminal. The injustice 385 00:25:30,000 --> 00:25:33,720 Speaker 1: of it rubbed him raw, raw, like the industrial music 386 00:25:33,720 --> 00:25:35,600 Speaker 1: that he used to make back at the mud Club. 387 00:25:37,080 --> 00:25:40,119 Speaker 1: A few nights after Michael's death, at the studio of 388 00:25:40,119 --> 00:25:43,440 Speaker 1: his friend Keith Herring, Jean Michelle grabbed paint and a 389 00:25:43,480 --> 00:25:46,800 Speaker 1: felt tip black marker. He dropped the tape for British 390 00:25:46,840 --> 00:25:50,240 Speaker 1: Industrial Pioneer's Test Department into a boombox and turned the 391 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,440 Speaker 1: volume up full blast, and then he began to draw 392 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,600 Speaker 1: right there on the studio wall. The buzzing, aggressive sound 393 00:25:57,640 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: filled his years, his mind. Why two stick figures batons 394 00:26:03,880 --> 00:26:08,040 Speaker 1: raised the howl of pain. Somebody helped me and that 395 00:26:08,119 --> 00:26:12,280 Speaker 1: obsessive thought he could have been me over and over again. 396 00:26:12,680 --> 00:26:15,399 Speaker 1: He could have been me, that void in his soul, 397 00:26:15,880 --> 00:26:19,320 Speaker 1: the hatred of the world outside. Outrage roared out of 398 00:26:19,320 --> 00:26:22,119 Speaker 1: the speakers and onto the studio wall. A moment of 399 00:26:22,119 --> 00:26:26,159 Speaker 1: frustration frozen in time, and the painting that would have 400 00:26:26,200 --> 00:26:29,520 Speaker 1: been lost time had Keith Herring not cut, but Jean 401 00:26:29,600 --> 00:26:31,959 Speaker 1: Michel had drawn out of the wall and mounted it 402 00:26:32,040 --> 00:26:35,320 Speaker 1: on a frame. And a good thing that he did, 403 00:26:35,880 --> 00:26:39,440 Speaker 1: because that painting, The Faceman the Death of Michael Stewart, 404 00:26:39,800 --> 00:26:42,960 Speaker 1: stands as one of Jean Michel Basquiat's most powerful works 405 00:26:42,960 --> 00:26:48,920 Speaker 1: of art. Jehann Michel himself was becoming more powerful, now 406 00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,520 Speaker 1: making almost two million dollars a year. His work featured 407 00:26:52,520 --> 00:26:56,640 Speaker 1: in GQ and on MTV. But despite all this fame 408 00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:00,480 Speaker 1: and success, it seemed that everything else was still to reach. 409 00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,239 Speaker 1: How restaurants couldn't find his reservations unless he showed up 410 00:27:05,280 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: with a white friend. How he could sell a painting 411 00:27:07,960 --> 00:27:10,400 Speaker 1: for fifty thousand dollars in a gallery but couldn't hail 412 00:27:10,440 --> 00:27:13,200 Speaker 1: a cab once he walked out of it. How critics, 413 00:27:13,240 --> 00:27:15,639 Speaker 1: whether they loved his work or hated it, tended to 414 00:27:15,680 --> 00:27:21,480 Speaker 1: assume that he was naive, uneducated, some sort of idiot savant. Meanwhile, 415 00:27:21,520 --> 00:27:25,680 Speaker 1: his art dealers continued to demand more paintings, more gallery shows, 416 00:27:25,880 --> 00:27:30,639 Speaker 1: more media tours, and the pressure was overwhelming. He was 417 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,760 Speaker 1: turning to heroin more and more, a habit that was 418 00:27:33,800 --> 00:27:37,159 Speaker 1: now costing him five hundred dollars a day. It was 419 00:27:37,280 --> 00:27:40,200 Speaker 1: during this period then he moved into a loft owned 420 00:27:40,240 --> 00:27:44,680 Speaker 1: by Andy Warhol on Great Jones Street. He really left 421 00:27:44,680 --> 00:27:48,480 Speaker 1: the place. Andy had to remind him to exercise, how 422 00:27:48,480 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: to remind him to shower, how to remind him to eat, 423 00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 1: to gently suggest he'd get help for his addictions. Jean 424 00:27:56,800 --> 00:28:00,840 Speaker 1: Michel brushed aside that last suggestion. He knew he was 425 00:28:00,880 --> 00:28:03,840 Speaker 1: in bad shape, but he could still summon the spirit 426 00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:07,399 Speaker 1: to create art with Andy, and together they worked on 427 00:28:07,440 --> 00:28:10,359 Speaker 1: a series of collaborations that they hoped would reintroduce Andy 428 00:28:10,400 --> 00:28:14,399 Speaker 1: Warhol to a new generation and confirmed to uppercrust art 429 00:28:14,440 --> 00:28:17,199 Speaker 1: critics that Jean Michelle was more than just a flash 430 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,760 Speaker 1: in the pan that meant less splashes of text and 431 00:28:20,840 --> 00:28:26,119 Speaker 1: color in the background, a more classical style. Together, they 432 00:28:26,160 --> 00:28:29,080 Speaker 1: were sure the show would be a hit, a real spectacle, 433 00:28:30,000 --> 00:28:32,480 Speaker 1: as a series of iconic promo shots of both men 434 00:28:32,520 --> 00:28:36,560 Speaker 1: in boxing gloves and trunks promised. But the show was 435 00:28:36,600 --> 00:28:42,320 Speaker 1: a disaster. Critics said Jean Michelle was Andy's mascot, and 436 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:48,760 Speaker 1: the insults stung and the relationship fractured. And then on 437 00:28:48,800 --> 00:28:53,600 Speaker 1: February twenty second, nineteen eighty seven, Andy Warhol died suddenly. 438 00:28:55,520 --> 00:28:59,560 Speaker 1: Jean Michelle was devastated. He disappeared for days when he 439 00:28:59,560 --> 00:29:01,640 Speaker 1: heard the news, only to re emerge at an East 440 00:29:01,720 --> 00:29:06,800 Speaker 1: Village nightclub, sobbing alone on the dance floor. Andy was dead, 441 00:29:07,720 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 1: Michael was dead. Bird was dead, and now you could 442 00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 1: hear Charlie's horn calling him back home to Brooklyn. The 443 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:46,200 Speaker 1: Greenwood Cemetery, August nineteen eighty eight. The dealer heard a 444 00:29:46,280 --> 00:29:48,920 Speaker 1: light rapping on the door of the bodega. He looked 445 00:29:48,920 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 1: through the peep hole and unlocked the door. It was 446 00:29:51,720 --> 00:29:54,640 Speaker 1: one of his regulars. Hard to tell. The guy's age, 447 00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:58,760 Speaker 1: maybe twenty seven, maybe fifty seven, looked like he'd been 448 00:29:58,800 --> 00:30:01,800 Speaker 1: living on the street, opened swords on his face and 449 00:30:01,840 --> 00:30:06,120 Speaker 1: her arms. He was nice enough, though, soft spoken, real 450 00:30:06,200 --> 00:30:09,680 Speaker 1: soft spoken. First time he showed up, he said his 451 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:15,440 Speaker 1: name was Michelle, Michelle like the Beaals song. The dealer 452 00:30:15,440 --> 00:30:16,880 Speaker 1: told him he could get his ass kicked with a 453 00:30:16,960 --> 00:30:19,680 Speaker 1: name like that, and the dealer was gonna call him Mike, 454 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 1: and so it was settled. Mike came in like clockwork 455 00:30:24,320 --> 00:30:28,960 Speaker 1: every few days, twenty bags, no more, no less, three 456 00:30:29,080 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: hundred dollars in cash. Most days he split right away. Sometimes, though, 457 00:30:34,200 --> 00:30:36,160 Speaker 1: he hung around and rolled joints with the workers in 458 00:30:36,200 --> 00:30:40,400 Speaker 1: the little backyard behind the store. The dealer always passed. 459 00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:42,640 Speaker 1: Not a good idea to swap spit with someone who 460 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,640 Speaker 1: looks so far gone. Mike came by for weeks straight 461 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:51,920 Speaker 1: like that, until one day he just disappeared. Nothing too 462 00:30:52,000 --> 00:30:54,400 Speaker 1: unusual about a junkie falling off the face of the earth, 463 00:30:54,920 --> 00:30:58,240 Speaker 1: so the dealer didn't pay it too much mind until today, 464 00:30:59,600 --> 00:31:02,520 Speaker 1: on this hot summer day, Mike walked in for the 465 00:31:02,520 --> 00:31:06,520 Speaker 1: first time in months. His order was different too, He 466 00:31:06,560 --> 00:31:09,920 Speaker 1: asked for ten backs instead of twenty, and he didn't 467 00:31:09,920 --> 00:31:12,760 Speaker 1: stick around to roll a joint. He was ready to split, 468 00:31:14,320 --> 00:31:16,880 Speaker 1: but on his way out he saw a few cans 469 00:31:16,880 --> 00:31:19,640 Speaker 1: of spray paint, and he asked the dealer if he 470 00:31:19,680 --> 00:31:23,000 Speaker 1: could paint something on the way out. Man, I don't 471 00:31:23,000 --> 00:31:24,880 Speaker 1: give a fuck what you do. Just make sure you 472 00:31:24,920 --> 00:31:28,760 Speaker 1: lock the door when you leave. Mike grabbed the Kansas 473 00:31:28,800 --> 00:31:33,280 Speaker 1: spray paint and he locked the door behind him. And 474 00:31:33,360 --> 00:31:36,480 Speaker 1: as he stared at the door, he saw an empty canvas. 475 00:31:38,520 --> 00:31:41,640 Speaker 1: He felt the rhythm of the street, the energy pulsing 476 00:31:41,680 --> 00:31:44,360 Speaker 1: from the load of dope in his front pocket. He 477 00:31:44,360 --> 00:31:47,920 Speaker 1: heard music more like a chant, the devil on his 478 00:31:47,960 --> 00:31:53,000 Speaker 1: shoulder growing louder and louder, screaming at him. Devouring him, 479 00:31:53,360 --> 00:31:55,400 Speaker 1: gamed the can at the door and sketched out a 480 00:31:55,440 --> 00:31:58,960 Speaker 1: man with devil horns, yell an eye for an eye. 481 00:31:59,040 --> 00:32:06,480 Speaker 1: He sprayed below it, and then he was gone. Mike 482 00:32:06,680 --> 00:32:11,120 Speaker 1: never returned to the bodega. Jean Michel Basquiat died of 483 00:32:11,120 --> 00:32:14,800 Speaker 1: a heroin overdose just a few days later. With these 484 00:32:14,800 --> 00:32:17,640 Speaker 1: two men one and the same was this spray painted 485 00:32:17,640 --> 00:32:22,000 Speaker 1: devil the final work Jean Michel Basquiat depends on who 486 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:27,000 Speaker 1: you ask. The dealer swears it was Jean Michel Basquiat's stayed, 487 00:32:27,080 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 1: on the other hand, says the painting is inauthentic. After 488 00:32:30,360 --> 00:32:32,880 Speaker 1: an article in New York Magazine brought this story to 489 00:32:32,960 --> 00:32:36,480 Speaker 1: light over two decades later, in twenty eleven, a graffiti 490 00:32:36,520 --> 00:32:39,040 Speaker 1: artist named Phil Frost came forward to say the work 491 00:32:39,120 --> 00:32:43,360 Speaker 1: was actually his, and a decade after that, FBI agents 492 00:32:43,400 --> 00:32:45,200 Speaker 1: came in through the front door of an art museum 493 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,920 Speaker 1: in Orlando and began to remove twenty five Basquiacht paintings 494 00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:51,600 Speaker 1: from the walls, all of them never before seen by 495 00:32:51,600 --> 00:32:57,040 Speaker 1: the public. Why because each one was painted on cardboard 496 00:32:57,200 --> 00:33:01,640 Speaker 1: that was manufactured in nineteen ninety four, six years after 497 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:06,960 Speaker 1: Jean Michel Basquiat's death. These are just a couple of 498 00:33:06,960 --> 00:33:10,120 Speaker 1: the complicated cases that have emerged since Jean Michel Basciat's 499 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:13,280 Speaker 1: heroin overdose in August of nineteen eighty eight, and the 500 00:33:13,360 --> 00:33:18,160 Speaker 1: reason is clear. Basquiot's paintings have grown astronomically in value. 501 00:33:19,400 --> 00:33:22,320 Speaker 1: A former graffiti artist whose first painting sold to Debbie 502 00:33:22,360 --> 00:33:25,720 Speaker 1: Harry for two hundred dollars, his piece is now regularly 503 00:33:25,800 --> 00:33:29,880 Speaker 1: top fifty million dollars at auction. One even went for 504 00:33:29,960 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: more than double that. Prices like these invite a certain 505 00:33:34,360 --> 00:33:37,680 Speaker 1: reaction to most people. They look at modern art and laugh, 506 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:41,040 Speaker 1: My kid could do that, They say, like the fucking 507 00:33:41,120 --> 00:33:44,920 Speaker 1: idiots that they are, they've got it backwards. Jean Michel 508 00:33:45,000 --> 00:33:48,560 Speaker 1: Basquiat created art that was so powerful that even a 509 00:33:48,680 --> 00:33:52,800 Speaker 1: child can understand it, but it's packed with enough layers 510 00:33:53,160 --> 00:33:56,560 Speaker 1: to keep art critics talking about it decades after his death. 511 00:33:58,040 --> 00:34:02,320 Speaker 1: Jean Michel Basquiat was a paradox, A young, self taught 512 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:06,400 Speaker 1: artist with a unique style. He drew influences from an 513 00:34:06,440 --> 00:34:10,200 Speaker 1: immense knowledge of art history. His best work crosses the 514 00:34:10,239 --> 00:34:14,960 Speaker 1: line between painting and poetry, between color and sound, white 515 00:34:15,080 --> 00:34:24,160 Speaker 1: and black, Uptown and downtown High art, low art, rap, jazz, sex, violence, freedom, addiction. 516 00:34:25,719 --> 00:34:29,080 Speaker 1: He gave everything to his art and then he left us, 517 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:34,719 Speaker 1: but his work never will. It's on a swatch, It's 518 00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:38,239 Speaker 1: on a Strokes album cover. It's on rebox sneakers and 519 00:34:38,320 --> 00:34:42,359 Speaker 1: members only jackets. It's in a Tiffany's ad campaign next 520 00:34:42,360 --> 00:34:48,200 Speaker 1: to Beyonce and jay Z t shirts, socks, backpacks, phone cases, skateboards, 521 00:34:48,239 --> 00:34:52,240 Speaker 1: coffee books. If you're looking at basqueyatsa art through consumer culture, 522 00:34:52,360 --> 00:34:54,120 Speaker 1: or if you're lucky enough to stand in front of 523 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:57,600 Speaker 1: a canvas in person, you can feel his energy surging 524 00:34:57,640 --> 00:34:59,400 Speaker 1: at you like a blast of punk rock from the 525 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,640 Speaker 1: Mud Club, like a subwel for rattling a hip hop beat, 526 00:35:03,000 --> 00:35:06,840 Speaker 1: like a fiery alto Sacks. Because, just like his idol, 527 00:35:06,960 --> 00:35:10,920 Speaker 1: Charlie Parker, Jean Michel Basquiatt, the artist still echoes out 528 00:35:10,920 --> 00:35:15,600 Speaker 1: across New York, across America and across the world. But 529 00:35:15,680 --> 00:35:19,960 Speaker 1: as for the man himself, Jean Michelle Basquiat's body is 530 00:35:20,000 --> 00:35:25,000 Speaker 1: buried at Greenwood Cemetery. He died at just twenty seven 531 00:35:25,080 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: years old. And that is a disgrace. I'm Jake Brennan, 532 00:35:32,440 --> 00:35:50,280 Speaker 1: and this is disgraceland. All right. Thank you for hanging 533 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:53,840 Speaker 1: with me here in this episode of Disgraceland. Apple podcast listeners, 534 00:35:53,920 --> 00:35:56,080 Speaker 1: please make sure you have auto downloads turned on so 535 00:35:56,120 --> 00:35:58,880 Speaker 1: you don't miss any episodes. This week's question of the 536 00:35:58,920 --> 00:36:03,239 Speaker 1: week is which musician had the best second career? Was 537 00:36:03,239 --> 00:36:06,200 Speaker 1: it Bosciad as a visual artist? Was it Johnny Depp 538 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:09,160 Speaker 1: as an actor? George Harrison, Rod Stewart? Who was it? 539 00:36:09,200 --> 00:36:10,839 Speaker 1: Let me know six one seven nine oh six six 540 00:36:10,920 --> 00:36:13,400 Speaker 1: sixty three eight, Leave me a voicemail, send me a text, 541 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:16,040 Speaker 1: and hear your answer on the Afterparty bonus episode coming 542 00:36:16,120 --> 00:36:18,480 Speaker 1: up right after this one. You can also send your 543 00:36:18,520 --> 00:36:22,720 Speaker 1: answers to me at disgracelam pod on Instagram, X and Facebook. 544 00:36:22,760 --> 00:36:25,000 Speaker 1: Leave a review for the show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. 545 00:36:25,120 --> 00:36:28,200 Speaker 1: Win some free merch. All right, here goes some credits. 546 00:36:29,280 --> 00:36:32,080 Speaker 1: Disgraceland was created by Yours Truly and is produced in 547 00:36:32,120 --> 00:36:35,520 Speaker 1: partnership with Double Elvis. 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