The Bay Area hip hop community was in mourning over the weekend with the
tragic news of the murder of Mike "Dream" Francisco who was shot and killed
on Thursday night, Feb. 17th, in a robbery in West Oakland. Dream was 30
years old and is survived by his family, his girlfriend Nikki and their
infant child. Dream, a prominent and prolific graffiti artist since the late
eighties, was best known for his association with the TDK [Those Damn Kids] graffiti crew and
the Hobo Junction hip hop collective. (Note: a photo of a bombed Amtrak train
by Dream graced the cover of Saafir's 1994 album "Boxcar Sessions").
The ever prolific Dream had done literally thousands of pieces over the years
from throw ups all around Oakland and the Bay to works on canvas or paper for
such entities as the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, 11/5, Hip Hop Slam, KMEL and
Dogday Records.
In recent years he had earned a reputation as an equally talented tattoo
artist operating out of East Oakland tattoo studio Built To Last with partner
Done Carlo. "I'm just in shock. I can't believe it," said Done outside La
Pena cultural center on Saturday night where a last minute benefit/tribute to
Dream was held with such friends/performers as Naru, Company of Prophets and
Boots from the Coup all paying their respects.
"Dream was a very humble and charismatic writer," said Refa 1; Dream's
close friend and graffiti partner with whom Dream had scheduled a new show
at Oakland's Asian Resource Center (310 8th Street @ Harrison) this week.
"He put so much love and dedication into a form that many of us had taken for
granted and he had taken it to new heights," said Refa 1. "He excelled in
that and he gave the world so many beautiful pieces coz he himself was a
beautiful person. And he always loved the culture!" The one day art show,
scheduled for Thurs 2/24 5PM to 8PM, will now become a memorial and its
pieces, no doubt, will take on profound new meaning. "In the new exhibit
there's a piece dedicated to 2Pac and Plan B and now I'm gonna have to do a
piece dedicated to him," said Refa 1 shaking his head.
Sunday (2/20) at the Future Primitive Sound Session at the Fillmore in San
Francisco friend and fellow graffiti artist Doze titled his live onstage
graffiti installment "DREAM" in his honor. "He wasn't just a great artist. He
was also a great person," said Doze. Later that night onstage DJ Disk,
another longtime friend of Dream's, paid homage to the slain artist by
stopping the music and leading the soldout crowd in a moment of silence. In
fact all weekend, all over the Bay people, touched by Dream's art and ever
warm personality, were shocked as news of his sudden death reached them.
Many pointed to the sad irony of how Dream always made mention in his art to
Plan B who was also slain.
Emcee/graffiti artist & fellow Hobo Junction member Plan B (real name
Jesse Hall), who was murdered in 1992, was a close friend of Dream's and
often the topic of his art. The PBS documentary "Jesse's Gone" from a few
years ago about the death of Plan B, which features interviews with Dream,
will rebroadcast on KQED San Francisco on Tuesday Feb 22nd. In an interview
broadcast on Hip Hop Slam in 1993 from at the anti-police brutality art
exhibit "No Justice No Peace" Dream noted that for many of the attendees at
the downtown Oakland art gallery that this was their first exposure to
graffiti as art and a dose of "reality" for them. "But to brothers like us
reality is watching people die on the streets everyday, everyday," he said.
Billy Jam (2/21/00)
(NOTE: for updates on Dream's memorial service and other info related to the
artist call the Hip Hop Slam offices at (510) 658-4293, ext 2 or e-mail
HipHopSlam@aol.com)
The Bay Area hip hop community was in mourning over the weekend with the
tragic news of the murder of Mike "Dream" Francisco who was shot and killed
on Thursday night, Feb. 17th, in a robbery in West Oakland. Dream was 30
years old and is survived by his family, his girlfriend Nikki and their
infant child. Dream, a prominent and prolific graffiti artist since the late
eighties, was best known for his association with the TDK [Those Damn Kids] graffiti crew and
the Hobo Junction hip hop collective. (Note: a photo of a bombed Amtrak train
by Dream graced the cover of Saafir's 1994 album "Boxcar Sessions").
The ever prolific Dream had done literally thousands of pieces over the years
from throw ups all around Oakland and the Bay to works on canvas or paper for
such entities as the Invisibl Skratch Piklz, 11/5, Hip Hop Slam, KMEL and
Dogday Records.