Reunion is a little tropical gem, and I was lucky enough to be invited there by Urban Konnection Festival, the local annual Hip-Hop festival. Most of you probably don’t know this French island lost in the Indian Ocean, but I can summarize it for you: beautiful Creole women, rum, vanilla, beaches, graffiti, and a freaking hug active volcano which emulates Mordor from ‘The Lord of the Rings’. It’s definitely worth the 18 hour flight.
From tropical beaches… to above the clouds, entering Mordor.
If you tire of drinking Ti-punches (local rum cocktail) and chasing tropical fish or women, Reunion Island has a pretty decent graffiti scene for its 800,000 inhabitants. It has the French influence, but its own distinct flavor, and the local writers are super chilled-out and welcoming. Maybe it’s the year-round 30 degree temperature, the warm water, or the rum, but the pace of life here is slower, as is the pace of graffiti painting, which we like. It’s a change from the stress and beef of the inner-city. You just grab a Dodo (local beer), and a can of MTN, and let yourself go. Colorful pieces can be seen all over the place, chromes on the highways; and, of course, the island’s superstar is Jace, which his famous characters.
The Urban Konnection Festival principally focuses on rap and breakdance. They managed to bring the top b-boys and girls from all around the world to this small island, impressive…
This year they created a graffiti section; the first day was a local graffiti battle.
Yes, they have MTN there…
The day after, me, Mystery (Australia), Meo, Nayh, and Jace from Reunion, all got together for the main wall. Unfortunately, rain stopped us after a few hours. We all painted characters, with our very different styles. This is what we managed to do.
A few days after, I was introduced to the best hall of fame ever. I painted with old school heads, to the sound of giant waves crashing, with our bare feet in black sand, next to a beautiful beach…if you don’t believe me, check out the video!
MTN-WORLD wants to give xtra special thanks to ASTRO for this article!
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