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12ozProphet, created in 1993, is an online magazine featuring articles, pictures, and interviews related to graffiti. In the past it was a print magazine; however, today it exists in the form of an online magazine with blogs, online forum and store.

History

12ozProphet Magazine was conceived in early 1993 by Allen Benedikt, while he attended the Rhode Island School of Design. The first issue of 12ozProphet was created as a design project for school credit and with the intentions of sparking competition among the graffiti zines of the time.

Midway through development of the third issue, Caleb Neelon, a comparative classic literature major attending nearby Brown University joined the team as copy editor. Cody Hudson also joined as a chief collaborator. By the time it was published, the magazine had come into its own. The issue was among the earliest interviews with Barry McGee (also known as Twist), who was largely unknown outside of San Francisco at the time.

Benedikt, Hudson, and Neelon continued their work with the magazine for another several issues, until releasing the sixth issue in 1998. The main feature of this issue was a feature on twin brothers from São Paulo, Brazil, calling themselves Os Gêmeos, who had been introduced to Benedikt by Barry McGee several years earlier. This issue had the first interview of Os Gêmeos, and also the first images of their artwork shown outside of South America. This was also the last issue to be released.

In 2000, the same crew behind 12ozProphet released a new zine entitled, TheVapors Project, which focused entirely on the illegal aspects of graffiti, as opposed to the artistic side that had been thoroughly documented in 12ozProphet. It is unknown why 12ozProphet Magazine never saw another issue after #6, or why TheVapors Project never continued past the premier issue.

Paralleling their work with 12ozProphet Magazine, the crew also founded the first major graffiti mail order company operating under the name Straight From The Bottom (presumably in reference to its geographic location in Miami) in 1994. This company eventually evolved into 7th Heaven several years later after expanding beyond graffiti paraphernalia to also include early street wear brands, books, and other products with a broader appeal. 7th Heaven was shut down suddenly in the summer of 2000 when the 12ozProphet offices officially closed, and the remaining crew moved to New York City.

The website

Taking an entirely different approach than graffiti.org (also known as artcrimes.com), which was built to be a worldwide graffiti photo repository, 12ozProphet sought to establish itself as a virtual "writers bench" or meeting place since alt.graffiti had lost its relevance. The message board component known as The Writers Forum has remained the hub of the site almost since its beginnings, and for several years (particularly after the Magazine was out of publication), was the only section. Over the years, The Writers Forum has seen notable figures pass through and participate in discussion including Futura 2000, Susan Farrel (founder of artcrimes.com), Mike Giant, Revok MSK, Rime MSK, Marc Ecko, Skuf YKK amongst others. The website has expanded to include blogs by many of those icons, as well as others including Futura 2000 and Bates.

In Summer 2010, the 12ozProphet forum reached 5,250,000 posts making it the largest graffiti forum on the internet and in the top 350 for all message boards online according to big-boards.com.

Since its inception on March 2, 1999, 12ozprophet.com has grown to receive over 100,000 page views daily and has over 500 links to it from other sites.

Publications

Benedikt, Hudson, and Neelon have reappeared under the name Also Known As, and in September 2005, they released the premier volume of a self titled book series, again focusing predominantly on graffiti and popular culture. AKA Projects have gone onto release more publications, such as Million Dollar Vandal.

1. www.12oz.com
2. http://en.wikipedia.org/Os_G%C3%AAmeos
3. 12ozprophet Magazine Issue 6, 1998
4. www.artcrimes.org
5. www.12ozprophet.com/forum
6. http://12oz.com/
7. http://www.big-boards.com/board/369/
8. http://wiki.comjuice.com/browse/site/ae-12ozprophet.com-105085700.html
9. http://www.akanyc.com/
10. Alan Benedikt Also Known As 2005 ISBN 0-9768516-0-1
11. Alan Benedikt Million Dollar Vandal 2006 AKA Projects ISBN 0-9768515-3-6

External links

• 12ozProphet
• The Writers Forum
• 12ozProphet Supply Shop
• Also Known As

• Art websites
• Graffiti and unauthorised signage