-Hey, everybody. Tariq and I are here in Astoria, Queens,
at the Welling Court Mural Project.
This is one of the most amazing collections of street art
in the world made by
some of the most legendary street artists ever.
Let's go talk to one of them.
♪♪
Lady Pink.
-Hey. How you are? -Jimmy Fallon. Nice to meet you.
-Hey. How you doing? Tariq. Such an honor.
-What's up?
-It is such an honor to meet you and talk.
Do you prefer Lady Pink or Pink?
-You can just call me Pink. That's alright.
-Well, just off top, I'm so honored and it's such a pleasure
to finally get to meet you in person
because the "Wild Style," a film that you were in --
How old were you when you were in that movie?
-I was 16, 17 years old. -A teenager.
A film that came out in 1982
really is was what inspired me to become a musician.
-Well, thank you for being inspired by our early work.
-Yeah. -You know, all the entire world
has now been inspired by graffiti and street art.
-Absolutely. -What was it like back then?
How do you start as a graffiti artist?
-Well, you start by being a vandal, by going underground.
And you learn everything out in the street.
And we teach master to apprentice.
You don't just wander off into danger by yourself.
So you are taught and schooled.
Graffiti started in New York way back, maybe '69,
and all through the 1970s and '80s,
the subway trains were painted.
I started in '79 when it was already a full-blown movement
and there was heroes and myths and legends
and I had to keep up with these guys.
So as a young one, when everything went above ground,
there I was at 16. -Really?
Tell us about the Welling Court Mural Project.
This is amazing.
-So, this is in Astoria, Queens, New York,
and it is a wonderful festival that has over a hundred artists,
over a hundred wall spaces.
You can walk for blocks and blocks,
and there's beautiful murals by artists from all over the world.
And this is my mural here.
It's a Black Lives Matter mural.
-I love that you're now part of the community.
You're above ground, and you're teaching
young kids as well as adults.
But everyone, just like, "Hey, express yourself."
-Yeah. Absolutely.
Even you guys can give it a try.
-Oh, yeah, I'm pretty sure I can do it.
[ Laughs ] -Uh-huh, uh-huh, okay, alright.
-What do you think? What do you think?
I'm a little overdressed, but I can figure this out.
-I don't know. I mean, graffiti is boot camp for artists.
This isn't like, "Here, honey, let me show you how it's done."
This is like you get up there, you do your thing,
and don't shame us all.
-His name is Shameless.
[ Laughter ]
-Alright. Alright.
-So, we're going to go with Jimmy --
We're gonna go with Jimmy and Tariq.
-Jimmy and Tariq. Let's get started.
Background first and then colors.
-This is my first time ever graffitiing.
-This is so easy to do. Anyone can do it, man.
-I feel like I'm going to get in trouble.
-You want us to call the cops on you?
[ Laughter ]
Tariq, it looks like you've done this before.
-I may have. -[ Laughs ]
-How are you doing it so fast?
-Thinking about them po-po.
♪♪
[ Horn honks ]
-I'm working on it. You'll love it at the end!
Don't honk! -That yellow is good.
-Yellow is great.
Copying my yellow?
-I think so, man.
-Wow, nice.
Tariq did a dot first, so I don't know.
-He's, like, taking all my moves.
-So, when artists paint together, they got to
communicate because their pieces kind of go together.
-We're communicating.
It's unspoken, our relationship.
-Take that yellow that you have going on.
So go lines straight up.
Lines, lines, lines.
-Oh, yeah. Like a little bleed.
-You got it, Tariq.
Ooh, you look like a pro now.
Look at you outlining.
-That's not bad, right? That was good.
Are we rolling on that?
-When we painted on the subway train, there was no ladders.
You had to hang out the window, paint upside down.
-I used to see graffiti that would make the things move,
like shapes move up and down when the train would move.
-It was magic.
What did you write down there? Black Thought?
-Black Thought, yeah.
-Jimmy.
-I think I'm done. -You're fast.
-In and out. -You guys did an awesome job.
I'm so proud.
-I love it. -You might have a future.
[ Laughter ]
-Lady, would you do me the honor?
Can you just -- -Sure.
♪♪
-I love this. Come on.
Tariq, you want to get in?
That's it right there.
I love it. -I see!
-That's it! Queens, that's a wrap.
♪♪