Pioneer Graffiti Artist, D’mojo Walks The Line Between Art and Crime.

The One Star returns along with the rise of four Malaysian anti-heroes of the youth. Each of the Converse chosen anti-heroes represents the behavior of counter-culture; impulsive, audacious and fearless, characteristics that resonate with the One Star spirit. Far from your typical social media influencers, thus they are Rated One Star, as in rated 1 out of 5 stars. The four anti-heroes come together to celebrate those that don’t care about what people think about them or rate them, they express the ethos of defying mainstream while rocking the Converse One Star resurgence in their own way.

When it comes to graffiti, the street art is debatable as art for some and vandalism for others. But for Nazri also known as D’mojo, rebelled his way into the world of graffiti by the age of 17. In the rise of 80’s hip-hop evolution, Nazri hung around his peers who were Bboys, Emcees, and DJs. “I wanted to represent something I could be proud of,” he claims. Considering he completed a civil engineering course, he was already deeply involved in graffiti art. Tagging his pride and marking his territory on the streets of Kuala Lumpur, it was all fun with just a bag of spray cans on his back and in his Converse beaters. Being a self-taught artist, he often sourced inspiration from magazines during the pre-internet era. Nazri rebelliousness link with what Converse Rated One Star represents.

Nazri’s raw talent was instantly recognised when an offer presented itself to him where he had the chance to paint a whole shop lot and was given his own shop to do commission work by doing event backdrops and over time he had the opportunity to work with the government such as DBKL, local clinics and even major art projects such as Shell’s 125th anniversary in Malaysia. More so, he expresses through any type of mediums from sculptures to customizations with brands like Crossover. Nazri is well-known for his work overseas as well where it is safe to say he represents Malaysia all over Europe and Tahiti.

He currently runs his own business called District Shop and Gallery, which is currently the biggest supplier for Singapore, Sabah and Sarawak and West of Malaysia. In the Malaysian graffiti art scene, most graffiti artists work full time and hustle hard to sustain their passion as a career. Nazri sells art supplies for graffiti and mural artists who struggle to source materials. Nazri plays a huge role in the growing scene, “It’s important for me to support the scene, I think of it as a win-win situation to help the upcoming kids, even by teaching them the fundamentals,” he noted. He organizes his own jam session which is carried out annually, where a massive group of graffiti enthusiast gathers to spray all over Kuala Lumpur. The rush demonstrates how graffiti can be a social activity for all to enjoy.

“A city without graffiti is dead, the art brings character and life to a city,” he says. Although Malaysians are more open to seeing street art, Nazri hopes the stigma of vandalism will change for people to appreciate the beauty of street art. 20 years as a pioneer artist in graffiti art, he has never failed to express the passion as he lives on the thrill of it.

The Rated One Star campaign is in lieu of the One Star introduction by Converse Spring 2018 that takes cues from Tyler The Creator, GOLF Le FLEUR’s line. The Converse Spring 2018 collection renewed it’s icon status to release the classic One Star featuring an original Converse eye-popping bold print on a ‘hairy’ suede material. The Converse One Star 2018 collection is available at all Converse stores.

Meet Nazri, one of the four anti-heroes up close and personal as fans can witness them customizing the One Star shoe during the co-creation session that will be held at Sole What, The Gardens on the 15th March 2018, from 1PM to 6PM. They will stop by to make another appearance for a pop-up at Bookmark, APW Bangsar on the 22nd March 2018, from 1PM to 6PM.