Welfare

Shepard Fairey: "Just because you’ve reached a certain level of success, that doesn’t mean you’ve become corrupted by the system. It’s a very unhealthy idea that people have, that it’s underground vs. the mainstream, that you’re either keeping it real or selling out. I mean, there’s good and bad in every arena. It’s funny, some people, the reason they’re in the underground is because they’re lazy and don’t make things happen for themselves. They shit-talk about everything, but they don’t do anything; they have this cool, rebellious, outsider persona that they inhabit, but it doesn’t actually have anything constructive about it, and they’re just, “Yeah, I’m underground, keeping it real.”

"And then there’s people in the mainstream who work within the system, if that’s what you want to call it, that have great intentions, and then there are those people who abuse their power and are assholes. There are different types of people, good and bad, in every situation. So for me, the idea is that you don’t just go up the ladder and transition to a new point; you can fully move between every place in terms of success and culture, and work with the things that are the most constructive in every area. And people are going to say to me now—just because over the arc of my career, I’ve reached a certain point where I can make a living from art, and I’ve been able to do album covers for bands like Led Zeppelin—that means I sold out, or I don’t have the same ideals I once had. That’s ridiculous. But that is a big problem with success. They don’t see how they can get from where they are to that. So continuing with street art and all the things that have that punk-rock, do-it-yourself ethos that made me who I am just allows people to see how that evolution can occur, how to empower themselves, and that’s incredibly important."

I don't have the whole story, i don't dislike Justin and Paul to hate on them as people, but in regards to Welfare alot of shit I experienced personally seemed out of place.

Peter's in town and it got me thinking again, and I couldn't ever put it into words.

Not trying to reflect or insist peter's opinion in any way, solely my own, but this lifted from a shepard fairey interview sums up everything that confused me as to why welfare never got past the point it has, and in varying ways why alot of us haven't gotten past the points we have. don't get me wrong, i'm pointing a finger directly at myself (a'hm, red, a'hm).

kisses.

and if it's long the rest here.