Published on Tuesday, October 5, 2010
News from the Community: MSG Cartel memorializes their crew member Ynot with the best therapy they know: Graffiti
At the end of July, many of us in the graffiti and street-art community were shocked to hear of the tragic death of Jonathan "Ynot" Corso, a young but prolific graffiti and tattoo artist, and father to newborn Maximillion, from South Florida. Ynot, part of the tight knit crew MSG Cartel, spent his last hours hanging out at a small strip club, Club Eden. Around 4 a.m., MSG Cartel crew members left Club Eden to tag a wall in the parking lot. That was the last tag Ynot would do himself.
Ynot had an amazing career as a graffiti and tattoo artist for his age, and has left a sizable mark on all of those he has worked with. He drew his first tattoo, One Love on his forearm, when he was 12 years old, and penned Ynot for his first tag that same year. He was an impressively smart person, and absorbed both art techniques from anyone that would teach him. Ynot gained the recognition of fellow graffiti artists and the MSG crew after going on a heavy bombing spree from 2003 to 2005 with fellow artist Dose. He went after graffiti with reckless abandon, seeking the high he could only get from drugs, something he had worked very hard to get away from. As one crew member said, he was clearly on the road to positivity.
Shortly after 4 a.m. that night, in the club parking lot, a fight broke out, and Ynot was run over by an Escalade. Despite video surveillance and statements of several witnesses, there have been no charges in the past 2 months since Ynot's wrongful death. It's clear to many that the police are not putting as much effort into this case as one would expect, and members of the MSG Cartel believe that has to do with Ynot's criminal record as a graffiti artist.
For those of us that did not know Ynot, it's obvious from the pictures of his work that he was a gifted and talented graffiti artist, and we should all feel a great injustice that the police in South Florida have not done more to solve this case. While the police claim they cannot tell if his death was an accident or murder, it feels as if they are reluctant to move forward. The value of one life over another, no matter the person's past, is not a judgement call the Broward County police are tasked to do.
If you would like to help the MSG Cartel raise funds for Ynot's child Maximillian, they are selling custom-made t-shirts featuring his tag.
To read more about Ynot and what the MSG Cartel is doing to preserve his memory, please see the following articles:
- MIAMI NEW TIMES: "RIP Ynot: MSG Cartel Mourns the Loss of a Graffiti Star"
- VIDEO: Graffiti Tribute Grows in Public Places
- Tribute Site: Ynot Lives
- Ynot on MiamiGraffiti.com
- MSG Cartel's Blog
