INTERVIEW BY: BERTO
From the mid-’90s to the present day, Meeting of Styles has come a long way from its humble beginnings in a slaughterhouse in Wiesbaden, Germany, operating under various names. Today, it attracts thousands of visitors and artists to events all over the world.
Now, San Diego officially has its own.
With Daygo’s rich and diverse graffiti history, it’s been a long time coming. Meeting of Styles San Diego 2026 happened, and yeah… 2005 seems like a long time ago. I participated in that one and will never forget the people I met or the masterpieces I saw.
For the 2026 edition, a man named Snaps of SKA Crew stepped up as the event organizer. For an event of this scale, he did a hell of a job putting it together. He’ll be the first to admit there was probably more he could’ve done, but regardless, it’s one for the books.
People came from all over and left their mark. Snaps worked hard on everything within his control, and with the help of his inner circle, he showed mad love for his barrio. Right in the heart of Chicano Park is Barrio Logan—his home.
Frank 151 was hyped to sit down with him. Check this.
FRANK 151: Your name and responsibilities for Meeting of Styles San Diego 2026?
SNAPS: My name is Snaps, and my responsibilities are curating the walls and making sure everybody is safe.
“You don’t want to burn bridges—you want to open them. It’s the youth! You gotta teach the youngsters.”
FRANK 151: How long you been doing this?
SNAPS: I’ve been doing graffiti since 1991. Like I said, my name is Snaps and I represent SKA Crew. I’ve been involved in this for a while, but never curating, never on the legal side. Now I’m transitioning into another way of doing things—bringing in legal walls instead of illegal walls.
FRANK 151: Is this the first time you’ve done something like this?
SNAPS: No. I’ve been doing this for a while, and it’s just been building and building. I never reached the point where I could actually do a Meeting of Styles—until now.
FRANK 151: You got writers, models, movies. What plans do you have for future editions?
SNAPS: I wanna expand on that, ya know? Get a little bit of everything from around the world. We got international writers coming in—we had 50 Europeans over here, plus a lot of people from all over the States.
I just wanna expose everybody to different types of art. It’s not just spray paint. There’s body art, tattoo art, graphic art. There’s just so many different ways, ya know?
You can do art that’s still graffiti-based—whether it’s names, characters, or both. We’re just trying to tap into everything that’s out there.
FRANK 151: I see you got DJs spinning all week for the events. Are you planning on doing concerts?
SNAPS: Well, you know… there are elements to hip-hop, and graffiti is one of them. Hip-hop, B-boying, emceeing—it’s a combination.
And I would love to. But those are big subcultures, and to put it all together takes a lot of money and a lot of connections. I don’t know everybody in the B-boy industry or the music industry. That’s a huge animal right there.
But if I could tap in or collaborate with people who are connected, we could put it all together. That would be badass right there. Everybody could come together and enjoy this whole thing that we’ve got going on.
FRANK 151: I see you got this as a familia affair. Wifey and close homies helping you out with this. The models doing body art are volunteering. What can you expand on that?
SNAPS: Well… you need a reliable team. First off, that’s on the same page with you—that knows exactly what you’re thinking before you think it.
So, no matter where I’m at, if they ask my girl, my kids, or any of my close friends, they’re all going to say the same thing. Being on the same page is mandatory.
FRANK 151: And on the admin side, obviously it’s a big deal getting the permits and dealing with all the legal stuff, because San Diego is a tough town when it comes to allowing this type of event. Remember ’05? What hurdles did you have to go through to get this going?
SNAPS: It’s difficult because if you don’t understand it, and it’s new—and when it’s new and you’re not used to it—it’s very frustrating.
But now that I’ve been doing it over and over, and I’m always learning, it’s not as shocking as you think.
It used to be overwhelming. You gotta go through this and that. Now I know how to work with it.
It’s like when you wake up in the morning. You gotta brush your teeth and comb your hair. I don’t have to think about every little detail—I just do it. Boom. Boom. Boom.
You just do it over and over again. Just like artists developing their skills. They keep going to perfect it.
FRANK 151: Are you trying to keep this a more low-key event, or are you looking for corporate sponsors?
SNAPS: Ya know, it’s good and it’s bad. There’s a lot of greed. And I noticed it can be all about them. “What can I get?”
And it’s different with graffiti writers.
“You can’t have tunnel vision. You can’t be close-minded when you’re trying to learn from other people. It opens your mind when everybody gets together.”
FRANK 151: And it’s hard to trust ’em.
SNAPS: Yeah.
FRANK 151: How many people are working under you?
SNAPS: Other than my crew? My family. I got the whole community of Logan Heights.
I’ve lived here. I’ve made friends with the organizations here, the non-profits here, and they all love this stuff. Anything that brings in art and life and creativity—they are very supportive.
They support me 1000%. They will close streets, help me get permits, show me how to do this or that. They help me with grants and fundraising.
I don’t have a non-profit. That’s another animal—they’re good at that.
So I tell them what I wanna do, and if they like it and it resonates with them, they’ll say, “That’s something we wanna do too!” And we all collaborate.
FRANK 151: This event lasts four days. What’s the overall message you wanna convey to all the cats that are down with this culture?
SNAPS: Expand yo mind.
You bring in people from Italy, Germany, and other places, and they come and start learning. “Hey, you do graffiti? What’s your philosophy? What’s your thought process about this?”
Everybody has different ways, ya know? It’s all similar, but not exactly the same.
“Why do you do it like this or like that?”
And they explain why it works for them.
You can’t have tunnel vision. You can’t be close-minded when you’re trying to learn from other people. It opens your mind when everybody gets together.
FRANK 151: Shoutouts?
SNAPS: I just wanna shout out the mag for having me. A big shoutout to my whole community right here. They all been helping me—they have my back.
FRANK 151: Barrio Logan?
SNAPS: Barrio Logan for sure.
Now a cultural arts district. We renamed it. It’s still Barrio Logan, but it’s a cultural arts district too.
To all my friends in LA. To all the graffiti communities. I will go to Phoenix, go to LA. They all doing the same thing in their pockets all over the city, and we’re working together.
I don’t feel isolated. I could go to LA. I could work with them, they could come here, and we’re just expanding.
We’re really locking in for the most part, and I think that’s how we grow. Instead of just being stuck in your little block, now we’re going to other cities and seeing how they’re making it.
For the most part, a lot of dudes I’ve met are willing to share. In my case, I see a lot of people that are cool.
FRANK 151: Any last words?
SNAPS: Just be mindful. Respectful to other people, and don’t get big-headed.
You might have a bunch of skills and your head blows up, and then you think your standards are higher than others. You don’t want that type of mentality.
You don’t want to burn bridges—you want to open them.
It’s the youth! You gotta teach the youngsters. It’s the way it is. If not, it’s gonna be like the ’90s where anything goes.
Now there’s a little structure.
Let’s work together.
The manipulation and presentation of the letter is the most basic part of this beautiful art form.
Characters, colors, and layout—from the most basic tag to the most technical production. This is graffiti.
The culture celebrates in a myriad of ways. Writers celebrate the accomplishment of getting up.
“I was there.”
“That’s my name.”
It’s never going away.
Meeting of Styles lets the culture celebrate.
Props to Snaps SKA. He got shit organized. He got the walls prepped. He got the legals done. His inner circle did a ton of work here.
The writers came from all over to rock this culture.
Our culture.
Hopefully, even MORE will participate next year. More artists, more DJs, more graff brands.
MOS is a legendary event.
With Snaps’ efforts, the San Diego edition was four days of Phreshness.
That’s WTF is up!
Props to all that turned out.
Gracias!