- Intro

Constantin Philippou is a Greek, self-taught vegan, street artist who goes by the name L 3 F 0/ u {le fou},
which means "the crazy" in French. Born in Greece, raised in Paris and currently living in Los Angeles, he
composes music and rescues dogs on the side.

- What inspired you to do street art? What street artist inspired you?

From a very young age, I was gifted the skillset of drawing. In my drawing class, I was drawing my
teachers and everything around me. I was drawing on the tables, even the walls. I knew I had the talent
and I sold my first piece of artwork at 17. I loved drawing, but I didnt enjoy the time it took to craft just
one piece. This is because I am a very impatient person and hated the space required to store such large
paintings. So I decided to quit drawing and focus on music, which I could program with a small synth and
a computer and obviously this all was doable in a reasonably sized room too. For 20 years, I didnt paint
anything. Then, one day, I acquired a bunch of expensive colors from a garage sale and all for the price
of a $1 and decided to use it all on a canvas. Painting was back. Now that I had a house and more space,
I was like why not? I started selling a few large pieces but was not happy with the abstract direction I
was taking. I thought I could do better than that. I wanted to convey something bigger; so I slowly
started incorporating vegan messages into my artwork. I admired Banksy's approach of creating
meaningful art in such quick time, loved the art of Basquiat and adored the concepts of Warhol. I
wanted to merge all of that into my new direction.

After pondering and thinking, I connected the Fight Club movie with Brad Pitt being a vegan. Voila! The
birth of Vegan Club. It took me a year to take the initial artwork of Brad Pitt: Vegan Club and brand it
with more celebrities. I came up with the idea at one of my artist friends show, Knowledge, who had
drawn a bunch of celebrities in his art. I thought I could incorporate a vegan celebrity to inspire others
and gain the attention of celebrities. The same way as Exit thru the Gift Shop where Brad Pitt shows
up with Angelina Jolie at Mr. Brainwash's opening. So I started using the Obey approach, mixed with the
Vegan Club brand to convey all of the celebrities on posters and t-shirts to see the response. Low and
behold, Tony Kanal noticed a Prince poster in LA, then took a pic of Toby Morse with it! During the same
timeframe, Moby was honored to see his face on posters in the arts district, and started sharing them
on his Instagram. Then Kat Von D showed a lot of excitement, then Davey Havok, Doyle, Alissa, etc. At
the same time, people loved the Vegan Club concept so much they started sharing their selfies on
Instagram, leaving the posters on their walls and its been spreading like crazy slowly spreading all over
the US, Canada and creeping in on Europe. My goal was to inspire people to become vegans through
their favorite celebrity, to look at them as idols and take their values as something they could follow too
and it seems to work. And Im so ecstatic to be a part of so much excitement for such a great cause!

- We heard you also compose music. What kind of music do you write?

I fell in love with music at the age of 18 when I first heard Vangelis on the radio in Greece. I was so
blown away! And at that age, I grew tired of painting for most of my youth, so I decided I wanted to
compose songs of the likes of Vangelis. I then got my first synthesizer and started exploring and creating
my own sound. Since then, I have been composing EDM and music scores with great artists such as Julia
Jaye, Nate Sib & sister Genie. What I often try to do is incorporate vegan messages into my songs, while
still wanting it to be melodic and touching. My next goal is to be part of a "We are the World" type of
song, with all the vegan singers such as Moby, Tony Kanal, Toby Morse, Kat Von D, Travis Barker, Matt
Skiba, Davey Havok, Sir Paul McCartney, Radiohead, Miley Cyrus, Ariana Grande, and whoever vegan
musician is interested to be part of it. Hope they hear me guys! ;)

- What made you to go vegan?

On a hot summer day, I was driving to Los Angeles from Vegas and I was about halfway there, when
there was a standstill on the freeway due to a major accident. I stopped the car and kept it running with
the AC on so that my dogs wouldnt overheat due to the temperature being over 40F outside. I looked to
my right and bam, there, sitting in the heat, was a truck full of pigs. At first, I didnt pay much attention,
but a couple of hours went by and I started wondering, how could all these pigs be ok all cramped
together with no AC or water? I had already given my dogs water a couple times. I looked at my bulldog
and then looked at the pigs. I thought, how come my dog, which is less bright than a pig, gets all the
love, water, and AC? My dog even gets to eat at home, while that pig which is smarter than my dog, is
treated like garbage. This simply wasnt right! I made that connection and in that instant, I decided that
my dogs were to no longer be fed meat.

Since I no longer fed them meat, I felt I was torturing them every time I was cooking meat for myself, so
I decided to cut meat from my diet a week later. So started my vegetarian journey, I had the lucky
chance to date vegetarian girlfriends, which made the journey much easier since they knew how to cook
some tasty, simple veggie meals. The bad news is that they made my transition to veganism much more
difficult. Being a vegetarian, meant that it was okay to consume cheese and milk since it was like
enforcing one another, not killing them. During my 10-veggie years, I came across YouTube videos such
as Earthlings that really had a powerful effect on me and made me question dairy, but I never really
connected the dots.

Until one day, I recalled a story my mother used to tell me. When I was a baby, I used to sometimes
drink so much of her breast milk that she felt pain and had to put me aside. I thought about it and
realized that womens breasts are pretty much like mens privates, not toys but rather ultra-sensitive
areas. The fact that cows have machines tied on their breasts pulling their milk for hours, wanting it or
not, in pain or not, made me realize this is evil torture and much worse than killing and eating an animal.
And that's how I instantly became a vegan!

- Before you were vegan how did you see the world?

When I was young, I never even knew that there was such a thing as a vegan or even vegetarian. I
thought farm animals had a great life, in the open prairies, roaming around and playing until they get
too old. And before they die, were killed with "respect". I thought that cows always had milk for us and
never linked that having milk with pregnancy was really meant for their baby, not us.

Being raised in Greece and France, where meat and cheese are the biggest portions of the meal,
vegetables were like a dessert, the less, the best. The greasier the meal, the better. On top of that, there
was the macho concept that real men eat meat and that only a sissy sort of guy eats only vegetables.
Every meal had to have meat and if there wasn't any, I wasnt full enough. The illusion had reached such
a level, that it had become a requirement to have meat, at lunch and dinner, like bread and butter.

- What inspired your dog fostering and rescuing?

My first dogs were pet store dogs, a bulldog and a pug. I didnt know anything about shelters. I thought
people get a dog at a pet store, and that was it. I started visiting animal shelters and obviously, it was
heartbreaking. So many good dogs and cats being put in a cage unloved would most likely end up put
down. So I occasionally started volunteering. I always knew I wanted to do something righteous and
good, but just didnt know exactly what I could do! Volunteering was interesting, but wasnt really
working for me, so I decided to foster dogs.

After my dogs passed away, I fostered a dog and then found another dog in the streets, which I kept. I
realized I could handle more than two dogs at a time, so I made a plan to foster a third dog from the
shelter, indefinitely, until I found her a new home. I was successful at finding her a home within a
month, so I got another one until I found a home for that one, and then another and so on. Luckily, I had
a lot of success last year, I found homes for four pit bulls from the shelter. And Im still fostering and
rescuing today.

- How did your childhood impact your compassion?

My father was a physically, abusive man and the trauma it caused me, makes it easy for me to relate to
animals and the tormented life they go through. As I recall, it's not the beating that hurts, eventually
one gets used to that even as a child but it's the constant fear of not knowing when the next beating is
going to happen Imagine living your entire day in fear, day by day. Its worse than torture!

One day, I took a stroll through an open range farm, where cows were roaming happily and I noticed a
bunch of lambs in a small gated area, so I approached them quietly to say hello. Once they saw me, the
whole pack ran away all the way back in the corner, as far away from me as possible, and all of them
were shaking, panicked and sandwiched together. I didnt understand what happening until I noticed
that they had an X marked on them with red paint. Not a moment later, I put the pieces together and
realized they were in the area where they knew, sadly, that they were the next batch to be slaughtered.
That's the kind of fear we inflict on these animals. It's not natural to kill an animal this way. That's not
how nature is supposed to work. A tiger doesnt cage zebras, enslave other animals and freak them out
for days or months until death.

- How do you see the future of veganism?

I was born in 1972, there were 3.8 billion people, now 44 years later, the world population has doubled
to 7.6 billion, and while at the same time half of our ocean is extinct. In 50 years, guess what? Empty
oceans. Its simply not sustainable; it doesnt take Einstein to prove that.
The good news is the world is changing rapidly. With immediate access to the Internet and smart
phones, young people are able to view the injustices of the meat and dairy industries that previous
generations were so easily able to hide for so long. I know the new generation wants to consume
healthier foods. They want to live longer. They dont want to be obese or sick. They want to experience
clean beaches. Its no surprise this current generation is pissed with our generation and the previous
one, who destroyed so much of the planet and are now giving the current one crap about it. Kids are
rebels and they will revolt against the current norm. Watch and see, by 2050 most of the world will be
vegan, if not all.

- Last Thoughts

Piece of advice to anyone who wants to help and change the world: Try different routes and choose the
one that works best for you. Don't do something you don't want to do! Experiment with different
routes, e.g. donate money, offer a service you are good at, such as taking photos, or hands-on
volunteering and try to find which one works best for you. With art and work, relationships and
everything you do, try different venues until you find the one and only that works for you! And keep
only those good people who believe in you around. You only need one or two great people and suddenly
doors will open. Say goodbye to those negative people who say you cannot get there or those who drag
you down. Stop focusing or trying to help others first, find yourself first! And trust me, once you find
your passion and have a great entourage, all the dots will come together. In a matter of time, you will be
part of the change you always wanted!

Many thanks to Tony the "Greek", (Vadalakis you know what) Tony Kanal, Moby, Toby Morse, Travis
Barker, Kat Von D, Davey Havock, Anthony Proetta Jr, his gang and everyone who believed in me