GRAFFITI

Graffiti artists or "writers" as they are sometimes referred to, have been adopted into the hip hop community, despite being a completely separate sub-culture which pre-dates hip hop.

Graffiti ws born around the late 1960s. Around this time, graffiti was mainly a form of expression by political activists in Philadelphia. It was considered a cheap and easy way to make a statement, with minimal risk to the writer, often at the time a hippie. As the foundations of graffiti began, gang graffiti also began to arise, used largely by gangs to mark territory.

Soon after the migration to NYC in the early 70's, the city produced one of the first graffiti artists to gain media attention in New York, TAKI 183. Fab Five Freddy (Fred Brathwaite) is a popular graffiti figure of this time, often credited with helping to spread the influence of graffiti and rap music beyond its early foundations in the Bronx. The late 1970s and early 1980s brought a new wave of creativity to the scene. It was also, however, the last wave of true bombing before the Transit Authority made graffiti eradication a priority.