The Graffiti Element

One of the elements of hip hop is the graffiti. Graffiti was becoming popular in in the same urban neighborhoods in New York City as hip hop when it first started. In hip hop, there were crews that hung out together. Whether it was a breakdancing crew or just a group of people from the same block that gave themselves a name like a gang. These crews used graffiti to tag walls or subways. Tagging was a way of identifying who did the graffiti artwork. Sometimes these graffiti artists would tag certain areas so that it became a territorial thing. Tagging included bubble letters or calligraphy type of letters. It got more sophisticated when artists used multiple colors and 3D effects. It is most popular using spray paint for walls or subways and markers for paper.

Graffiti in Wynwood. Photo by Elizabeth Rodriguez

In the beginning, graffiti was frowned upon and looked at as vandalism. Today there are many artists that made graffiti popular as a form of art. One of many hip hop graffiti artists, such as Lee Quinones, are paid to do graffiti murals. Lee has been able to make a living off his art. One of his most popular murals is the one he did of the late rapper Notorious B.I.G. called “Commandante Biggie” in Brooklyn. Graffiti can be seen all over the world. In Miami, they have the Wynwood district which is dedicated to art and graffiti. You can see murals and walls full of graffiti art in Wynwood. It is one of the top places for tourists in Miami.

Graffiti mural in Wynwood. Photo by Elizabeth Rodriguez

Placed like Wynwood are needed to keep graffiti alive. It is not as popular as it was back in the 1980’s, but there are many artists still keeping it alive. It is the visual art form of the hip hop culture. If you search the hashtag “graffiti” in any social media platform, you will find thousands of graffiti artwork from all over the world. You can even lookup graffiti classes of you want to learn. There are many organizations that work hard to keep graffiti alive.