Modern Graffiti

Modern graffiti is often seen as having become intertwined with Hip-Hop culture as one of the four main elements of the culture (along with the Master of ceremony, the disc jockey, and break dancing), through Hollywood movies such as Wild Style. However, modern (twentieth century) graffiti predates hip hop by almost a decade and has its own culture, complete with its own unique style and slang.

Another example, Montreal, Canada

For example, one of the most popular graffitos of the 1970s was the legend "Dick Nixon Before He Dicks You," reflecting the hostility of the youth culture to that U.S. president. The belief that the two are related arises from the fact that some graffiti artists enjoyed the other three aspects of hip-hop, and that it was mainly practiced in areas where the other three elements of hip-hop were evolving as art forms. Graffiti is known to be the visual expression of the rap music of the decade, where breakdancing is the physical expression. In addition, graffiti has been made synonymous with the anti-establishment punk rock movement of the 1970s, with such bands as Black Flag and Crass stenciling to gain notoriety, thus bringing it into punk culture.

Graffiti artists sometimes choose nicknames for them as an artist. These names are chosen for one of many reasons. Artists want tags to be quick to write so they are often from 3 to 5 characters in length. The name is chosen to reflect personal qualities and characteristics, or because of the way the word sounds, and/or for the way it looks once written. The letters in a word can make doing pieces very difficult if the shapes of the letters don't sit next to each other in a visually pleasing way. Some Graffiti artists select their names that are plays on common expressions, such as 2Shae, Page3, 2Cold, In1 and other such names.

Names also can represent a word with an irregular spelling; for example, "Train" could be Trane or Trayne and "Envy" could be Envie or Envee. Names can also contain subtle and often cryptic messages, or, in some cases, the artist's initials or other letters. As well as the graffiti name, some artists include the year that they completed that tag next to the name. bomber Tox, from London, seldom writes just Tox; it is usually Tox03, Tox04, etc. In some cases, artists dedicate or create tags or graffiti in memory of a deceased friend – for example, "DIVA Peekrevs R.I.P. JTL '99." The Borf Brigade's arrested member, John Tsombikos, claimed the "BORF" tag campaign, which gained recognition for its prevalence in DC, was in memory of his deceased friend.

Initial groundwork for graffiti began around the late 1960s. Around this time, graffiti was mainly a form of expression by political activists. It was considered a cheap and easy way to make a statement, with minimal risk to the artist, the artist often times a hippie. As the foundations of graffiti began, gang graffiti also began to arise, used largely by gangs to mark territory. Some gangs that made use of graffiti during this era included the Savage Skulls, La Familia, and Savage Nomads.

Towards the end of the 1960s the modern culture began to form in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The two graffiti artists considered to be responsible for the first true bombing are "Cool Earl" and "Cornbread".[8] They gained much attention from the Philadelphia press and the community itself by leaving their tags written everywhere. Around 1970-71, the centre of graffiti innovation moved from Philadelphia to New York City. Once the initial foundation was laid (occurred around 1966 - 1971), graffiti "pioneers" began inventing newer and more creative ways to write