THE CRIME OF GRAFFITI APPROPRIATION.

"Snap necks at the central stations
Young kids making cops run like mental patients
Don't they know that graffiti can't be stopped
Writers unlike rappers can't go pop
So they stay underground till the day graff is legalized
Civil eyes look upon us as evil guys" - Looptroop's 'Ambush In The Night'

As a summation of society, advertising sucks the soul out of subcultures such as hip hop as they appropriate the work or actions for the masses, in order to sell a product while completely ignoring what has caused the mindset, act, or the art produced. For example, various advertisements for vehicles feature graffiti inspired type and animation seen initially on the streets of L.A and New York and featured as video in the graffiti documentary Wild Style (1983). The four elements of hip hop culture are seen in the video, including MCing (including vocals like rap or beat boxing), break dancing, DJ’ing and graffiti. The combination of these elements makes up a lifestyle, somewhere to fit in outside the square, and most importantly, various avenues of self expression. The lyrics above explain the graffiti experience of hip hop and the inseparable relationship between not only MC’ing and graffiti, but in the song the DJ’s beat is present and together, they provide music to break dance to. Clearly, there is more history to graffiti than kids scribbling on walls.

The differences between the work produced on the streets and those seen in adverts are beyond comprehension unless one has experienced painting the streets. The first and foremost is the reasoning behind the creation of such work: advertisers attempt to use graffiti style to sell a product, while graffiti artists (or ‘writers’) actively painting the streets can be doing it from a variety of reasons, including the exact opposite – an act against the law and what is deemed ‘right’ by general society, for the adrenaline rush, “fame, artistic expression, power and rebellion” (Brewer, 188).

Writers may go through months or years of drawing and painting practice to produce something original in preparation of a ‘piece’ (a three or more colour work, usually type based which may include characters). From there, buying or stealing paint, knowing where and when to paint streets, tracksides or trains, the fear and adrenaline of a police chase, improvisation, quick talking and quick thinking are all parts of graffiti that those appropriating it for different reasons miss out on. The fact that someone could create a graffiti style artwork on their computer in a sterile office, on thousands of dollars worth of software and computer equipment, insert it into the background of an advertisement and have it printed billboard size and pasted into the community is hardly artwork nor interesting to many if not all involved in the real deal. Without knowledge or understanding of the history and surrounding elements, its meaning is not only lost but gradually crushed as it enters the mainstream. Complaints will arise if trains or walls are coloured, however no one seems to mind an advertiser’s poor and demeaning appropriation.

"A child sometimes is a product of his invirment and some time a childs invirment is a produckt of him" - Mark Gonzales.

Bibliography

Brewer, Devon D. "Hip Hop Graffiti Writers' Evaluation of Strategies to Control Illegal Graffiti." Human Organization 2 (1992): 188- 9.

TO GO (ironically) WITH NATALIE'S KILLER PIECE (check it large size in the Files section). Let me know what you think. Coffee hasn't kicked in yet, its still a draft.

And I'm claiming BDO tickets thanks, close enough to 2 hours.