The History Of Street Graffiti

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Greek language[2]. The word in its most basic form means to write. Graffiti for all intents and purposes means to draw, scribble or write on a flat surface. In more recent decades it has evolved to include any flat surface available. This can include walls, sidewalks, sides of buildings and subway cars[3].

"Today, we equate graffiti with the "New York" or "Hip Hop" style which emerged from New York City in the 1970's[4]."

More recently graffiti has become incorporated with the Hip Hop music culture.

"Graffiti was incorporated into the Hip Hop culture and became a sort of triad with rapping and break dancing . Breakdancing has since lost much of its initial popularity, while rapping has emerged as a major style in American music. New York City was inundated with graffiti during the late seventies and early eighties. But as media coverage faded so do did the graffiti. Then in the mid-eighties a national TV program did a graffiti story and set off a graffiti wildfire which has ...

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was a 27 year old stockbroker who was driving his BMW to the sites he painted.

Graffiti has become so popular over the years that artists have begun to sell their work. Some artists command over $12,000 for a canvas of their tagging skills[9].

Graffiti has become a marketing success as well. Shops both online and in the retail sector sell caps, shirts, backpacks, hidden pocket shorts and other tools of the trade for those who want to perfect their ability[10].

"Graffiti vandalism is a problem in nearly every urban area in the world. Pro-graffiti web sites post photos of graffiti from Europe, South America, the Philippines, Australia, South Africa, China and Japan. Billions of ...

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