Andrew Knox

HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture

October 18, 2010

Reflection Paper #3: Destroy All Lines

Ranging from gangland territory markers to vivid murals, graffiti evokes different images for
each viewer. Graffiti is widely acknowledged as one of Afrika Bambaataa's four founding disciplines
of Hip-Hop, along with break dancing, DJing and MCing.1 Some find graffiti in any form distasteful,
regardless of artistic merit, while others defend graffiti as a First Amendment issue. Street art's
detractors claim that the entire concept is destructive to both public and private property, and is a
cumulative detriment to society. Many private businesses that focus on graffiti removal find a healthy
market in some municipalities, including Seattle, where property owners can be fined up to one
hundred dollars a day for refusing to remove graffiti promptly.2 On the other side are the bohemian
types, art critics, counterculture participants, the artists (or “writers”) themselves, or any person with a
favorable eye and an open mind.
The crux of the argument is the oft-repeated question, “is graffiti art or vandalism?” Before we
come to this, we must get a background on graffiti and its subsets. The English word, graffiti, is simply
defined as “the usually unauthorized writing or drawing on a public surface.”3 But that word has its
origins in the Ancient Greek word graphein, which meant “to write.” The Ancient Romans were the
first to assign graffiti (singular: graffito) the meaning of “a drawing or scribbling on a flat surface.”
Graffiti marks have been found in Roman ruins in Rome, Hadrian's Villa, Pompeii and in some Mayan
ruins.4 While some might make the automatic leap and say that if graffiti was truly art and not
vandalism, then the word commonly used to describe it ought to connote art and not vandalism, I
believe there are two distinct subsets of the word graffiti: tagging and street art. One is widely
considered vandalism, while the other is seen as artistic. Both are considered illegal if painted without
the property owner's permission.

Within tagging, there are two more subsets: gang graffiti and tagger graffiti.5 Tagging is quick

1 BBC
2 Seattle Public Utilities
3 Merriam-Webster
4 Phillips
5 Berg 3

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Andrew Knox
HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture
October 18, 2010

and dirty; one kid with one can of spray paint putting his message on a surface and then beat a hasty
exit. Since the method of tagging is all about getting in and out, its visual style also conveys its
minimalism, with bare bones tags being simple outlines or even completely unadorned text. Opponents
of graffiti and other street art cite tagging in their argument that the majority of illicit graffiti is nothing
close to tasteful art. Peter Vallone Jr., an active graffiti removal advocate and New York City
Councilman, has been quoted as saying “eighty-five percent of graffiti is just tags. Another ten percent
is gang communication.”6 This ten percent may seem mathematically unimportant, but with the
generation gap and prerequisite inside knowledge, tagging and gang graffiti are often lumped together.
The ten percent gang graffiti figure seems to translate nationally; reports quoting the Seattle Police
Department's Graffiti Rangers program state that “less than ten percent of the graffiti that [the Graffiti
Rangers see] is gang related.”7
Gang graffiti is the least artistic form of street graffiti, since the intent is to threaten rival
gangsters, instead of inspire neighborhood visitors. Sprayed in various easily seen spots around a given
neighborhood, gang graffiti brands the area as gang territory. Gang graffiti messages are usually
painted in the gang's chosen color, and typically “consist[s] of cryptic codes and initials rigidly styled
with specialized calligraphies.”8 When a gang places special emphasis on its brand, the gang's “graffiti
may merge with other art forms, like tattoo and clothing styles, to create a bounded system the
concerns of which may incorporate illegitimate economic and social practices that branch far beyond
the reaches of the actual graffiti.”9
Tagger graffiti is stylistically similar to gang graffiti, but it vends messages without criminal
association. Other forms of graffiti, such as “bathroom wall marking (latrinalia), signatures,
proclamations of love, witty comments in response to advertisements, and any number of individual,
political, or social commentary (folk epigraphy)” fall into the broader category of individual graffiti.10
A Time Magazine article from 1964, “The Spoilers,” eloquently (if negatively) described the
rising trend of street graffiti made with spray paint:
The aerosol paint can is science's contribution to the ancient art of public defacement,
6 Adler
7 Berg 3
8 Phillips
9 Phillips
10 Phillips

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HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture
October 18, 2010

and the vacant-minded or vicious are taking to it in ever-increasing numbers -- gleefully

spraying their names, initials, class numerals and favorite biological functions over national
monuments and natural wonders. The taxpayers' bill for cleaning up after them is getting higher
all the time.11

But, certainly, not all graffiti is ugly. There is a lot of graffiti that even the most stalwart street
art enemy would have to grudgingly admit is artistic. I call this genre street art, and there are two
further subsets beneath it: burners and commercial spray paint art. The difference between the subsets
is the canvas material. Burners usually occupy similar habitats to tags: the walls, sidewalks, crevices
and subway trains of any modern, decaying metropolis, while commercial spray paint art uses
conventional art surfaces, like poster board, cardboard, paper, wood, metal, glass, ceramic or plastic.12
Commercial spray paint art is distinct (some might say separate) from other forms of graffiti for
three reasons. The first is that it is not inherently illegal to practice, since it is usually commissioned by
a patron and produced with materials the artist owns. The second is that the artist gets paid for his art,
displacing the standard graffiti motive of earning respect and recognition on the streets. The third is
that the artist does not need to hide their identity. While most street graffiti artists may crouch behind
their chosen alias, a commercial spray paint artist typically reveals their full name. These differences
are so vastly different from other forms of graffiti that, in the strict, technical sense, spray paint art is
not really graffiti, but actually a genre of legitimate art that emulates the style of ornate street graffiti
that happens to utilize spray paint as its primary medium.13 While some commercial spray paint artists
could be fairly labeled as “sell-outs,” spray paint art's commercial viability has given credence to
graffiti's general acceptability, or, as one Brooklyn art gallery director said, “[graffiti art shows] sent a
wave around the world that [street art is] legitimate, relevant and people need to pay attention to it.”14
And lastly, my favorite subset of graffiti: burners. @149st, a website dedicated to revitalizing
the Old School of graffiti (where burners were treasured over tags), defines a burner as “a technically
and stylistically well-executed wild style [a complicated construction of interlocking letters] piece.

11 Time Magazine
12 Anonymous
13 Phillips
14 Adler

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HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture
October 18, 2010

Generally done in bright colors.”15 Burners were extensively featured in the 1983 films Wild Style16
and Style Wars17. The burners shown in these films were usually painted on the sides of New York
subway trains, but also sometimes as murals on the sides of businesses that hired the artists. The
primary motivation for writers in the Old School era18 was obtaining fame, which they defined as their
pieces gaining a wide audience across New York City via piggybacking on the sides of subway cars.
My favorite burners in Style Wars were the plethora of signature train burners by Seen.19
Another difference between burners and other forms of graffiti is the tendency for writers to
operate in crews, collectives of artists who often work on the same piece simultaneously.20 Crews give
writers a sense of safety in numbers that diminishes anxieties associated with being caught by
authorities, resulting in a more relaxed environment where artists can take their time and carefully craft
exquisite pieces. Since burners are group-oriented whereas tags are individualized, burner writers have
developed a stronger culture and code of ethics than taggers have. Especially around the concept of
style...
"Style is a very concrete idea among writers. It is form, the shapes of the letters, and
how they connect. There are various categories of style, ranging from the old, simple bubble
letters ... to highly evolved and complex wild style, an energetic interlocking construction of
letters with arrows and other forms that signify movement and direction."
Just as one can say "thanks," and mean it honestly, sarcastically, scornfully, or any of a
thousand different ways, it is how the word is delivered that determines how it is understood.
Graffiti without style, much like a monotonous voice, becomes ambiguous, and is either
interpreted with hatred or indifference. Simply put, style speaks a thousand more words than a
writer's tag ever will.21

While tags may now dominate over burners as the primary form of street graffiti, quality graffiti
will never die out. There will always be a place in the urban jungle for graffiti pieces that took more

15 @149st
16 Ahearn
17 Chalfant
18 @149st: “Old School: The writing culture prior to 1984. This date can vary greatly depending upon who you ask.”
19 Chalfant
20 @149st: “Crew: Organized group of writers”
21 Meem

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Andrew Knox
HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture
October 18, 2010

than a minute to create. All forms of graffiti are forms of defying authority while at the same time
forcing authority, and society at large, into acknowledging the artist's existence. The average graffiti
writer is a male teenager, but the art form is far from exclusive; graffiti artists come in all colors,
genders, ages and socio-economic classes.22 Graffiti's simplicity, low initial investment, room for
advancement and accessibility has made New York-style spray paint graffiti popular all over the world,
from Seattle Central, to Singapore, to Saudi Arabia.23
So, once again posed with the thesis question, “is graffiti art or vandalism?”, my answer is...
“it depends.” I feel that tags are ugly, unoriginal and destructive, while burners and commercial spray
paint art pieces are beautiful and enriching society. One quote I came across in my research seemed to
be some excellent advice for apprentice graffiti writers, also known as Toys24: “remember, time isn't of
the essence. The trains, buildings, and highways aren't going anywhere, so take the time necessary to
evolve your style before going out and making a public display.”25

22 Krishnan
23 Ambah 5
24 @149st: “Toy: Inexperienced or incompetent writer.”
25 Meem

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Andrew Knox
HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture
October 18, 2010

Works Cited:

1. @149st. "Graffiti Dictionary" The Cyber Bench: Documenting New York City Graffiti, 7
Sep 2007. Web. 18 Oct 2010. <http://www.at149st.com/glossary.html>.

2. Adler, Margot. "Brooklyn Store Celebrates The Art Of Graffiti." National Public Radio, 14
Jul 2008. Web. 18 Oct 2010. <http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?
storyId=92521444>.

3. Ahearn, Charlie, Dir. Wild Style. Perf. Quinones, George. First Run Features: 1983, Film.
<http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084904/fullcredits>.

4. Ambah, Faiza Saleh. "Graffiti Give Voice to Saudi Youth." Washington Post, 27 Sep 2007.
Web. 19 Oct 2010. <http://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=sites&srcid=c2VhdHRsZWNlbnRyYWwuZWR1fGRyLWQtYWJlfGd4OjM2Njh
jNWY2ZWI4MDQ3NDc>.

5. Anonymous. "Spray Paint Art." Wikipedia. Wikimedia, 2010. Web.

<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spray_paint_art>.

6. BBC. "The Four Elements of Hip Hop." British Broadcasting Corporation, 2 Jan 2003.
Web. 19 Oct 2010. <http://abovegroundmagazine.com/blogs/words-i-manifest/09/30/hip-
hop-a-culture-of-four-elements/>.

7. Berg, Ericka. "Wiping Out Graffiti." Seattle Times, 11 Oct 2007. Web. 18 Oct 2010.
<http://docs.google.com/viewer?
a=v&pid=sites&srcid=c2VhdHRsZWNlbnRyYWwuZWR1fGRyLWQtYWJlfGd4OjM2Njh
jNWY2ZWI4MDQ3NDc>.

8. Chalfant, Henry, Dir. Style Wars. Dir. Tony Silver." Perf. Cap, Seen. Public Broadcasting
System: 1983, Film. <http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0177262/fullcredits>.

9. Krishnan, Sonia. "Graffiti vandals cost public millions." Seattle Times 26 Apr 2010: n. pag.
Web. 18 Oct 2010. <http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/PrintStory.pl?
document_id=2011702691&zsection_id=2003925728&slug=graffiti26m&date=20100425>.

10. Meem. "Graffiti Introduction." Art Crimes, 11 Jul 1999. Web. 18 Oct 2010.
<http://www.graffiti.org/faq/graffiti_intro.html>.

11. Merriam-Webster. "Graffiti Definition." Merriam-Webster, 17 Mar 2009. Web. 18 Oct 2010.
<http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graffiti>.

12. Phillips, Susan. "Graffiti Definition: The Dictionary of Art ." Art Crimes, 9 Nov 2003. Web.
18 Oct 2010. <http://www.graffiti.org/faq/graf.def.html>.

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HUM 125 – Hip-Hop Theory and Culture
October 18, 2010

13. Seattle Public Utilities (SPU). Graffiti Nuisance Ordinance. Seattle: City Council, 1994.
Web. 18 Oct 2010.
<http://www.seattle.gov/util/Services/Garbage/KeepSeattleClean/Graffiti_Prevention_&_Re
moval/GraffitiNuisanceOrdinance/index.htm>.

14. Smith, Forrest. "Graffiti Playing Tag with Your Tuition Dollars." City Collegian, 11 Oct
2007. Web. 19 Oct 2010. <SAME URL AS AMBAH>.

15. Time Magazine. "Graffiti Archive Collection." Time Magazine, 5 Mar 2007: n. pag. Web. 18
Oct 2010. <http://www.time.com/time/archive/collections/0,21428,c_graffiti,00.shtml>.