According to Ian Condry in his book, Hip-Hop Japan: Rap and the Paths of Cultural Globalization, he explains graffiti to be one of four parts of the hip-hop scene, followed by breakdance, rap, and DJing. He explains globilization of hip-hop, and with that gobilization of hip-hop, as he defines, some the globilization of graffitti.
Condry also states that graffiti artists in the hip-hop world in Japan "work for hire" (Condry 8) Rap artists use graffiti as a source of their growing hip-hop culture. Is that what we do here today? Although I dont think it is as extreme as it is in Japan, Graffiti plays a huge role in the typical view of hip-hop, from designs graffitied on shirts, to images on CD covers. But today is hip-hop big on graffiti? No. Political activism is.
Today, the term graffiti, I think, needs a new definition. The definition needs to be updated, adding the idea of political activism, to the realm of why some graffiti artist do what they do, once again. It started out with activists spreading their ideas in public domain, and I think in todays time, more and more politically driven graffiti is created. What also should be added to the definition is the word art. It plays a key role in the idea of graffitti today, and this new idea of stenciling a picture only adds to not only the definition of graffiti, but the definition of art itself.
Stencils from C215 in Rome, Italy
16 years ago
