Paulina Reyes
November 15, 2023
The Philadelphia Community Life improvement program defines graffiti as:
“Graffiti is a crime that occurs when vandals deface properties for destructive purposes, hate crimes, or to indicate drug and gang activity. Other misguided individuals vandalize properties to showcase their tags and ‘pieces’ on your homes, businesses, vehicles, etc. The results of which are a nuisance to property owners, many of whom are unable to afford the repeated clean-up costs.”
One sunny day in Philadelphia in1967, a man changed street art forever when he wrote CORNBREAD on the wall of an electric company. Known as the Godfather and Legend of all Legends, Mr. Darryl Mccay was the first Graffiti writer. A Philadelphia native, Mccay got his name while in reformative school where he assisted the cooks. He turned his white bread into the cornbread they had baked, cooks said “get your ass in line.” Cornbread had a ring to it. He wrote it behind the tags of his shirts. Writing it all over the walls of the juvenile institution, everyone noticed his clear red, bold writing. People started to talk, the more they talked, the more Cornbread wrote. He became a household name in the art and style of writing. His most famous piece was when he tagged the entire Philadelphia Zoo and The Jackson five private jet. Going all over world, Cornbread stretches to California, Japan, and Africa. You may have even seen it yourself once. Alongside Cornbread is Dr.Cool, Notorious BIK, Cool Earl, Klepto Kidd and Jk ,who would go on to establish the street art history in Philadelphia with their unique styles. Planting their roots deep within the city. They created the styles that young graffiti writers use and adapt today. Fast forward to present day, a new wave of graffiti writers who have been influenced by the legends before them. The next generation of writers are beginning to make their tags known as well. Busta Rimas, born in Colombia, began graffiti writing with his friends in the skatepark. Listening to hip hop,wearing baggy jeans, they tagged the streets of Chía. Busta grew up in Chía, the suburbs, an hour away from Bogota, the capital of Colombia.
He learned about graffiti when he was 8 in the skatepark with his friends. Inspired by the hip hop culture, indigenous roots of his hometown, and reggae, he started “the Natural Mystic Family.” A Group of dedicated graffiti writers in Bogota. After attending art school there, he came to Philly to learn about graffiti history. Coming full circle, he soon learned of Cornbread, Dr. Cool and Notorious BIK. Along with many more. In an interview with the Streets Dept, a blog that celebrates the street art of Philadelphia, he said “Damn. Philly has a better sense of graffiti than other cities, like they have roots and a characteristic hand style.” Through learning about the history and learning english, he soon found his community of other memorable graffiti writers who taught him the history and skill unique to Philadelphia. He blended his two styles from his traditional portraits and Philadelphia graffiti writers. He created his own style of realistic portraits of Nukak-Makú, an indigenous group of people native to Colombia’s Amazonas. Along their faces he writes his calligraphy, written with influences of the graffiti writers before him. Stories like these remind me of how Philly’s art history of graffiti writers and hip hop inspire everyone around. Keeping this culture alive through education of the arts is vital to fund young artists who want to learn as well. To further protect it, fund it, and to prevent youth and other graffiti writers from being targeted as vandals in the neighborhood. It brings up the conversations of how graffitists are said to be associated with crime, or gang affiliated. Not all graffiti writers are gang affiliated, or vandals. Their styles speak volumes of the history and skill within their calligraphy and bubble letters. In the Streets Dept article, they ask Busta what he thought of the definition of graffiti, he goes on to say, “*Laughs* It’s a pretty accurate definition, man. If you go back in history, again, graffiti started mainly as a protest media to say something against what is going on in the government or the city…The people that are giving the definition are not educated on the fact that not all graffiti is gang affiliated and almost no Philly graffiti nowadays is gang affiliated and a lot of the early Philly writers used graffiti as an opportunity to stay out of drug and gang activity.” Graffiti and art open doors for youth in the community to learn and grow as their own artists or creatives. Whether it’s an expression of love, or freedom and rebellion. There is a community here. They are graffiti writers and skaters. Hip-hop dancers and music all come together, to paint, dance and enjoy each other’s art. Graffiti writers testify to their presence and their skill. What once was a blank wall now having a bubble heart. Through the Murals Arts project, a nonprofit that supports the creation of public murals in Philadelphia, as well as freelancing, many graffiti writers become well known and can have their art respected instead of painted over. They set the foundation hand in hand with the lively hip hop culture in Philly too. Philadelphia has been monumental in hip hop culture, making hip hop music what it is today. Despite hip hop having its roots in New York, Philly made a mark of its own. This year marks 50 years of hip hop in Philadelphia. To celebrate, Murals Arts Project and “TAME ARTZ” an art curator, have partnered to paint a mural on 900 Cecile B Moore Avenue on North Broad Street. This mural titled Know the Elements stretches across the Septa railway underpass. The Mural captures hip hop’s four elements that define the music and community. The breaking DJ’s. The graffiti writers, rappers and icons painted on the walls, in honor of their work. To pay homage to what Philly has made in the hip hop music scene. The hip-hop culture icons like DJ Jazzy Jeff, B-girl PepC, Reef the Lost Cause, INFA, Queen Jo and Michele Byrd-McPhee from Ladies of Hip-Hop are all on the wall. Ladies of Hip-Hop started by Michele Byrd-Mcphee is marking 20 years in 2023 too, they have a space to celebrate and teach young girls of the mark women had in hip-hop culture. They celebrate the women who paved the road for hip-hop music, like Wendy Clark better known as Lady B a Philly native rapper who was the earliest female rapper in hip hop. Known for her song To The Beat. Winning prestigious awards, Ladies of Hip hop recognize the women who are often overlooked in the art and hip-hop scene, despite what they did to ultimately put hip-hop in Philadelphia on the map. To see the Mural check out 900 Cecile B Moore Avenue. The next time you see graffiti take a moment and appreciate it. It started here and has the power to continue to uplift and educate our communities of different artistic styles. It continues to inspire Philly artists and artists around the world. Finding community in art and music is beautiful and it’s what Philly is about. It brings people together, people tell their stories and histories, keeping art and scripture writing alive quite literally in the streets when you see another name. Pay close attention, you’ll notice the graffiti writers are everywhere, within your own neighborhood. Hip Hop is one of the greatest genre we know, blasting in the neighborhood homes, from underground to mainstream. From Block parties to the Grammies, Hip-hop has transformed and grown over the 21st century and will continue to shift as new sounds and new artists come up in the future. Philly has marked that too. Hip-hop would not be what it is today without Philadelphia. Within my neighborhood, there’s Roofus, Skull, TaEO, NyKon and Girl. I see them everyday and I’ll never know what they look like, they’re unseen and work when no one watches. When I skate at FDR, they stretch up the high wall’s skaters run up by. I always know they are around. There’s mystery behind who’s the face behind the bright bold letters, that adds to the charm of it all. What you certainly won’t miss is each writer’s expression within the letters on the wall or their drawing with can paint.
Philip Reid “The Student of the Game, an Oral History with Philadelphia Graffiti writer Busta” The Streets Dept , August 13th 2018. student-of-the-game-a-streets-dept-oral-history-with-philadelphia-graffiti-writer-busta
“How to Celebrate 50th Anniversary of Hip Hop in 2023.” Visit Philadelphia, Mural Arts and TAMEARTZ ” Updated August 21st , 2023 https://www.visitphilly.com/articles/philadelphia/50th-anniversary-hip-hop/#know-the-elements-mural
The Streets Dept: “History Lesson: Philadelphia (Not New York,) the Birthplace of Street Art” August 12th 2012. https://streetsdept.com/2012/08/01/history-lesson-philadelphia-not-new-york-the-birthplace-of-street-art/
Lady B , “To The Beat.” https://youtu.be/cmTssM-tAuw?si=fEusoVMSEFKwNZwl
