The word graffiti comes from the Greek phrase meaning “to write”. Over time it evolved into the Latin word graffito. Graffiti in normal terms to the every day person maybe not be under stood but put in plain graffiti is a drawing, or a scribble that has some meaning. When we think of graffiti we associate it New York or Hip Hop. Graffiti was based around hip hop and rap music. If Rap music did not evolve into Hip hop then their might not have been any Graffiti art in the United States. That is where graffiti originated. It all started in New York around the 1970’s.

The Emerge of Hip Hop

Hip Hop did not always live in the lives and houses of main stream America like it does today. This was before MTV and 50 Cent and other modern hip hop artist. It originally started as an inner city concept. It evolved from rap music made in cities in New York, such as Brooklyn and Harlem in the late 1960’s. During this time Disco music was on the scene and Disco wasn’t the music for every one. Disco was centered in rich high end clubs of Manhattan and rap music was kind of an alternative to that life style. The people who made rap music and listened to it where by no means the rich people or the upper class of society. They came up with their own form of music which was hip hop and it helped express feelings about their life in the inner- city. Hip hop started a whole new evolution with the way that music sounds. They started rhyming or today known as “free styling”. And instead of playing a record and listening to it they would distort the sound my mixing it with other records and “scratching” it. The Phenomenon which can be seen in almost any city you visit is bunched speech is known as Graffiti or Writing. The beginning of this took place in New York between the end of the 60’s and beginning of the 70’s.

When you look at a Tag or a piece of some ones work you may not be able to read it but it all means something. And it expresses them. This was the beginning of a time when young people started to rival and fight over where they put their tags and their writings. And now much has changed since then. It is a sign of disrespect when you write your Tag over one that already exists in one area or on a certain wall. Of the originators of this was a man named Demetrius Moreover, he went by the name TAKI 183.He gave an interview the New York Times in 1971 and tried to explain this new phenomenon that was hitting the streets. And he explained that he traveled a lot by subway and during that time he would put his name on any thing and every thing, and this was the way to be known. But you can’t just go put your real name on every thing because it is not exactly legal. So that’s why every one goes by another name.It’s almost like you have two identities. To make your own name most people would make up a random name, then the street that they are from. For example TAKI 183 was his name and 183^rd street was the street that he was from.

However writers were not only kids. Tags were also made for some gangs to mark their territory and to make their presents known they would write their tag around their territory. If you were writing your name a wall in a not so good side of town and your friends were to see it you were some what of a local hero.

Spray painting

When spray paint was invented it revolutionized graffiti. Spray paint made Tagging more popular and also more visible.

Through out time tags have become more of a form of artistic expression then a way of making your self known. Spray paint aloud you to do bigger pieces and bigger letters. The word piece comes from the word Masterpiece and it is just a shorter way of saying the same thing. It was the new slang. But with the bigger letters came more drastic ways to decorate your work, Such as outlines and filling in the letters. The most popular canvas of the time where subway cars.