Unhip for Hip Hop Part I
As production and consumption are the nipples of modern society, disregard and alienation are the protein of Modern Graffiti. When one looks at Graffiti in the 1980's we witness the mindless consumption of fabricated myth. It can be concluded that Graffiti Writers have no allies, only interpreters. If we see the present clearly enough, we shall ask the right questions of the past. Old school rules because old school made them.
The closer we examine Modern Graffiti, the more obvious it becomes that it has nothing to do with Hip Hop. When Modern Graffiti emerges from the Philadelphia neighborhoods in the 1960's, it is clear that the roots and structure are autonomous. This is a natural, organic fact. All that is common between Hip Hop and Graffiti is the illusion of being together. Aligning Graffiti with Hip Hop is the bankrupt notion of permanent novelty. Graffiti as a part of Hip Hop is as false as a Disney smile. It is a purchase, a fabrication, packaged for consumption. Collective perceptions usually discolor the vision and many surrender their spirit. The false cause is the gasoline that fuels the engine pushing the right cause from the righteous. The foolish and ignorant place their head under the sands of convenience. Required is a call for the triumph of common sense.
When we question the organization of appearances we cross bridges of neglect, bridges well deserving of burning. Just due payback for the feeding frenzy of deception. The seductive nature and false security blanket of mass acceptance is a crutch. Graffiti revisionists contend that where the rubber meets the road is no different than where the ghetto meets the gutter. Indeed, oppression is in the eye of the beholder.
When these fabricators who document and profit from others' work demand "All Rights Reserved" we must shout back for "All Wrongs Justified."
Nothing is true except our conviction that the world we are asked to accept is false. Hip Hop is a product, packaged and sold. The commodity is the opium of the people. Acceptance of Graffiti in Hip Hop is living in the trivial; an empty gesture; the dead commodity; an insipid cause. You can't win except through ignorance.
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