Graffiti in the 90s

From its early days graffiti writing has been closely tied to other underground cultures such as hip-hop, rap, DJ ing and breakdancing. The 1990’s incited a cultural wave through the emergence of hip-hop music into the mainstream entertainment scene (Bates, 2014). This music, although born in 1970’s, remained largely localized to inner-city communities until it exploded to mainstream popularity in the 1990’s. This migration into mainstream culture was influenced by rap and hip hop artists introducing their music to an entirely new audience through music videos broadcasted on mainstream television networks such as MTV and Much Music. As the popularity of this music increased, so did the lifestyle surrounding it. Hip-hop, gang life, break dancing, DJing and graffiti all became elements that were presented to an audience of youth that were no longer defined by limited geographic, economic or racial demographics. With this increase in mainstream popularity, graffiti suddenly became an attractive backdrop for promoting products, brands and people. Major companies began using graffiti in their advertising in attempt to leverage the social dynamic of graffiti to give their products an edgy, more vibrant feel for a more affluent consumer (Armitage, 2017).

This period of time also introduced the mainstream art world to graffiti and with it the promotion of graffiti as a merging of street art with commercial art (Bates, 2014). Many street artists that were previously adamant about the non-commercialism of their form found themselves in galleries, holding receptions and designing for a commercial audience. Graffiti writers like Shepard Fariey and Marc Ecko began leveraging their street writing background to create clothing lines like Obey and Ecko that produced streetwear that embraced the style and attitudes of graffiti writers. Some writers were able to successfully migrate into mainstream culture to the extent of designing for major corporations and even presidential campaigns as in the case with Shepard Fairey in Obama’s 2008 run for presidency (Stewart, 2017).

The acceptance, integration, promotion and glamorization of graffiti through mainstream media again propelled a new wave of young people into tagging (Weisel, 2011). Ambitious to establish themselves as players in the graffiti scene this influx of a new demographic of youth into practicing graffiti came with a significant cost.