Style Wars DRAFT

Ryu Tomita

101B – Sascha Frey

Oct. 9^th, 2012

How do writers (rappers & break dancers) redefine their spatial relationship with the architecture of the city? 

            Technically space is an open area that can be observed as unlimited; however when enclosed by solid objects or walls, it can be limited, but creatively used. As architecture majors, we are forced to understand spatial qualities and construct objects based on our comprehension of space. But de Certeau explains differently; space is determined by “stories” that the space holds in relative to its interaction with humans. In Style Wars, we observed the spring of the underground movement in the late 70s, early 80s, correlated with hip-hop: graffiti. Those who were associated with the early hip-hop movement (graffiti writers, rappers, and break-dancers) redefined the spatial relationship with the architecture of the city by exposing stories, through the arts, without occupying or manipulating physical space.

            First, writers redefined the special relationship with the layout of the city through graffiti art. Initially, graffiti began through writing one’s “tag” on buildings with spray cans, but later developed into a more intricate form of art. It morphed into “throw-ups” which are bubbled letters and later “pieces,” time-consuming, but more complex form graffiti, stylizing the artist’s name with customization. Pieces were thrown onto subways and traveled across the 5 boroughs to boost the writer’s ego and to feed creativity to other graffiti writers. Each “piece” reveals the individual artist’s story through their style and design of the artwork. Unfortunately, graffiti was not accepted by all, especially the Mayor of New York. He began anti-graffiti campaigns and periodically washed the subways to clean the exterior. As de Certeau would explain, the “transgression of the limit (space) , a disobedience of the law of the place” is a “attack on a state” or “’betrayal’ of an order. ( 128)” In other words, there are always going to be the few who would not understand the ambiguousness of space and will misunderstand the “stories.” This is due to the fact that the boundaries of the object that defines space (in this case graffiti), or “frontier and bridges (126) as de Certeau would insert, are not clearly visible.

Also, rappers and break-dancers also helped redefined the architecture of the city through language and stories. Rapper Nas is a great example of a rapper who rapped about the environment of New York during the early hip-hop era. He raps in his song “N.Y. State of Mind”:

“Be havin' dreams that I'ma gangster / drinkin Moets, holdin' Tecs / Makin' sure the cash came correct then I stepped /  Investments in stocks / sewein' up the blocks / To sell rocks / winnin' gunfights with mega cops / But just a nigga, walkin' with his finger on the trigger / Make enough figures until my pockets get bigger / I ain't the type of brother made for you to start testing”

Although these rhymes were written in a later zeitgeist than Style Wars, Nas’s verse already reveals the imagery and scenes from everyday New York. He exposes the youth’s ambition to deal drugs to compile enough money to “[invest] in stocks” in order to “sew up the blocks,” however in reality, the youth is simply “walkin’ with his finger on the trigger” not accomplishing anything, but labeled another brick in the wall. Rappers changed the landscape of New York by revealing the environment in which they lived in. The lyrics can be read anywhere in the world, but adds to the space of New York in the anthropological mapping system. As de Certeau would explain, these stories or raps are “fragments (122)” that “have the function of founding and articulating spaces (123)” that can be recorded. These stories have say in defining the city’s social and cultural landscape and space. This is related to break-dancing as well. Each b-boy (a term for breakdancer) must express him or herself individually in a sporadic matter. The fact that breakdance battles are geometrically in a circle it means that people are watching the dancer’s creativity from every angle. Although this mostly relates to the early hip-hop movement, but when a dancer created a new move, it was similar to a new style in graffiti, where other dancers were able to either copy or develop another idea off the new move.

            In conclusion, writers, rappers, and breakdancers of the early hip-hop movement redefined the spatial relationship through creating stories through their individual stories whether through spray cans, rhymes and poetry, or body movement. Although their movement didn’t occupy any physical volume or the traditional idea of space, they contributed to the anthropological volume of the city.