Ryu Tomita
101B – Sascha
Frey
Oct. 9th,
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.
Black peacoat. 
