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The Changing Role Of Graffiti In Hip-Hop Culture

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The word graffiti comes from the Italian word “graffito”, which in turn comes from the word “graffio” that means scratch. In fact, at the beginning graffiti was not painted on walls, but scratched into the surface. The word evolves through the centuries: first, the term referred to the inscriptions, or figure drawings, found on the walls of ancient ruins; now, it is linked to the metropolitan environment and the hip-hop culture. It is interesting to see its development through history. Although it is common to think of graffiti as a very modern way of expression, its origin is to be tracked back to the ancient world. On a wall of the ancient Greek city of Ephesus, there is a handprint that vaguely resembles a heart, along with a footprint and a number. This symbol is one of the first examples of graffiti, and it indicated that a brothel was nearby. Also, the eruption of Vesuvius preserved many types of graffiti in the Roman city of Pompeii. On the walls of this beautiful ancient city, someone can find: curses, magic spells, declarations of love, alphabets, political slogan and even many literary quotations. But graffiti was not only popular in these two ancient society: graffiti has also been found in the Mayan site of Tikal, in Guatemala; in Ireland, at Newgrange Mound, made by the Vikings; and on a banister in the Hagia Sophia in Costantinople, where a Varangian scratched his name in runes. …show more content…

The contemporary graffiti phenomenon is something that regards the second half of the 20th century, but there are traces of graffiti even during the two world wars. For example, on a wall at the fortress of Verdun, there is an inscription that

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