When I first moved to NYC I knew that I’d want to travel to Long Island, Queens to see the historical and legendary Graffiti art that made up 5 Pointz.
With a passion for the culture of hip hop and the understanding of its essential elements, I hopped on my bike, invited my good friend and DJ, DanYoLe, and traveled from the Lower East Side to the Mecca of Graffiti art.
I’d heard rumors of the murals deconstruction prior to my trip, so I was hopeful to capture video footage and photographs of the art work. I asked the young great, Jacinto Romero, a filmmaker and Queens native to join Dan and me on a tour of the site.
What we ended up creating was a music video compiled of images and video of the legendary Graffiti grounds. I wrote a song, entitled, “Hip Hop”, inspired by the continued conversation of Hip Hop’s disintegration and lack of artistic esthetic. Our plan was to use 5 Pointz as our backdrop for the song, however, we were asked to leave the grounds because we needed “official permission” to cover the work presently on display. So, similar to a graffiti artist, we took the liberty of using the space as best we could before getting caught. We took as much footage as we could of the site, and then had to move to the next street over.
All told, we made a pretty dope video. Unfortunately, 5 Pointz has been taken down and the building is set to be made into a 400 million dollar residential project.
In a lot of ways the music video we created highlights a few things; The first is Art, like Hip Hop, can be temporary, unless you collaborate with a collective group of artist working to preserve its importance. Lastly, the video demonstrates the voice of the artist. It says, No matter how you try and restrict us from creating, we are going to create by any means necessary. Its not for the fame nor the glory, but for the simple fact that we must and will create.
