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A time line showing all the graffiti main events from 1969 to present day.
1969
* Don Campbell had become a well-known street dancer in Los Angeles and invented a dance called "Campbellock".
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1970-1973
* The origin of tagging, began in New York City in the early 70s by Vic, a mail courier who rode the local subways and buses to deliver his packages. He set a goal for himself to visit every subway and ride every bus in NY. (aka "All City") He began to write his name (Vic) and his courier ID number (156) on every subway and bus he rode on.
* Phase 2 (bubble styles), Case 2, Tracy 168, Sly II, Chain 3, Lee 163d, Julio 204, Frank 207 and Joe 136 were many early NYC tag names as well as originators of various styles of piecing such as: bubble, wildstyle and computer style.
* No one knows who started graffiti during this era but we do know who made it famous. It was TAKI 183, a Greek teenager from Washington Heights named Demetrius.
* One of the most revered graffiti crew and earliest group to form was the Ex-Vandals.
* "Independent Writers" indicated their crew affiliation by writing "INDS" after their tags.
* Graffiti group "Wanted" was founded by TRACY 168 in 1972. Tracy was a white kid who was so tough that he was allowed to hang out with the Black Spades (At its peak in the seventies "Wanted" had over seventy members.)
* The Graffiti bombing movement began in the mid to late '60s in Philly, PA by writers CORNBREAD and COOL EARL.
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1973
* Kool Herc, Father of Hip-Hop, aka Clive Campell, deejayed his first block party. He played soul, old funk and R&B records on his turntables. He was born in Jamaica and immigrated in '67 (age 12) from Kingston where he brought his knowledge of the Jamaican soundsystem scene to the Bronx.
* Kool Herc played the 'break' or 'getdown' sections - the part where the break beat or percussion part of the song was played in its rawest form. But because the breaks of the songs weren't very long, he expanded them by using two turntables with double copies of the record. The "breakbeats" he rocked layed the foundation for the B-Boys (Break-Boys - The dancers who rocked out on the dancefloor during these breaks.
* Official birthday of The Universal Zulu Nation is November 12,1973.
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1975
* "Emceeing" evolved from party shouts like "'Kool Herc is in the house and he'll turn it out without a doubt".
* New York City was broke with a poorly maintained transit system. Bubble lettered throw up pieces appeared all over the cars.
* "Throw ups" peaked from '75 thru '77 from throw up kings IZ, PI, IN, LE, TO, OI, FI, CY, TEE, PEO, TI 149 and DY 167.
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1976
* Bam's first official DJ battle was against Disco King Mario at Junior High School 123 (a.k.a. the Funky 3).
* Graffiti artist Lee Quinones became well known for his subway car murals.
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1977
* German band Kraftwerk releases "Trans-Europe Express," a trancelike synth anthem that becomes the primary source for Electro-Funk artists like Bamabaataa, Planet Patrol, Jonzun Crew, and Newcleus.
* The NYC Transit Authority established a giant subway car wash at its Coney Island train yard at annual cost of $400,000. (sprayed with petroleum hydroxide.)
* Graffiti "style revival" with a new wave of creativity in late 1977 from crews TDS, TMT, UA, MAFIA, TS5, CIA, RTW, TMB, TFP, TC5 and TF5.
1978
* Lee Quinones abandoned painting his murals on the subway trains and started painting his murals on handball courts. (Handball court painting originated with TRACY 168.)
* In 1978, Kurtis Blow needed a DJ. Russell Simmons was Kurtis' manager at the time and his brother Joseph (aka as Run of Run DMC) got the job. He got his name "Run" because he could cut between two turntables so quickly.
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1979
* The cult-classic movie "Warriors" is released which details street gangs all throughout NYCs 5 borroughs and shows heavy signs of subway graffiti.
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1981
* On February 14th, The Funky 4 plus One More performed their classic hit,"That's The Joint" on NBC's Saturday Night Live becoming the first hip hop Group to appear on national television.
* Dynamic Rockers and Rock Steady Crew battle at the Lincoln Center.
* Grandmaster Flash's "Adventures on the Wheels of Steel" is the 1st rap record to bring the real sounds of live DJ scratching on wax.
* Disco Daddy and Captain Rapp's "Gigolo Rap" (Rappers Rapp #1989) is the first west-coast rap on vinyl.
* ABC's 20/20 shows the first national television coverage of the "Rap Phenomenon".
* Beastie Boys are formed: Adam Horovitz aka King Ad-Rock (b. October 31, 1966) ~ Adam Yauch aka MCA (b. August 5, 1964) ~ Michael Diamon aka Mike D (b. November 20, 1965).
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1982
* Popular graffiti artist Futura 2000 puts out a record with himself rhyming called "Futura 2000 and His Escapades" with music done by the Clash, signifying the beginning of the rock/rap fusion.
* Wild Style, co-created by Fab 5 Freddy and directed by Charlie Ahearn, is released featuring the first full-length account of all four elements in hip hop culture: Graffiti, DJ-ing, MCing, and B-boying. The actors are played by the real members of New York's hip hop scene including graffiti legends Lee, Zephyr, Fab 5 Freddy, Lady Pink, Crash, Daze, Dondi and showcases performances from Grandmaster Flash, Grandwizard Theodore, DJ AJ, Grandmixer D.S.T and Rock Steady Crew members: Crazy Legs and Frosty Freeze. The soundtrack was produced by Fab 5 Freddy and Chris Stein with performances by Double Trouble, Cold Crush Brothers, Fantastic Freaks, Chief Rocker Busy Bee, Rammellzee and Shockdell.
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1983
* A Documentary of subway graffiti in New York "Style Wars", filmed by photographer Henry Chalfant and directed by Tony Silver, is aired on PBS featuring several interviews with popular graffiti writers of the time including Crash, Daze, Dondi, Zephyr, Revolt, Kase2, Skeme, Haze and Seen as well as interviews with the Metropolitan Transit Authority and NYC Mayor Ed Koch. More raw footage of hip hop's other elements in Rock Steady Crew, Busy Bee and Grandmaster Flash.
* Ice T puts out his first singles, "Cold Winter Madness" and "Body Rock/Killers" which are considered some of the first West Coast gangster raps.
1984
* "It's Yours" (Cat. PT-104, 101 BPM) by T La Rock & Jazzy Jay is first record on Def Jam, on the vanity PARTY TIME label (Arthur Baker's Streetwise subs.). This was written by Kevin Keaton & Rick Rubin and recorded at Power Play studios. It was followed up by LL's "I Need a Beat" and the rare "Beastie Groove" by the Beastie Boys.
*1989
* On May 12, 1989 the MTA declared a victory over graffiti, removing all marked subway cars from line service.
* "Cowboy" of Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five died after spending nearly two years hooked on crack. He was 28 years old. (RIP)
* Tribe Called Quest releases "Description of A Fool" in August 1989. Tribe consisted of Q-Tip (b. Jonathan Davis, 20 November 1970, New York), DJ Ali Shaheed Muhammed (b. 11 August 1970, Brooklyn, NYC), Jarobi and Phife Dog (b. Malik Taylor, 10 April 1970, Brooklyn, NYC).
* Dallas rapper "The D.O.C." releases "No One Can Do It Better" produced by Dr. Dre. This album was still burning up the charts when a car crash almost killed the D.O.C., greatly hindering his rapping abilities.
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1990
* Return of the B-Boy in the UK. B-Boys are back. There is massive interest in the dance form within British Hip-Hop culture. The revival here is led by crews such as Born To Rock, UK Rock Steady Crew and Second To None.
* 2Pac joins Digital Underground as a roadie and dancer.
* Schoolly D appears on the Phil Donahue Show to talk about Money & Rap music.
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1991
* Cypress Hill released its self-titled debut Cypress Hill. The members B-Real, DJ Muggs and Sen Dog became supporters of hemp legalization and official musical spokesmen for the National Organization to Reform Marijuana Laws.
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1993
* Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" goes multi-platinum and starts a gangsta bandwagon.
* Wu Tang Clan drops the platinum debut album Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers). Staten Island's Wu-warriors: Prince (The RZA) Rakeem, Raekwon, Ol' Dirty Bastard, Method Man, Ghost Face Killah, Genius (GZA), U-God, Master Killa and Inspectah Deck.
* The Dream Team (DJ Qbert and MixMaster Mike aka Invisible Skratch Piklz) win World DJ Championship.
* HOT 97 switches from a dance format to become "Where Hip Hop Lives", heralding the coming of DJ Funkmaster Flex.
* Cypress Hill released its second album, Black Sunday, which debuts at #1 in Billboard.
* Mobb Deep members Prodigy and Havoc (Queens, NYC) released their debut album, Juvenile Hell, on the 4th & Broadway label.
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1994
* Common (aka Common Sense) releases Resurrection pure hip-hop is resurrected; Common is acclaimed as one the best lyricists of all time.
* Dels No Need for Alarm is released in December; he used multi-syllabisms, which soon start a whole new form of rhymes in the underground community.
* November: Tupac shot in a New York recording studio 5 times and robbed of $40,000 worth of Jewlery Sentenced to prison where he served 8 months in New York Rikers Island.
* NAS aka Nassir Jones went Gold with his first album "Illmatic" but it was "If I Ruled the World" with vocals by Lauryn Hill that pushed him into the hip-hop mainstream spotlight.
* Warren G aka Warren Griffen (half brother of Dr Dre) debut album "Regulate - G-Funk Era" sold over 4 million copies. "Regulate" appeared on the Above the Rim soundtrack and hit number 2 on the music charts.
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1995
* First B-Boy Summit that is documented is held in San Diego, CA hosted by AsiaOne, RSC.
* Rawkus becomes one the biggest underground label ever with groups like Company Flow, and BlackStar; they release several prolific album like Funcrushers Plus (which later with formation of Def Jux starts a whole new underground movement) and BlackStar which shoots hip-hop commercially. Co. Flow eventually leaves Rawkus; Rawkus signs with MCA and closes the doors.
* Indie label Fondle Em records formed by Bobitto features Cenobites (Godfather Don and Kool Keith). Later to sign Company Flow.
* Queen Latifah won a Grammy Award in the category of best rap solo performance for her hit UNITY.
* Suge Knight posts Tupac's $1.4 million bail, Tupac signs with Death Row Records.
* Eazy-E (aka Eric Wright) of NWA passed away of AIDS on the 20th of March at age 31. He entered LA's Cedars-Sinai hospital on 24 February for a lung problem. He was the first rapper ever to admit having full-blown AIDS.
* Legendary Beatboxer Darren "Buff the Human Beat Box" Robinson of the Fat Boys died of a heart attack on Dec 10, 1995 in Rosedale, NY. (RIP)
* Christopher Wallace aka Notorious B.I.G is featured in the "Unsigned Hype" column of The Source magazine. Former Source editor, Matty C, played Biggie's tape for Puffy and the rest is history. His single "One More Chance" from the debut album "Ready To Die" went straight to number 1 in the US while the album went multi-platinum.
* Blaze Battle Face-Off 2000 World Championship airs on HBO, Eyedea won the contest's Micman trophy and an official Blaze Battle leather jacket.
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1996
* The original Dr. Octagon album, "Dr Octagonecologyst", re-launched Kool Keith in the late ninties and made a star of its producer, Dan The Automator. The album production pioneers a new form of sampling never heard before.
* On September 7th, 1996, 2Pac was shot in Las Vegas, NV after watching a Mike Tyson fight. On Sept 13th he died at 4:03pm. (RIP)
* First DMC World DJ Champion - DJ Cheese (USA).
* Bone Thugs-N-Harmony break the record for fastest rising single with their hit "Tha Crossroads", the spot was previously held by The Beatles for "Can't Buy Me Love".
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1997
* Scribble Jam (which started in 96) becomes a successful underground event displaying stars such as Slug, Dose One, Eminem, Sage Francis and others.
* On March 9, 1997, Notorious B.I.G. (aka Biggie Smalls, whose legal name was Christopher Wallace) was gunned down while he was leaving a star-studded Vibe magazine party after the Soul Train Music Awards. (Sean "Puffy" Combs was riding in the vehicle ahead of him.) (RIP)
* Missy Misdeanor Elliott won 2 Billboard Video Music Awards for Best Rap Clip and Best New Rap Artist Clip ("The Rain").
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1998
* Dr. Dre signs Eminem to his Aftermath label after hearing the rapper freestyling on a Los Angeles radio station. The Slim Shady LP is released on Feb. 23, 1999 and hits No. 2 on the Billboard charts within weeks.
* People included Lauryn Hill as one of the "25 Most Intriguing People of 1998."
* Interscope Records, parent company of Death Row Records, severs ties with Death Row. Dr Dre, founder, president and producer leaves months before the announcement.
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1999
* Anticon releases Music for the Advancement of Hip-Hop; hip-hop music involves into a new form.
* Lauryn Hill was the first woman to nominated for 10 awards in Grammy history, and won 5 of them, Best Female R&B Vocal Performance ("Doo Wop"), Best New Artist, Best R&B Album and Best R&B Song (songwriter).
* On Dec. 27, 1999, at the Club New York in Manhattan, shots that injured three people were fired after a patron reportedly threw money in Combs' face.
* Big L (aka Lamont Coleman), was shot and killed Feb. 15 near his home in Harlem. (RIP)
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2000
* April 26, 2000, Andre Young, aka Dr. Dre, has filed a lawsuit against online music firm Napster, alleging the company violated his copyrights by allowing users to trade digital copies of his songs. (Go Napster!)
* DJ Craze wins the Technics DMC World DJ Championship 3 times in a row: 1st Place - Craze(USA), 2nd Place - DJ Dexta(Australia), 3rd Place - Mr Thing (UK).
* Invisible Skratch Picklz (ISP) break up. DJ Apollo, Vinroc and Shortcut form TripleThreatDJs to rock hip hop shows (album coming in Fall '01) and Qbert continues as a scratch DJ / producer.
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2001
* LL Cool J is beign sued for his song 1997 "4, 3, 2, 1." by four of Furious Five members. They say the song used a sample from their 1979 hit "SuperRappin'" without permission.
* KRS ONE's album to drop in March: "The Sneak Attack." The album will be brought to us in March by the indie label In The Paint. Listen to the new single: "The One".
* Hip-Hop legends KRS-One, Grand Master Flash and Afrika Bambaata, along with the Reverend Al Sharpton, recently gathered to announced the beginning of the fourth annual Hip-Hop Appreciation Week, scheduled to begin in May.
* Eminem plead guilty to one of two felony charges his facing from an incident last June when he allegedly pistol-whipped a man he caught kissing his wife. Prosecutors dropped the felony assault charge in exchange for Em's guilty plea on carrying a concealed weapon. Sentencing is set for April 10.
* DJ Qbert releases animated movie "Wave Twisters". Official selection at The Sundance Film Festival, 2001. Based on Q-Berts groundbreaking LP, Wave Twisters Episode 70 Million: sonic wars within the protons. Animated into a feature film by acclaimed graffiti artist DUG-ONE. This is the first feature length graffitti art animated film in history.
* 2Pac's "Until The End Of Time" debuts at No. 1 on Billboard 200 albums chart after selling more than 426,800 copies in its first week.
* Puff Daddy revealed in an exclusive post-trial interview with MTV that he has changed his name to P. Diddy.
* Beastie Boys Debut album "Licensed To Ill" was certified 9x platinum in September.
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Random facts* In the 50s graffiti was used by gangs to denote territory.
* Graffiti artist SUPER KOOL 223 of the Bronx (commonly credited for doing the first 'masterpiece') replaced the narrow dispersion cap on his spray paint with a wider spraying cap found on a can of oven cleaner.
* Some other important Graffiti Writing groups which existed in NYC were The Bad Artists, the Writers Corner 188, the Magic, Inc., the Three Yard Boys, the Vanguards, the Ebony Dukes, the Mad Bombers, the Death Squad, the Mission Graffiti, the Rebels, the Wild Style, the Six Yard Boys, and the Crazy 5.
* Probably the most famous tag in Graffiti culture was "Stay High 149". He used a smoking joint as the cross bar for his "H" and a stick-like figure from the TV series "The Saint".
* The term "Style Wars" stemmed from RIFF 140, who would take ideas from other writers and improve them to the next level.
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