Received an email from someone who put forward the following questions
who is the first documented graffiti writer in Scotland?
how far back can jazzy tags be claimed?
I sort of covered this in an early post which was slightly tongue in cheek. It did raise the question of whats the difference between "Tam was here" and someone putting up a tag as we would class it.
Personal opinion, I would say there were no Scottish "graff writers" before the whole Hip Hop package was delivered to the UK in the early 80's. I could be wrong.
For me as a young lad living in Dundee, the first writers that I knew of as graff writers were local boys Foxy, Cozmo and Bip. There could have been others and certainly there were others out around that time who became really prominent in the scene. That was back in 1985, although these guys could have been involved in graff for possibly a year or two by that time.
Thats my memory of that time and what was happening in Dundee. I have no real knowledge of what was going on throughout Scotland at that particular time. I know Gaz Mac has incorporated "Est 1983" onto the end of his tag. Were there others before him? Im sure Gaz or others would know. Again, would they know what was going on in other parts of Scotland? If not, can they claim to be the first?
The earliest flicks that I have on this site are archived as 1984 (Eez and Foxy) but by looking at these, particularly the Foxy piece, you can tell that this isnt his first attempt at graff.
Im sure there is loads of info out there, some fact, some slightly mixed up due to ageing memories and brain cells, and some that is absolute made up garbage. I would also put a large bet on this never being resolved.
It would be good to hear what others have to say.
who is the first documented graffiti writer in Scotland?
how far back can jazzy tags be claimed?
I sort of covered this in an early post which was slightly tongue in cheek. It did raise the question of whats the difference between "Tam was here" and someone putting up a tag as we would class it.
Personal opinion, I would say there were no Scottish "graff writers" before the whole Hip Hop package was delivered to the UK in the early 80's. I could be wrong.
For me as a young lad living in Dundee, the first writers that I knew of as graff writers were local boys Foxy, Cozmo and Bip. There could have been others and certainly there were others out around that time who became really prominent in the scene. That was back in 1985, although these guys could have been involved in graff for possibly a year or two by that time.
Thats my memory of that time and what was happening in Dundee. I have no real knowledge of what was going on throughout Scotland at that particular time. I know Gaz Mac has incorporated "Est 1983" onto the end of his tag. Were there others before him? Im sure Gaz or others would know. Again, would they know what was going on in other parts of Scotland? If not, can they claim to be the first?
The earliest flicks that I have on this site are archived as 1984 (Eez and Foxy) but by looking at these, particularly the Foxy piece, you can tell that this isnt his first attempt at graff.
Im sure there is loads of info out there, some fact, some slightly mixed up due to ageing memories and brain cells, and some that is absolute made up garbage. I would also put a large bet on this never being resolved.
It would be good to hear what others have to say.
