Influence Runs Deep

By no means am I a fan of Hip Hop, so needless to say I’m sure you can imagine the dread I was feeling as I requested Wild Style at the AV library and forced myself to watch it. Now who would’ve thought that I’d actually find the film enjoyable? Needless to say, I was surprised. The focus given to graffiti art was a pleasant distraction for me from the underlying focus on Hip Hop which was present throughout the film; and a far cry from the depiction of Booty and Bling which disturbingly dominates Hip Hop culture of today.

While by no means does my tolerance of the film even remotely suggest I’m about to become a follower of the scene; it dawned on me throughout the viewing that Hip Hop and my preferred punk rock are not so different after all. While both genres are essentially products of the ‘underground,’ they’re also both extremely stylised through the influence of art and fashion. In some instances, a crossover occurs between the influences of each genre and the definition of each scene becomes increasingly blurred; as is evident within Auckland with the residence of graffiti artist ‘Misery’ at the punk-rock inspired store Illicit HQ (www.illicit.co.nz). Although Misery’s work isn’t specifically influenced by Hip Hop, her participation in ‘bombing’ trains in the early years of her career (as is evident within the TVNZ documentary ‘The Magical World of Misery’) is a direct example of what is illustrated by Zoro within Wild Style.