1990's Last Fight for the Subways

Writers and trains have an almost spiritual connection to one another as this is where hip hop graffiti was first conceived.The subway system was seen as a network system for graffiti, it was an icon for graffiti writers to get their work displayed to the public and especially to other 'writers'.

The graffiti writing on trains gave kids an alternative form of communication and widen areas of their culture whilst at the same time causing thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Train Terminology

Top to bottoms - This term refers to pieces that cover the top to the bottom of the subway car but not its length.
End to ends - as the name implies, these are creations that cover one end of a subway car to another, but not the entire car.

Whole Cars - This is the whole subway car - end to end, top to bottom (including the windows). The first whole car was painted in 1973 by Flint 707, it was doubly amazing because it was also a 3-D piece. The whole car is extensive coverage, it is 20 feet long and 12 feet high, maybe using 20 spraycans, and takes 8 hour or more. So the work would often be shared by groups or 'crews'. Who paints what part of the piece would be divided according to the skill and hierarchial ranking of the writer. The design (outline and colours) would be planned out in advance in writers' "black books" (artists sketch pads; carried everywhere). Because of the vast amount of spray paint needed, the writers would often "rack" (steal) the paint needed to create their artwork.


As graffiti grew and grew the only way to for the police to control the situation was to take away the one thing that graffiti writers need to be graffiti writers and that's fame. Their motto was "You write it, We'll clean it."

The article below fully outlines the stages the transit police in New York went to, to try and control Graffiti in the 1980's; http://www.nycsubway.org/articles/history-nycta1980s.html