The GraffLife: A Documentary On Urban Hieroglyphics | Devol Productions | www.thegrafflife.com

Hip Hop may have jumped off somewhere near Sedgwick and Cedar some 35 years ago, but rest assured the culture therein spread across the country in light speed. Some 3,000 miles away, as the Big Apple basked in the goodness of its newfound form of art, b boys in the Golden State learned the tricks of the trade with equal enthusiasm.

So goes the award winning documentary The GraffLife, which delves into the heart and mind of the Southern California based graffiti artist. With unlimited access to their daily trek, the film follows a popular crew (Metro Train Assassins AKA MTA or City’s Most Hated AKA CMH) into the wee hours of the night/morning. Very much the sport and a lifestyle, a variety of “bombers” and “taggers,” provide accommodating insight into what makes them tick as masters of the oldest free-form expression of art, otherwise known as modern day hieroglyphics.

While the obvious goal is to express their freedom artistically, crews do have order. Successful ones live by the motto of democracy and like it or not, are often bound by the rules of society. That however, does not mean they resist the urge to rebel. The viewer quickly learns that this hip hop subculture is largely built on the idea of revolting with reckless abandon. One artist surmises, “If I pay taxes why shouldn’t I be able to write on these walls? These are my walls too.”

Conversely, The GraffLife unearths the element of “positive graffiti,” which often exists when a willing business owner allows a crew to paint his walls in an attempt to titivate his structure and the community in general… Alas, the city usually fines a proprietor in such an instance, leaving the graffiti artist to roam forever with the mind state of a maverick.

In any scenario, The GraffLife insists: graffiti provides kids a reason to live… and who doesn’t want that?

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