Graffiti: Not a contact sport in Germany?

While graffiti has gotten a bum rap here in the states because of its association with gangs and violence, in Germany it's done more for artistic and political self-expression than turf-tagging. ''The graffiti art community in Germany, while not always moving on legal ground either, at least doesn't support people who shoot each other with guns,'' says Lafayette College junior Felix Forster, who is from Rostock, in northern Germany. Forster is studying mathematics and economics full-time and practicing graffiti art (legally) when time permits. [...] Murals are the most popular form of graffiti art in Germany, according to Forster. ''There's a great amount of illegal graffiti in Germany, some of it very beautiful and artistic, and some of it just ugly tagging on a wall,'' he says. [...] Forster says that German graffiti has a thicker and bulkier style than the American version, which uses more line art and thin lettering. German graffiti artists have also copied the American practice of assigning themselves ''tag names'' to identify their artwork.

Read the whole article at The Morning Call

Backspin Feb/Mar 2008

The current issue of Germany's Backspin magazine features Patrice, SDiddy, Damion Davis, Dynamite Deluxe, Das Bo, Royal Bunker, Saad, Das Ende vom Aufstand der Zeichen?, Rider OC, Big Toni & RubberLegz, Morlockk Dilemma, Aero One, 667 OneMoreThanTheDevil, Fayzen, Caput, and Sprachtot -- on the cover: German gangsta MASSIV.

Backspin #1 २००८

BACKSPIN #91 - Dezember 2007/Januar 2008

TITEL
Ersguterjunge – Bushido, Chakuza, Kay One
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DEUTSCHLAND
Azad
D-Bo
L-Records
Sektenmuzik
Hip-Hop in Deutschland 2007:
Das kleine Nachschlagewerk
Meeting Of Styles
Rock/RS
Fler
Deso Dogg
Style Crax