Voicing the Unvoiced: Hip-Hop Graffiti and the Art of  Tagging Hogan’s Alley in Selected Poems  of Wayde Compton’s Performance Bond

Diaa El-Deen Al-Qassaby, Neveen

doi:10.21608/aafu.2018.30543

Voicing the Unvoiced: Hip-Hop Graffiti and the Art of Tagging Hogan’s Alley in Selected Poems of Wayde Compton’s Performance Bond

Document Type : Original Article

Author

Neveen Diaa El-Deen Al-Qassaby

10.21608/aafu.2018.30543

Abstract

In Performance Bond (2004), Wayde Compton (1972-), builds a relationship between graffiti and poetry. The researcher expounds the literary significance of the diverse forms of hip-hop graffiti found in selected poems of Compton. In “]ïηx,” Compton manipulates encrypted codes which are meant to create a language that is similar to the art of monikers or the codes written in tags. Moreover, in “Wild Style,” Compton documents the movement of hip-hop graffiti in America. He presents pieces which highlight places that were in Hogan’s Alley. Compton emulates Brathwaite’s concept of tidalectics. Therefore, there is an analogy between the dispossession of the black slaves from Africa and the displacement of the younger generations from Hogan’s Alley. Consequently, Compton creates a hegemony between verse, graffiti and the beats of hip-hop music.

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