Hip-Hop, art and fashion carry a symbiotic relationship. Each informs the other and constantly evolve in tandem, but it wasn’t always that way. It wasn’t until the 1980s that these worlds, specifically street art and graffiti, became more accepted in the fine art world. To conclude the recent exhibition, “Writing the Future: Basquiat and the Hip-Hop Generation,” the MFA Boston has worked with No More Rulers on a roundtable conversation between graffiti legend, Eric Haze, rapper and cultural icon, A$AP FERG, with Simon Watson as the moderator.
The talk would begin with Haze recounting New York’s legendary nightlife. One that “connected” seemingly different crowds from all over the city. Where the people would come to search for identity and commonality.” As a friend of the late Basquiat, Haze was saddened when speaking upon the memory of seeing the legendary artist hours before his passing, just when he looked to be “renewed.”
Had Ferg been around during the ’80s, he undoubtedly would have been a part of that community, he states. As Ferg and Haze reflect on their upbringings, both have become multi-disciplinary creatives who understand the most important aspect is to have honest people around you and to just report on your life — the dreams, the nightmares, the world you experience — regardless of the medium you choose to create in. Once you achieve that individuality, “you can create a platform,” states Haze.
Watch the full conversation by No More Rulers below.
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Elsewhere in art, Alfie Kungu hosts his first solo show “Gap Tooth,” with sponsorship by Carhartt WIP.
