When I started trying to do graffiti in late 86 it took a long time to learn what it was I could achieve from the activity. I have seen a lot of people come in and out of the scene, people have left it behind for decades and come back some moved on permanently. Hip Hop has turned 50 this year and near the end of this year I am turning 50. I think Hip Hop has survived as there is a diverse range of ideas moving through it. For example two people can listen to the same track and get completely different messages from it. Some Hip Hop artists have two or more points of view in one song and depending on what you want to hear you may have one that rings true to you.

That is why I think I have seen a lot of people either grow into positive thinkers and artists or on the contrary go down the path of crime and personal destruction taking out other people on the way. At the same it isn’t just a series of stark contrasts because without the people destroying their peace of mind through violence or drugs you wouldn’t have the people who are making something beautiful and turning to the industrious creation of Hip Hop Kulture. If anything, disasters breed opportunities just as much as a good intention can destroy.

I suppose then Hip Hop is quite complex from carrying the teachings brought about by radical thinkers who have inspired people to improve their lot in life. In one of my books (Ran Wicked) at the end I made reference to finding a voice in society in the hope that people would learn how to write their own life rather than have it dictated to by what you think it has to be. Suddenly you are in charge of your own fate which we all are. The act of writing on walls is about writing yourself into a story you control and live through your actions.

So many graffiti writers who were pioneers talk about how graffiti was how they came to exist in a society that didn’t give them a voice. In Australia at the moment we have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people trying to secure a voice in parliament on issues that affect them. In a way I have witnessed young people come into aerosol culture to find a voice, many have given up because they lost faith in themselves or the challenges of their lives have been too much. Some thought fast money was a way out and did jail time, some turned violent or got addicted to drugs.

I would like to see Indigenous Australians have a voice but also everyone who is downtrodden and ignored by society. A lot of my books are intertwined with these messages but who am I to have a voice? Well that is the productive power of Hip Hop, you create the stories even if nobody reads them. You create in dissent so you can at the very least fashion your own life without having to have institutions prop you up. You become a free agent and that is why it is important to create your own beautiful life whatever that is to you and hopefully you are inspired on the journey.