Bulgarian Hip-hop Graffiti Nicknames in the Context of the Global Graffiti Tradition Cover Image
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Българските хип-хоп графити псевдоними в контекста на глобалната графити мрежа и нейните традиции
Bulgarian Hip-hop Graffiti Nicknames in the Context of the Global Graffiti Tradition

Author(s): Miglena Ivanova
Subject(s): Anthropology
Published by: Институт за етнология и фолклористика с Етнографски музей при БАН

Summary/Abstract: Hip-hop graffiti typically contain deliberately invented graffiti nicknames circulated through the shared public spaces in order to “make a name”. When choosing graffiti pseudonyms, new writers all over the world are likely to pay special tribute to the tradition by making up names which sound similar to the names of the famous New York writers of the 1970s. The resultant graffiti pseudonyms radically differ from the mainstream Bulgarian naming patterns. While the male names of the writers written in their birth certificates and passports more or less follow the Orthodox tradition and are written in Cyrillic letters, their special graffiti names tend to follow foreign models and are always written in Latin letters. This typically produces yet another effect: especially when the letters of the hip-hop graffiti are seriously deformed, wide Bulgarian audiences are more likely to love or loathe them as abstract images rather than as names or whatsoever texts. By contrast, the importance of the pseudonyms within the writers’ circles could hardly be overestimated. Learning to put down, to read and appreciate them is a crucial element in the initial training of every novice. Even more, these nicknames are the core element of each hip-hop graffiti identity, as well as the main signal for belonging to the global graffiti tradition.

  • Issue Year: XXXV/2009
  • Issue No: 3-4
  • Page Range: 208-214
  • Page Count: 7
  • Language: Bulgarian