What role does graffiti have in hip-hop & rap?
 

Frankly I've never been able to stay interested in these genres and am pretty ignorant of them (I'm making my way through the history & recommendations thread) but I've always paid attention to the better graffiti art around my city and was wondering what, if any, it's role in hip-hop is/was. I also thought it would be cool to have a thread were people could share pix of some cool stuff they've seen around their area. I'm a big fan of Odd Fellow's work, he's everywhere in the San Francisco Bay Area.

He does a lot of fantasy-looking stuff;
http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3...kqxho1_500.jpg
Downtown, market street I think.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lz...5936o1_500.jpg
I'm pretty sure this is in the east bay, around San Leandro I think.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lv...j57ro1_500.jpg
I'm guessing this is in the mission district.

It's one of the four original pillars of hip hop, along with rapping, DJing and dance.

Janzoon's summed it up.

Hip-hop is an ideology, consisting on the four pillars, as were originated in the Bronx, New York.
They consisted of rapping (MCing), DJing (deck scratching, etc) Graffiti/Street art and Street dance.

Street culture. Whether you're musical, graphic, or dance-y, you can find a place in hip-hop.