Who's Who

RAMMELLZEE

Always ahead of his time, New York artist and performer Rammellzee (pronounced “Ram: Ell: Zee) was born 1960 in Far Rockaway, Queens.  He started in 1974 the A train, Far Rockaway, Queens, and he was on of the graffiti pioneer, along with IZ THE WIZ, DONDI WHITE… And was famous for his "burner" style, and then his "gothic futurism" one.

His influence can still be heard in contemporary artists such as The Beastie Boys and Cypress Hill and his legendary hip-hop single “Beat Bop” with K-Rob was produced by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, and has become one of the most sought after hip hop releases ever.

In the mid-70’s, Rammellzee became associated with a group of artists who painted or tagged in a style known as East Village wild style ("burners"). This was an illegible, dynamic style of writing letters derived originally from the Gothic script of Medieval manuscripts.

In 1982, he appeared in the seminal hip hop documentary Wildstyle by Charlie Ahearn, his fame in graffiti circles was established when he painted New York subway trains with Dondi, OU3, and Ink 76, and Doctor Revolt.

Rammellzee’s graffiti and art work are based on his theory of Gothic Futurism, which describes the battle between letters and their symbolic warfare against any standardizations enforced by the rules of the alphabet; his treatise, “Iconic Panzerisms”, details an anarchic plan by which to revise the role and deployment of language in society.

In 2002 he did collaborate with SUPREME for their 3d skate deck artist series. And always stay kinda close of the NYC brand. Recently he also release a special snow board series with MONUMENT SNOWBOARDS.

http://www.gothicfuturism.com/

photo by SCIENCE