#3: Public Art and Hip Hop

How’s everyone doing? Sending strength to everyone limping toward the last day of school…we can do this!

For this third newsletter, I considered writing about Trump’s cuts to the GSA, a possible fire sale of federally-owned public art, and his predictably tacky “Garden of Heroes” idea, but I think we’ve all heard enough bad news of late.

Which brings me to the fun stuff…PUBLIC ART AND HIP HOP!

Did you read “Lupe Fiasco on How MIT’s Public Artworks Inspired His Bold New Rap Project” in Artnet on May 7th? An MIT Visiting Scholar since 2020, where he teaches rap theory and practice (um, can I go to MIT please?), Fiasco became inspired by the huge collection of public art on campus and started improvising outdoors in front of sculptures by Alexander Calder, Antony Gormley, Jaume Plensa (and hopefully some non-white men).

He’s now recorded 7 tracks available on a self-guided walking tour of the campus public art collection. Has anyone done tour of MIT yet? Tell us about it in the comments!

Fiasco originally rapped about the sculptures’ aesthetics, but soon dug deeper: “Initially, it was just like what the piece looks like. But that approach evolved into who did it and why, more biographical stuff. Then it went into just pure expression. The latest work from 2025 is more about what it means to the space, what it means to the institute.”

Now, rappers name checking visual art is nothing new. Since Slick Rick’s Mona Lisa and many times since, rap lyrics have mentioned artists from da Vinci to Basquiat to represent quality and sophistication, brag about wealth, and show appreciation for beauty. 

I wondered: has public art been mentioned in hip hop before Lupe Fiasco? And what about hip hop mentioned in public art? 

Immediately I was flooded with memories, from my Mom’s boyfriend publishing one of the first books on graffiti art when I was a kid, to walking by the Comandante Biggie mural a million times when I lived in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Hip hop street art is alive and well all over the nation, and this is just one NY example of many. 

There’s a long and storied history of murals celebrating or memorializing hip hop legends, and graffiti is a core visual expression of hip hop culture:

“Colloquially, we tend to think of hip-hop as the predecessor and blueprint for contemporary rap. But hip hop describes a collection of cultural production, which includes four pillars; MCing (lyricism), DJing (audio), breakdancing/b-boying (movement dance), and graffiti/writing (visual). Other facets of this youth-led subculture include fashion, language/slang, and knowledge of the movement and its influences…Other modes of street art, like murals, installations, and posters put up without permission are distinguishable from writing and graffiti, but can still overlap.” -Lucy Ferguson, Krog Codex, an archive of Atlanta graffiti art

From the heyday of individual artists like Lady Pink making art with spray paint and no permits, to music festival murals, and even corporations like Spotify and Snapchat finding yet more ways to make a buck off Black culture (I hope local artist J. Cole got PAID), murals are low cost, high impact artworks that often become beloved members of the local community.

Contemporary artists like Nina Chanel Abney paint murals that fuse politics and hip hop aesthetics, not just in urban downtowns but on a greenway trail in North Arkansas. How does the meaning of this work change for audiences in very different locations? I would love to watch local daytrippers encounter this mural in the wild.

If you’re like me, you may be wondering: what about sculpture? Is there three dimensional public art inspired by hip hop? Does it mainly honor individuals and rappers, visualize rap music, express the aesthetics and sensibilities of hip hop culture and fashion? Does it have sound, is it kinetic, fun, interactive? The answer is YES. ;)

In fact, public sculpture inspired by hip hop is so varied, I’m going to write an entire newsletter about it! So as the Jungle Brothers said (yes I am that old)...

Come on, come on and stick with me
I'll keep things the way they should be
Keep your house until you sweat
'Cause you ain't seen nothin' yet

Please comment below with your favorite examples of hip hop in public art, including your own!

Any hip hop public art projects in the works? Let’s give these artists a shout out.

Until next next time…

Mia Pearlman
http://miapearlman.com