The Graffiti Lounge: Philadelphia's Hip Hop Cultural Venue & Graffiti History Museum
WATCH: WHAT IS THE GRAFFITI LOUNGE?
The Graffiti Lounge video gives visitors a look inside the outdoor venue, cultural space and vision being developed at Container Village in West Philadelphia.
Cyphers, Graffiti History, Producers, Special Events, Live at the Graffiti Lounge
Created as a place where Hip Hop can be performed, practiced, preserved, documented, taught and passed forward, the Graffiti Lounge brings emcees, DJs, producers, beatboxers, breakers, graffiti artists, independent musicians, photographers, filmmakers, podcasters, historians, young people, families and supporters of the culture together in one community environment. This is more than a location where a Hip Hop event happens for a few hours. The Graffiti Lounge is a living Hip Hop environment.
The Graffiti Lounge at Container Village is a community-centered Hip Hop cultural venue, outdoor performance space and Graffiti History Museum located at 49th & Parkside Avenue in West Philadelphia. Created as a place where Hip Hop can be performed, practiced, preserved, documented, taught and passed forward, the Graffiti Lounge brings together emcees, DJs, producers, beatboxers, breakers, graffiti artists, independent artists, historians, filmmakers, photographers, podcasters, young people, families and longtime members of the culture1
For decades, Hip Hop artists have performed inside venues that were created for something else. Clubs become Hip Hop venues for a night. Bars host showcases. Galleries temporarily display graffiti. Parks become cypher locations. Studios become gathering spaces. Whether you make Hip Hop, document Hip Hop, study Hip Hop, teach Hip Hop or simply love the culture, the Graffiti Lounge is intended to be a place where you can experience it in a real community environment.
The Graffiti Lounge is a living Hip Hop environment.
It is a place where the different artistic disciplines of Hip Hop can exist together in the same physical space, just as the culture was meant to. Whether you make Hip Hop, document Hip Hop, study Hip Hop, teach Hip Hop or simply love the culture, the Graffiti Lounge is intended to be a place where you can experience it in a real community environment.
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CREATED FOR ALL HIP HOPPERS
Hip Hop becomes stronger when its artistic disciplines can interact rather than being separated from one another.
The Graffiti Lounge is designed to create opportunities around five major artistic disciplines of Hip Hop culture.
EMCEEING
The microphone is an instrument.
Live cyphers, original verses, showcases, freestyle exercises and live performances give emcees an opportunity to sharpen delivery, breath control, timing, rhythm, microphone control, crowd connection and stage discipline in front of a real audience. The goal is not simply to perform songs. The goal is to become a stronger emcee.
DJING
The DJ is not background music.
DJs help control the energy of the room, guide the cypher, introduce music, support performing artists and connect different generations of Hip Hop through sound. At the Graffiti Lounge, DJ culture remains part of the center of the experience.
BREAKIN' & HIP HOP DANCE
Movement has always been part of Hip Hop's visual language.
The Graffiti Lounge is intended to create opportunities for breakers and Hip Hop dancers to participate in performances, demonstrations, special events, cultural programs and future community activities.
GRAFFITI & WALL WRITING
The visual environment surrounding the Graffiti Lounge connects today's artists and visitors with graffiti culture, artistic expression and the history of writing. Graffiti is not treated simply as decoration. It is part of the story.
BEATBOXING
Before sophisticated equipment became available everywhere, the human body itself could become part of the rhythm section.
Beatboxing represents creativity, rhythm, improvisation and one of Hip Hop's most powerful reminders that culture can be created with whatever tools are available.
Beatboxing has a place alongside emceeing, DJing, breaking and graffiti inside the living culture represented at the Graffiti Lounge.
The goal is not merely to display Hip Hop. The goal is to practice it.
CYPHERS AT THE GRAFFITI LOUNGE
