Tuesday 20 July 2010

Cornbread - Legend



The tale of Cornbread is the tale of a troubled middle
child from a God-fearing Brewerytown family who got the attention he
craved on the streets.

McCray accomplished it by spraying his tag – CORNBREAD, with a
swoosh at the end and a crown over the B – along every bus, trolley and
subway route in the city and, in one of his most daring feats, on the
flank of an elephant at the zoo

As a kid, Darryl McCray started writing "Cornbread loves Cynthia" all over his Philadelphia school to get the attention of a girl he liked.

Cornbread helped define the role of the modern day Graffiti writer; a major part of that role was fame. For Cornbread what began with a few tags, soon turned into a full time mission, getting up to so much that he gave himself the crown.

Cornbread's exploits were chronicled by the black press. At times journalists would mention an idea that would strike Cornbread. An idea, for example, that it would be amazing if somebody tagged the Jackson Five jet as it landed in Philly. As a result, Cornbread would do it, and the press would publish it. By the late 60's a sub-culture had started in Philadelphia, it had its own distinct style: long letters with platforms on the bottom.

Cornbread stopped writing in 1972.

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