​The link between hip hop and graffiti evolved as a competition, much like a dance as a competition, much like the dance moves of the hip hop culture. Graffiti began to show up on subways in New York and other cities as a form of expression of the culture who listened to rap music. Graffiti distinguished by "tags" or distinguishing marks of the originators and a way to distinguish or stand out from other graffiti artists. Graffiti quickly spread and was picked up by others. 

Graffiti is viewed as a form of artistic expression by some and trash by others. Graffiti has been seen adorning the album covers of some rap artists, on sides of buildings, on buses, on clothing, and various imaginative places where you sometimes have to stop and wonder, "how in the world did they manage to get up there?"

​James Dewitt Yancey (better known by the stage names J Dilla and Jay Dee, was an American record producer and rapper who emerged from mid 90s underground hip hop scene in Detroit, Michigan. According to his obituary at NPR.org, he "was one of the music industry's most influential hip-hop artists", working with big-name acts including A Tribe Called Quest, De La Soul, Busta Rhymes, Erykah Badu, MF DOOM, Poe, The Roots, The Pharcyde and Common. Yancey died in 2006 of the blood disease thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura.

​B-boying or breaking, also called breakdancing, is a style of street dance that originated among African American and Latino youth, many former members of the Black Spades, the Young Spades, and the Baby Spades during the mid 1970s. Breakdancing was further developed by Puerto Rican youth in New York City in the late 1970s to the early 1980s.  The dance spread worldwide due to popularity in the media, especially in regions such as the United Kingdom, Canada, Japan, Germany, France, Russia, and South Korea. While diverse in the amount of variation available in the dance, b-boying consists of four kinds of movement: toprock, downrock, power moves, and freezes. B-boying is typically danced to hip-hop, funk music, and especially breakbeats